PCC Board of Trustees report, December 2012
This article was originally published in December 2012
Celebrating National Co-op Month and the International Year of the Co-op
MIDDLE LEFT: (l-r) Eric DeLuca and PCC board chair Carol Binder. DeLuca is program manager for the NCBA’s IYC activities. They are shown here at the closing dinner for the NCBA conference.
LOWER LEFT: (l-r) Jen Neary of Cabot Creamery Cooperative, PCC’s Tom Monahan, Garth Purkett of DRY Soda and Josh Frazier of Metropolitan Credit Union.
LOWER RIGHT: (l-r) Connie McLaughlin and Tony Bedard. McLaughlin is West Seattle’s Health & Beauty Care coordinator. Bedard is CEO of Frontier Natural Products Co-op, a longtime vendor of PCC. Bedard was a speaker at the NCBA conference.
PCC participated in several events in October to highlight the importance of co-ops in our world.
October 2-5 saw the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) bring its annual meeting and co-op conference to Seattle. Many segments of the co-op community sent representatives from all over the country and the globe to learn from each other and share ways to get the message out that co-ops can help build a better world.
Our marketing manager, Tom Monahan, participated in a panel on how co-ops can use social media to their advantage. Director of Sustainability Diana Chapman was a panelist in a session called “Smart Growth: Triple Bottom Line Accounting.”
PCC hosted a tour of our West Seattle store for a couple dozen co-op members who spent a day looking at varied co-op operations in our region. Board member Maggie Lucas, board administrator Janice Parker Theiss, Tom Monahan and Diana Chapman shared information and led tours of the store.
PCC’s Community Relations team set up a special “Kid Picks taste test” in the Kid Picks Mobile for our visitors to help demonstrate PCC’s commitment to sharing healthy food information with families.
The Northwest Cooperative Development Center and CDS Consulting hosted a well-attended workshop on October 5-6 following the NCBA conference. The workshop, “Cultivating NW Co-ops,” featured messages from co-op leaders from all over our region. PCC board chair Carol Binder spoke about PCC’s growth strategies.
Board report
The November board meeting occurred after press time. The agenda was scheduled to include review of the 2013 budget and business plan, as well as ongoing prep for the board’s February retreat. The nominating committee was expected to announce the PCC members who will run in the 2013 board election.
Board meeting
The next board meeting will be on January 29 at the business office at 5 p.m. Member comment period is at 7 p.m. Member comments are limited to 3 minutes unless additional time is approved previously by the board chair.
New outreach event
As previously reported here, in lieu of the large, fall member meeting, the board decided to begin holding a series of smaller events in and around our stores throughout the year. The first of these was held on October 17 in our Redmond classroom. A full house heard Diana Chapman present a history of PCC and its impact on our region as a sustainable business and employer of choice.