Newsletter: January 2024

The Mushroom Messenger KCG Monthly Newsletter: January 2024 Bringing you monthly news of the Kennett Community Grocer, a growing Food Co-op committed to local food, community, and culture. Hello to our Member-Owners and Friends!   In this edition: What’s in store for 2024? January 11th Happy Hour Farewell to the monthly Co-op Boxes (& "thank you" to our vendors!) WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO On behalf of the Board of Directors of Kennett Community Grocer, we wish you a happy and peaceful New Year! Our Board is off and running with plans to increase our membership and move toward opening a grocery store in this terrific community! We are now fully engaged with our consultants from Caroltalks who will conduct a Board Retreat on January 20th. At the Retreat, we will be finalizing our plans to put several working teams in place, develop our fundraising strategy, and outline the steps we need to take in 2024 to determine our site, design the store, and hire a General Manager. We have a very busy year ahead of us. Please watch for updates via email and social media, and respond to calls for member/volunteer action. We look forward to working with all of our Member-Owners in the new year! MEMBERSHIP EVER GROWING We are excited to announce that in 2023, we doubled our membership growth rate from 2022. Implementing several Working Teams around key work streams – including Communications, Events, and the Co-op Boxes – increased the effectiveness of our outreach to the community, which helped raise membership numbers. Capitalizing on this model, we will create additional Teams in the coming year focusing on Membership Experience, Store & Property, and Fundraising. We now have a devoted volunteer who will do data analysis to determine what efforts are most effective in outreach to the community. Presently at 340 Member-Owners, we hope to reach beyond 500 in the coming year. You can help by completing the Volunteer Form on the website. Our volunteer coordinator, Mitch Warren, will reach out to you by phone and email, and together you can determine where your volunteer skills and desires fit. We are opening this Cooperative as a totally volunteer effort, and we appreciate your work!   BECOME A MEMBER-OWNER TODAY

COMING UP:   January Happy Hour at Victory Brewing Our quarterly Happy Hour open to all members and prospective members will once again be at Victory Brewing Company, which so graciously provides space and waitstaff for this event. Please come out on January 11th from 5:00-7:00 PM and enjoy a free beer or drink compliments of KCG while mingling with fellow Member-Owners and Board members. And please bring a non-member with you in order to encourage them to join! (What better way than with a free beer!) We will also be raffling off 5 gift cards to local businesses, which is free for you and your guest to enter. All new Member-Owners this past year are encouraged to attend to meet the Board members, see who else in our community has made a KCG Co-op Commitment, and express your interest in what you what this store to become. SPECIAL FEATURE:  KCG’s Co-op Box program has come to an end. We are grateful that it brought new Member-Owners into the fold and allowed many of us to meet face-to-face on box pick-up days. In addition to providing wonderful, fresh produce from Flying Plow Farm, the boxes have introduced us to a wide variety of our area’s fine craftspeople, farmers, beekeepers, specialty food purveyors, and more.  The good news is that we are not letting go of the relationships we have made. Coming soon will be a new KCG Member Benefit Program. Many of the vendors you have gotten to know through the boxes will participate, and new vendors will be added. Soon you will be able to go to the Member Benefit page of our website for details on discounts and special offers from these generous businesses provided to KCG Member-Owners. More details will be forthcoming in emails and on social media. Please take a moment to read through the following vendor list and join us in thanking them for being part of KCG’s Co-op Box program! You can continue to shop through them via their websites (linked).   Aristos Harvest Aunt Mamie’s Pasta Blushing Wren Cocky Confections Conebella Farm Extract and Box The Farm Fifth Dimension Farm Finely Finished Fibers The Fussy Cutting Quilt Shop Gap View Homestead Give A Fig Designs Glory Fibers & Design Co.       Juniper Tree Craftery JVB Brothers Co. King's Potato Farm La Baguette Magique Locust Hollow Sheep Farm LogHouse Aromatics Mediterranean Delicacy Mrs. Robinson’s Tea Shop North Star Orchard LLC NTB Photography Nutty Novelties Tree of Life Farm The Woodlands at Phillips   JOIN THE COMMUNITY! FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM

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