Message From The Board 3/22/20
Hello friends and neighbors.
What a week, what a month. What a time to be alive! As we move deeper into this unprecedented situation, we realize that everyone is experiencing different levels of stress and anxiety. Some of you are working from home, some are unable to work because the kids are home from school. Some of you are owners or employees of businesses, either closed for public health, bracing for the economic fallout of decreased tourism, or endeavoring to stay open to provide services and commodities. All of you are doing a great job. You’re doing all you can do, and all you can do is enough. Even if you’re scared, even if you’re angry, even if you’re worried, please know that your Co-op Board of Directors sees you, sees your struggle, and admires your courage.
What can your Co-op do for you? At this time we intend to meet this challenge by mobilizing the resources we have, while we have them. For the foreseeable future, we will continue ordering items from UNFI, Azure, BVM, EE, and Fresh Produce and will continue organizing pop-up delivery sites and are now offering “home deliveries” and “parking lot pickups” for those most at risk.
The next few deliveries will take place at ANB Hall. On delivery days we be calling individuals to come pick their order up as they are filled to minimize the number of people concentrated in one area. Please do not come to ANB Hall until we’ve called you. When we call to let you know your order is ready to be picked up (or delivered), we will have your total bill calculated in advance.
Credit card payments can be processed in person or over the phone… or you can bring a check written for the amount we tell you over the phone. Where possible, we’d prefer not to handle cash, but if that’s your only option, we will. Don’t forget you can still “round-it-up” to support Brave Heart Volunteers. 🙂
You might also wish to familiarize yourselves with the process of ordering from Azure. They are an additional way to obtain wholesome and natural products in addition to UNFI, and… for the duration of this crisis, members will be able to order frozen goods from them. However, like UNFI, they are also experiencing supply chain disruptions.
Additionally, know that given that given the disruptions up and down the supply chain our ordering and delivery schedules will remain fluid. When things change we will send “Covid-19 Updates” to your email and post them on our website and Facebook.
Lastly, we will soon be announcing a “Deferred Payments Program” for anyone unable to cover all or part of the cost of their food orders during this crisis. This program will run as long as the Health Mandates are in place or until we can no longer sustain the financial burden. You will not need to provide any proof of hardship. We trust our members!
We know this is disrupting many people’s lives unexpectedly and we also realize that we are only in the very early stages of this event. We are working hard to keep up with the rapidly changing circumstances. Communication is key in this collective an decisions are grounded in the Seven Cooperative Principles. Please reach out to Keith if you can help volunteer on our delivery days. If there was ever a time to collaborate, now is it and we hope that the Co-op can still be of benefit to your family during this unpredictable time.
We love you, Sitka!
In Solidarity,
Board of Directors: Ariane, Jim, Evanne, Hannah, & Simon