[cgfc] CGFC's Weekly Bytes, Vol.1, #12

[Lisa BK]

GREETINGS!

Welcome to Common Ground Food Co-op's weekly (for now) e-newsletter! You're
getting this missive because you're a member of Common Ground who's also
signed up to be on the CGFC mailing list. If you aren't interested in
receiving these updates, please email commongroundfoodcoop at gmail.com.

Every week, via this transmission, members are provided with store
updates/news, links to relevant news items/political actions, and other bits
and pieces worthy of mention. If you have anything of a similar bent you
think members should know about, please email links to
commongroundfoodcoop at gmail.com. Thanks!



STORE/LOCAL NEWS:

****CGFC IS NOW HIRING!
The Co-op is now hiring for two positions - a part-time grocery manager and
a part-time daily manager. Please go to this page on the website to download
a flyer and application if you (or someone you know) are interested:

http://www.commongroundcoop.org/hiring.html


****SURVEY SAYS!
Come on in and fill out the CGFC member survey! CGFC has coordinated with a
UIUC student to create a member survey that'll help us serve your needs
better and find out more about you (not for nefarious purposes, of course -
your info is safe with us). Surveys are at the (brand spankin' new) checkout
counter in the store and can be dropped in the box on the "media table" to
the left of the freezer. Thanks for your input!


****MEMBER NUMBERS COMING SOON
You never thought you'd see the day when the Co-op treats you as a number..
oh no! But don't fret!

Our new computer system has assigned a number to all of us who have bought a
membership in the store. Starting in November, we'll ask you for your member
number (or just your name) when you shop at the Co-op. This will allow us to
do many things:

Workers: you can log your worker status in the computer so that it will
automatically apply your discount when you check out. The computer can also
remember your other discounts for you - such as the senior discount or Link
card discount.

Members: you can log your equity payments so that you can ask about the
status of your membership at any time. (Am I still a member even though I
haven't been here in ages? When the heck did I join anyway? How much equity
do I owe? Do I need to make a payment? Can I change my membership type?) We
hear these questions over and over again and now we'll have an easy way to
answer them.

We're in the process of updating our membership database so that we know
we've got it right. Help us out by asking about your membership record when
you check out. We can pull up your record and give you your member number
and we can also update your address or phone number. If you're not yet in
the database, we can add you!


****FALL ISSUE of FROM THE GROUND UP IS NOW OUT!
The Co-op's printed newsletter is out in its analog form. Come by the store
and pick one up! If you want the digital copy instead, download a PDF copy
on our website:

http://www.commongroundcoop.org/NewsFall05.pdf



OTHER IMPORTANT STUFF:

****NO FOOD STAMP CUTS!!

From our friends at OxFam:

Dear friends,

Tomorrow, the House of Representatives will propose and vote on their
suggested cuts to the agriculture budget. Right now it looks as though those
suggestions will include at least $1.4 billion from the food stamp programs
– most of these foods stamp cuts are targeting legal immigrants and recent
citizens.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Call Representative Tim Johnson and ask him not to cut food stamps from
people who need it the most.

DC office: 202.225.2371
Champaign office: 217.403.4690
Bloomington; 309.663.7049

Please call. It's important.

If anyone wants the longer version of the email that OxFam sent out, please
contact me at lisabk at gmail.com and I'll send you an attachment.


****NOT JUST ABOUT EATING MEAT

"Under pressure from big agribusiness, the USDA is deliberately refusing to
take action against factory farm dairy feedlots who are unethically selling
their products as "organic." This blatant labeling fraud is compounded by a
loophole in federal organic regulations that is allowing unscrupulous
organic dairy farms to import young calves from non-organic conventional
farms (where the animals have been weaned on cow blood, injected or
medicated with antibiotics, and fed genetically engineered corn, soybeans
and cotton seeds, laced with slaughterhouse waste and tainted animal fats).
These confinement and feeding practices are inhumane, unhealthy,
environmentally unsustainable, and unfair to the majority of organic dairy
farmers, who follow strict organic principles on pasture access and animal
feed, and do not import animals into their herds from conventional farms."

This issue is important for everyone, not just meat-eaters, because a
lowering of standards in one area means it's easier for standards to be
lowered in every area. Here's a link for for info and a petition:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/usda.htm



BOOKMARK FODDER:

****CGFC Board member Jeanne Higgs brought this new foodie journal to my
attention:

http://www.alimentumjournal.com/

****Cool seed conference coming up in Massachusetts:

http://growseed.org/

****We need alternatives to traditional food banks:

"During the holidays you see lots of bins for food bank donations; you see
lots of news stories about people eating their holiday meals at soup
kitchens. In the richest country in the world, hunger is still obviously an
ever-present and growing problem. But some community organizers are taking
imaginative approaches to solving what otherwise appears to be a unending
problem by empowering the hungry to take an active part in providing for
their own needs."

This article appears to have been published last year, but it's still
appropriate:

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1353

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



Please feel free to forward these links to people you think might benefit
from such knowledge.
Thanks and look for #13 same time (more or less) next week!



::compiled by Outreach Co-coordinator Lisa Bralts-Kelly::
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