By Taigi Smith
It was June 18 and after four months of seclusion, I was on my way to tape an interview at the historic Abyssinia Baptist church in Harlem. I had been producing television from my home for the past four months and I was desperate to get out and see the world again.
MoreThe Park Slope Food Coop supports the Black Lives Matter movement and a dismantling of all systems that empower and enable systemic racism.
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In March, the Park Slope Food Coop took the unprecedented measure of suspending member labor in response to COVID-19. We hired members to work as temporary staff, narrowed our hours of operation, constrained the number of shoppers allowed in the store, and implemented other safety measures. As a result, we have been able to mitigate risks to both staff and shopping members.
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I’m gonna keep shopping at the Coop because the groceries are great but our collective core is taking a bad hit if the June GM is any indication. The agenda item to make a public statement of support for the movement for Black Lives should have been voted on, and not stalled via process designating it a discussion-only topic. This is not a new problem.
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Coordinators and some members have now suggested that member labor could indeed safely resume, something which would benefit the bottom line of the Coop. This is significant because the Coop is still losing money every week the pandemic, which shows no sign of abating, continues.
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Interviewed after the GM, member Toisha Tucker expressed disbelief that the Coop had not spoken up, even after earlier killings of Black New Yorkers like Eric Garner (and many others). Tucker linked food justice, climate justice and racial justice as intertwined and called on the Coop to engage in “reckoning with racism and white supremacy in America.”
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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 Liz Alpern
Soup is my ultimate comfort food. As a kid, I was eager to bring a thermos of hot soup to school for my lunch—a little reminder of home. As an adult, I cook gallons of soup frequently, to feed the crowds at my fundraising party, Queer Soup Night; and we regularly serve soup at events hosted by my company, The Gefilteria.
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By Leah Koenig
From extended entrance lines and plexiglass checkout stations, to paid staff temporarily replacing member work shifts, the Coop has seen its share of pandemic-induced changes. But one change that flies under the radar for some members is the herculean effort it takes to keep the shelves adequately stocked during these unprecedented times.
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By Frank Haberle
In the relatively worry-free days of last September, longtime Brooklyn resident and Coop member Moussa Thiam struggled with a worrisome decision: should he abandon a successful but frenetic 25-year career as a Chef, or set aside his lifelong dream of building a successful film production company that created and promoted new films from Africa?
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By Christopher Cox
The radical changes to the Coop during the pandemic have protected member-owners and workers alike, but they have been costly. According to General Coordinator Joe Holtz, in late March, when member labor requirement was suspended and shopping hours were restricted, the Coop was losing as much as $120,000 a week compared to the year before. That’s number is now approximately $95,000. In previous years, the Coop has run a modest weekly profit.
MoreLike so many, I appreciate the Coop’s staff who, like many workers across the city, keep coming to work. Unfortunately, the members are not working now, but this does not mean we are any less a member labor coop. I think we should return to the model of member labor (adjusted as needed for safety) that has served us so well for 47 years. Two pages I heard when I shopped this week led me to think that some of the staff at the Coop have forgotten about that model now that it has been only staff running the Coop for almost three months.
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By Hayley Gorenberg
Despite a huge spike in sales in the early days of the pandemic followed by a steep plunge, the Coop’s meat supply has been relatively stable amidst Covid-19, showcasing the resiliency of smaller, more responsible producers and processors.
The stability contrasts sharply with the major disruptions in the more industrial national meat supply chain as several consolidated factory meat processors shut down amid Covid-19 outbreaks among workers.
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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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