Membership committee rises again!

by Lexa Juhre

Honest Weight was originally created by and for members. But as we have gotten larger, the role of membership has become less and less clear. Those of us who believe that this is a special place largely because of its cooperative tradition are hoping to breathe new life into the Membership committee, and are looking for ways to keep Coop members central to the organization as we continue to expand. We're just getting started-so if you have ideas that you'd like to share, please join us on Thursday, December 12 at 6 pm, in the HWFC Community Room.

A reconstituted Membership committee convened on Thursday, November 1, led by Eric Renaud, the committee's Board liaison. We began by discussing the general role of the Membership committee, which is to promote and support membership in the Coop, and then worked to develop a specific action-oriented focus for the committee. Based on this first meeting, our primary goals now are to:

• Encourage member labor and participatory governance
• Show appreciation for current member-workers who reliably work their shifts
• Create incentives to encourage staff to train and use additional member workers
• Recreate a sense of community in the Coop, including improved communication with the membership

Our first project aimed at addressing some of these issues is to reintroduce the Weekly Worker Dinner, the first of which we hope will take place in mid-December. It is our hope that this gathering will strengthen our sense of community, while honoring these often unsung heroes of the Coop. Committee members are looking into securing a site, coordinating food-preparation, and creating invitations-which will then be distributed to member workers who work regular weekly shifts. Member workers who might be interested in cooking, in exchange for labor hours, should contact Nate Horwitz at 482-3312, x104.

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