By Rachel Blatt
This time last year, Imani Larrier, a longtime Coop member and New York City teacher, was preparing to be an empty nester. “I was getting ready to send my youngest child off to college. I went through that whole emotional roller coaster.” Fast forward to this spring and Imani’s son was back home, attending his college classes remotely while she taught 4th graders from her kitchen.
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By Leila Darabi
The Coop made history on the evening of May 26, convening the first virtual General Meeting of its membership. No voting took place during the meeting, which focused heavily on the financial blow the Coop has weathered over the past two months due to citywide Covid-19 safety restrictions. More than 750 participants joined the meeting, including the staff and board slated to speak.
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Contributed by Lucy Rumack who joined the Park Slope Coop in 1983
MoreThanks, you guys—board, staff, temporary staff, General Coordinators—tonight was a great meeting that provided us all with the deep reassurance that we are in excellent hands moving forward—whatever happens. How wonderful to get to feel that about something these days. Take care, continue being safe, and stay well. Blessings, Heidi Oleszczuk A Very Proud Coop Member
MoreDEAR FELLOW MEMBERS, Welcome to the third issue of the digital Gazette. Going digital has long been of interest to the Editorial Team, and the changes wrought by Covid-19 led to a quick creation and launch. We saw an urgency to maintain the community ties that the Gazette endeavors to achieve, and erred on the side […]
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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. Continue Reading →
By Thomas Rayfiel
Nathan Allman, who became a Coop member relatively late in life but whose influence on the Coop began long before, died on March 22 of complications resulting from the coronavirus. He was 85. Nathan joined the Coop in 2007, when he married Ellen Krüger Allman, and retired in 2010, one of the first members eligible to do so under the Coop’s age-related retirement policy. Long before that, in the early 1980s, then an insurance broker, he sold the Coop its first employee health insurance policy—to current General Manager Joe Holtz. But Joe had a problem getting services, and abruptly switched to a new policy with a different provider. Joe recalls the phone call he received from Nathan: Continue Reading →
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I have a question that I haven’t seen addressed in any Coop communications, that I was hoping you could cover in an upcoming edition. Has the Coop considered online/email ordering with curbside pickup and payment? Continue Reading →
We have heard these suggestions from many members, and in response, I’m taking this opportunity to share what the General Coordinators have learned after significant research and talking to other coops about their experiences. Continue Reading →
By Thomas Rayfiel
Joe Hennessy, a longtime Coop member and beloved squad leader, died April 9 of complications related to the coronavirus. He was 82. Joe came to the United States from Ireland in 1957. After serving in the Army (with Elvis Presley!) he settled in Queens where he managed a taxi fleet and served in a variety of civic capacities, most notably, Chairman of Queens Community Board 6 and President of the Board of Directors of the Forest Hills MHA Housing Development Fund Corporation. Joe was particularly sensitive to the plight of immigrants, the taxi industry being one of the areas where many newcomers first seek employment. “He would always have their back,” Frank Gulluscio, District Manager of CB 6 said. Continue Reading →
MoreBy Hayley Gorenberg
After pandemic precautions put in place this spring at the Coop, sales fell through the floor, with transactions dropping 79 percent and overall dollars spent down 37 percent for the week ending April 26. A typical week would have shown 17,000 transactions and perhaps $1.1 million total purchases—but only 3,436 took place, albeit at about triple the dollar-value per transaction.
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