GLASGOW — Interest is growing in a local food cooperative, but organizers say it really needs to blossom before they can turn the operation into a full-service grocery and cafe.
The Green Market Co-op is entering its second year of operations and, although there are already more than 160 member-owners, the organization needs a greater commitment from the community, according to its participants. For a one-time investment of $200, residents can become part of a locally grown, natural and organic food initiative.
The group presented a Fall Harvest Fest & Fundraiser on Saturday at First Christian Church on North Race Street to raise awareness of the program.
Kimberly Page, president of Green Market, said because the group is a co-operative they will need to raise 40 to 60 percent of their capital through private investment before they can receive bank financing to open the grocery.
“It’s very important before our doors open that we have that funding,” she said.
The goal is to open the store as soon as possible, maybe by the end of 2009 depending on community response. Anyone will be able to shop in the store, but owners will get certain additional benefits for their one-time investment.
The first 200 investors will be designated as charter members in the co-op. According to Dr. Derek Oldenkamp, another co-op member-owner, they hope to have 300 members by the end of winter.
Page said she became involved in the project because her family and friends were traveling to Nashville and Louisville to get natural and organic foods that were not available locally and decided it would be more feasible to create a market in Glasgow that was big enough to serve surrounding counties.
The vision for the full-service grocery is to provide high-quality food, produced and locally grown in season, as an alternative to commercially grown and shipped products. The co-op will also encourage producers to grow different crops year-round.
More than 130 items are already available including: bulk foods such as beans, oats, millet and barley; local meats such as beef, pork, lamb and goat; butters and milk; organic packaged foods such as blue corn chips, macaroni and cheese and peanut butter; frozen foods; organic flour; gluten-free and diabetic foods; locally roasted coffee; dried fruits and organic cane sugar; as well as non-food items such as skin-care products.
Bill and Suzanne Waldrop were present at the harvest fest on Saturday for the food sampling and a presentation by Dr. William Travis on healthy eating. They aren’t members yet, but are intrigued by the idea.
“Certainly it’s a concept I very much support,” said Suzanne Waldrop.
Page said there are a lot of interested people in the community who haven’t decided to join yet.
“It’s kind of a Catch-22,” she said. “They say, ‘We’re going to wait until the store opens,’ but we need their financial support for the store to open. We need investors.”
For more information, check out the Web site at www.GreenMarketCoop. com or call (270) 404-5423.
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