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Report from the Special Events Committeeby Deborah Trupin The Honest Weight Food Coop's Special Events committee sponsored six events in 2001: o In January, we organized a Meet the Manager Party with a scavenger hunt held in the Coop. This gave members a chance to meet the then-new general manager, Ed Jenner. One of the highlights of the event was having scavenger hunters find out Ed's "real" first name. o In late February, committee member Janice Fontanella arranged a Hunger Awareness Potluck, as one of three events the Committee sponsored as part of the March Hunger Awareness month. About a dozen Coop members gathered to enjoy a potluck dinner and learn about hunger issues and hunger prevention from speakers representing the Nutrition Consortium of New York State, Hunger Action Network of New York State, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, and the Trinity Institution's Food Pantry. It was a moving evening. o In March, the committee continued its focus on Hunger Awareness, with food donation boxes set up in Coop to collect foods for the Regional Food Bank. We also organized a group of Coop members to volunteer at the Food Bank's Distribution Center. Eight Coop'ers dove into humongous crates of paper towels, tissues and toilet paper to sort and repack these items for distribution to area food pantries, from which they would be distributed to food pantry clients. The success of this event was that a smaller group of Coop members became regular Food Bank volunteers. o In April, committee member Marcy Shaffer (with some help from the rest of the committee) created an exhibit to celebrate Honest Weight's 25th anniversary. Using the Coop's archives, Marcy assembled an informative, and at times poignant and amusing, set of panels illustrating the Coop's history. On April 28, we hosted an opening reception that featured delicious snacks provided by the Coop's deli staff. o In July, under the leadership of Janice Fontanella, about seven Coop members visited the Rock Hill Bakehouse in Gansevoort, where the baker/owner showed the group all of the stages of their bread-baking process and discussed the difficulties of marketing quality bread. This was the second in an annual series of visits to Coop suppliers. o Finally, in September, Board and committee member George Broeckx organized the fourth annual picnic, held for the second year in a row at Five Rivers Environmental Center. Because the picnic was on September 16, attendance was not high, but members appreciated the chance to be together in the peaceful environment of Five Rivers. In evaluating the 2001 events, the Special Events committee members - George Broeckx (chair and Board liaison), Janice Fontanella, Rob Hack, Dee Ellen Lee, Marcy Shaffer, and Deborah Trupin - felt that we had assembled a good variety of events that were related to the Coop's mission. We were consistently disappointed with the number of attendees and, at the end of the year, questioned whether we should continue. Both Board and staff requested that the committee continue. The committee is hoping to have better attendance at 2002 events. One way we are hoping to have better attendance is through better connections and coordination with staff. The committee would welcome new members to help plan and host special events for the Coop. If you are interested in joining the Special Events committee, please contact Nate Horwitz at the Coop. |
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