Congratulations to the newest Board of Directors, as follows:

Karen Carney elected to a 3 year term as Board Director with 336 votes.

Karen Medina elected to a 3 year term as Board Director with 326 votes.

Magdalena Casper-Shipp elected to a 3 year term as Board Director with 238 votes.

Keith McKenney elected to a 1 year term  as Board Director with 204 votes

See the full Board of Directors Election Results

Planned Parenthood C-U, 293 votes

Daily Bread Soup Kitchen, 284 votes

Black Lives Matter, 235 votes

Courage Connections, 230 votes

Eastern Illinois Foodbank, 218 votes

Rape Advocacy, Counseling, & Education Services (RACES), 188 votes

Sola Gratia Farm, 184 votes

Crisis Nursery, 176 votes

Education Justice Project, 157 votes

Prairie Rivers Network, 143 votes

Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center (IMC), 133 votes

See the full Round Up For Good Election Results

Adorable picture captured at the Meeting of Owners last week, featuring the Pittenger family, Ruby, Lola, and June wearing veggie & fruit suits!

This year's annual Meeting of Owners took place on Thursday, September 21st. It was an evening of camaraderie, good food, and celebration. The event had a family feel with the mingling of owners, board members, and co-op staff. Attendees enjoyed tasting samples from the store's departments, interacting with local vendors, participating in feedback stations, and creating cards for farmers. 

For the business portion of the meeting, Julie Zilles, board president, presented board updates. She shared what the board has been working on over the past year and introduced the current members. The democracy project working group has started the process for short and long term visioning. This project is currently on hold until we have a new GM in place, as the board feels it is extremely important for visioning to take place among the board, GM, and owners. The financial monitoring working group was newly created this year to educate the board, communicate with owners, and monitor financials monthly rather than quarterly in light of our current financial conditions. The GM search committee has been busy recruiting our next GM (see GM search article below).  Julie then brought the message back to the main reason for the MOO - voting.  Voting ended that evening and there were 8 candidates on the ballot to fill 4 open seats on the board.  Following up from the Financial MOO this past April, Julie shared that store sales are still declining, but we were still at 8.3 million in total sales in 2016. The store could sustain itself for quite a while with the sales we have if it weren't for the current debt load. Julie then recapped the debt repayment and loan deferrals information that was emailed out to owners. The co-op is still strong and the board is optimistic about the future. The 2016 impacts report was also shared during the MOO. See the impacts report here .

Tim Sullivan, interim GM, then gave the operational updates. He talked about recently attending the GM conference through the National Cooperative Grocers and learning that 1/3 of food co-ops in the central region are struggling. He posed the question, in this tough, competitive environment, why do people shop at co-ops? He has found through talking with staff, owners, and vendors that it's about healthy and local food, ownership in the co-op and our Ends, environmentally conscious consumption, and ethical food choices. Common Ground's three main opportunities that he's working on with staff are bringing customers in the door, creating an awesome shopping experience, and operational excellence. Tim then introduced several of the department managers and shared the awesome things happening in each department. The operational update ended with a discussion about telling our story.  How do we reconnect with who we are and invite owners and customers back to shop with us? Tim called owners to action - asking them to fill out comment cards with any suggestions they have about the store or overall shopping experience or to ask for him next time they are in the store to share their suggestions with him directly. 

Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery is hosting the Fall Festival at the farm on  Sunday, October 8, from 3-6pm.

There will be a free cider pressing demonstration between 4-5pm!

Fresh cider and cider floats with their amazing homemade gelato will be available for purchase, along with 30 minute hayrides! Check out hayride times and bring a little cash with you!

Their store, The Real Stand, will also be open for their famous cheeses, gelato, and more.

Follow their event on Facebook and let them know you are attending!

Jenna Kilgus and her girls walk us through the milking procedure that happens twice a day.

These dairy cows were incredibly friendly and curious letting us pet them. They even nuzzled one another as they ate hay.

Jenna's daughter introducing her favorite young cows (heifers) who she has been caring for and grooming for the State Fair.

We enjoyed our visit at Kilgus Farmstead in Fairbury, IL, about 60 miles away from the Co-op. We were lucky to spend time with Jenna Kilgus and her two girls, as they gave us a tour of the entire farm. At Kilgus Farmstead, the farm operation involves the whole extended Kilgus Family. When we ask how long their work days are, Jenna explains that her and her husband and her extended family work an average of 12 hour a day to complete all the farm tasks each day. Their dairy operation features Jersey cows, known for rich  and creamy milk fat. Even the two young daughters help with some daily chores around the farm! The girls are so knowledgable at such a young age, and it was a joy listening to them rattle off all of the cows' names in detail, as we walked through the farm.

