Sadly, had the Coop in its 47 or so years of operation thought to meet the needs of its senior and disabled members and had a shopping delivery program in place, instead of first floating a plan in late 2019, the Coop would be meeting the needs of those senior and disabled persons. My understanding from speaking with my friends is that many people are probably opting to shop at stores closer to their homes, because waiting on line in cold, rainy weather is simply not possible for many seniors and disabled persons, even with a chair available for sitting. I know that is true for me. The Coop has also lost revenue from members who travel by public transportation to get to the Coop, as many people are reluctant to take public transportation right now. The Coop no doubt has lost a great deal of revenue as a result.
If it were not for the volunteers from Invisible Hands Delivers, I would not have had food for most of the last month.
It’s a given that the Coop has lost a tremendous amount of revenue in the past month and will do so for the foreseeable future.
I am aware of a program called Support and Feed that was started by Billie Eilish and her mom, to provide vegan food from restaurants, including Park Slope’s own V-Spot, to first responders, nursing homes, battered women’s shelters, and individuals ordering meals. Their Facebook page indicates that they have partnered with certain local programs who do food delivery.
Perhaps the Coop’s leadership could explore partnering with one of these groups, or directly with Invisible Hands and any other food groups in NYC, which were mentioned on NY1, to provide home delivery of food. The Flatbush Food Coop and Perelandra have provided food delivery for the past decade.
Cooperatively yours,
Carol Lipton
P.S. Member 3891B (a/k/a the member who came up with the raw foods endcap proposal as well as the line manager and walker proposal)