Along with milking the dairy cows twice a day, they care for all many animals in various stages of their growth. Did you know that Kilgus Farmstead is in regular communication with their local animal dietician, who recommends special diets for all the various animals on the farm? It's true, the animals diets change based on seasonality, age of the animal, and what additional supplements are needed (i.e. alfalfa). We have worked with the Kilgus family for many years, using their milk in our specialty coffee drinks, bacon in our kitchen and deli for sandwiches and pizzas, and our local meat section is stocked with Kilgus Farmstead meats. They also are one of our main sponsors for the annual Ice Cream Social Fundraiser that we put together in support of Eastern Illinois Foodbank.

Thank you Kilgus Family for hosting us at your farm. We are impressed with how committed you are to working with your family, animals, and farm. Thank you for suppling the Co-op with such delicious foods.

Over the past couple of months, we have been narrowing down the many applications we received for the GM position, and we are now beginning the finalist interview stage. We have conducted phone interviews, video conference interviews, and extensive reference checking with both local and non-local candidates. At this point, we have narrowed it down to one candidate, who we will be interviewing in person soon.  

Ideally, we would have loved to have more than one finalist interview, but we feel that this candidate's experience and qualifications are strong enough to move forward alone. While we're very excited about the interview, it's important to know that we are also researching and developing contingency plans to keep the process moving forward if this candidate is not the right choice for Common Ground's next GM.

The interview process consists of both board and management interviews. We will also be incorporating input from owners gathered in-store and at the MOO. The search committee will make a recommendation to the board based on board and management feedback on the candidate. The full board then must decide whether or not to make an offer. If you have any questions, please feel free to email the search committee directly at [email protected].

Green Pantry Nursery is our main source of deliciously fresh local herbs, grown by Steve and Amy Wenger in Tuscola, IL, about 30 miles away from  the  Co-op. We toured the giant raised beds and three greenhouses filled with oregano, thai basil, dill, parsley, lemongrass, genovese basil, varieties of mint and rosemary so big, that has grown into large shrubbery in just five years.

Amy and Steve have donated hundreds of herb seedlings for our Plant Sale Fundraiser each year in May to fund for our Food For All Program and they work hard to ensure that our town is in good supply of  fresh herbs.

Our staff get excited when they see Steve drop off shipments of herbs because we get bucks of fresh basil for our pizzas, deli salads, and more. (We admit, the basil is one of the secrets why our spinach basil pizza is our top selling pizza.)

Thanks for taking time out of our busy day to show us around! We are grateful to have such wonderful farmers, like you, growing our food and herbs.

The mint is great for tabouli, topping on roasted meats, fresh tea, good for nausea, and more potent when it is harvested locally and brought to the Co-op the same day!

This is an exemplum of what healthy rosemary should look like. This five year rosemary amazed us! The raised bed is about ten feet long to give you a reference to size.

Stop by our Classroom to see the artwork up close. We're excited for everyone to see it!

Beth Chasco has featured  Landscape Oil Paintings of the Leelanau Peninsula of Michigan. The featured painting directly to the right is titled "Leelanau Two Track". Read Beth's artist statement.

Aman Aulakh's art (below) features original Polaroid slides photos taken by her father in the 1960's and her own photography from the early 2000s, where she has created photo emulsion lifts from the Polaroid photos and placed them onto delicate hollowed egg shells. The featured art on the left is titled "Post Shaadi" and to the right is titled "Cowboy & Indian".  Read Aman's artist statement.

For the month of September, we raised over $3,000 for the  Men's Transitional  Housing Program,  formally known as  The T.I.M.E.S Center.

We are excited to raise money for Books to Prisoners, an Urbana based local organization located within the Independent Media Center, that provides " books to Illinois inmates at no cost by mail as well as through two county jail libraries". For several years, Common Ground has served as a location to receive these book donations. We have a Books to Prisoners receptacle near our mall hallway entrance, where you can drop off books to benefit B2P.

Because of your help, UC Books to Prisoners has delivered 129,689 books in 38,518 packages to 19,179 inmates!

Thank you for your support for the entire month of October. We look forward to enriching this program with the help of our Co-op supporters.

Visit the UC Books to Prisoners website for more  information on volunteering and donation drop off.

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