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Store and Department News | Wheatsville Co-op
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The Latest News from Wheatsville

Board of Directors News

BOARD OF DIRECTORS CANDIDATES 2024

Brianna Menard

I’ve been a proud owner of the co-op for almost ten years. I became a member in my first year at The University of Texas. Since that time, Wheatsville has nourished me and taken care of me as my home grocery.  I’ve spent my career serving in the Texas Legislature and working on political campaigns across the state with the goal of making Texas a healthier and more equitable home for all of us. I’m also a foodie and a committed vegan! I love to cook and share food with others, something Wheatsville makes possible by offering a variety of locally sourced, plant based whole foods.  I’ve dedicated my career to serving our state. Now I want to serve my home community.  I think I could bring a fresh perspective to the Board, and I would love to give back to the community that has given me so much.

Lisa Mitchell

I’ve lived in Austin for 24 years and have been on the Board a total of four years.  I’ve served as Board Treasurer, and on three Board committees: Nominations, Owner Engagement, and Audit Review.  It’s been interesting to see our co-op adapt to changes that came with COVID. And although much has changed, Wheatsville remains my go-to store. Wheatsville still feels like home. I love the fresh foods and local products. I am energized by uplifting chats with staff and fellow owners every time I shop. No other grocery store embodies the Austin most of us want to live in – a place that welcomes and respects everyone, gives back to and engages the community, and is democratically operated.  If re-elected, I will work to engage owners and recruit new ones so Wheatsville continues to grow and remain viable—while retaining its co-op values—as Austin expands.

Mindy Nobles

I grew up in diverse social and geographic environments that shaped me to seek a kind, just world.  Somehow, food became central.  I joined my first food coop in the early 1990s. When I first walked into Wheatsville Co-op in the mid-1990s while visiting my son at UT, it was a revelation. My son joined Wheatsville in 1995. When I moved to Austin in 2013, I joined the co-op as one of my first commitments to the city. I regard Wheatsville as a kind of home place.  When the board candidate call came this year, I decided that it was time to give back to Wheatsville some small portion of what the co-op has given to me and the larger community over the past 47 years. Wheatsville survived the pandemic. I hope to help steer the co-op into the next three years and on to its second half century.

MeriJayd O'Connor

I have been honored to serve 2 terms on the Board. During which I have fallen in love with Wheatsville even more than when I first discovered the co-op 28 years ago as a college student. I love shopping at Wheatsville for the quality of products, friendly staff, and sense of community. I am a mom, a CranioSacral Therapist and wellness educator. I love gardening and sharing my harvests with friends and neighbors.  I appreciate what an experienced Board can bring to Wheatsville. With Board continuity, we can focus on strategic planning, owner engagement and future expansion. I am especially passionate about educating the community about the cooperative advantage and engaging owners to spread the word about Wheatsville to ensure financial health. It is also important to capture Wheatsville’s history and invigorate the younger generation of cooperators.

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Proposed Bylaw Change added to 2023 ballot

Proposed Bylaw Change:

Your Board of Directors is proposing the following bylaw change with the goal to shorten the minimum required election window in subsequent elections from 60 days to 21 days. This change will provide more time for the candidate application process and candidate campaign activities prior to the commencement of the vote. Having a three-week voting period will also put Wheatsville in line with other food co-ops across the country.

A yes vote means you agree to the proposed changes. 

A no vote means you disagree with the proposed changes. 

Current language:

3.3.1 Procedure for Co-op Vote. The Board of Directors shall define procedures consistent with these Bylaws for Co-op Votes to assure that owners are properly informed and have a fair opportunity to participate. A Co-op Vote may be initiated by a majority of the Board of Directors, by a majority of owners voting at a regular or special ownership meeting where a quorum is present, or by petition as described in Bylaw Section 3.3.3 below. The exact content of any proposal being submitted for a Co-op Vote shall be made available to the ownership at least fourteen days before the vote commences. The vote shall terminate at a date and time specified in the notice by which the vote was initiated (described in Bylaw Section 3.3.2), not less than 60 days from commencement of the vote. The Board of Directors shall schedule a Co-op Vote Confirmation Meeting open to the ownership to be held at the conclusion of the Co-op Vote, in accordance with Board of Directors policies, at which the Co-op Vote will be concluded. The Board of Directors may provide for Co-op Votes to include ballots cast in the store, ballots cast at ownership meetings or events, votes by mail, votes by electronic transmission, or other means provided that appropriate measures shall be taken to assure that each owner has only one vote and no votes by proxy are allowed, as required by the Code.

Proposed language: 

3.3.1 Procedure for Co-op Vote. The Board of Directors shall define procedures consistent with these Bylaws for Co-op Votes to assure that owners are properly informed and have a fair opportunity to participate. A Co-op Vote may be initiated by a majority of the Board of Directors, by a majority of owners voting at a regular or special ownership meeting where a quorum is present, or by petition as described in Bylaw Section 3.3.3 below. The exact content of any proposal being submitted for a Co-op Vote shall be made available to the ownership at least fourteen days before the vote commences. The vote shall terminate at a date and time specified in the notice by which the vote was initiated (described in Bylaw Section 3.3.2), not less than 21 days from commencement of the vote. The Board of Directors shall schedule a Co-op Vote Confirmation Meeting open to the ownership to be held at the conclusion of the Co-op Vote, in accordance with Board of Directors policies, at which the Co-op Vote will be concluded. The Board of Directors may provide for Co-op Votes to include ballots cast in the store, ballots cast at ownership meetings or events, votes by mail, votes by electronic transmission, or other means provided that appropriate measures shall be taken to assure that each owner has only one vote and no votes by proxy are allowed, as required by the Code.

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Election Results

ANNUAL OWNER ELECTION

We had a great turnout this year for our annual owner election with a total of 1725 votes!  Thank you so much to our owners for using your voting power to elect directors and community action partners that will help our wonderful co-op to progress into the future.  We couldn’t do it without our ownership and look forward to collectively and cooperatively growing and sharing our successes.

We are thrilled to welcome back incumbent and current board president, Brandon Hines to the Board of Directors, along with two new first term additions, Joelle Williams and former Wheatsville employee, Cody Atkins.

In addition to voting for our 2023 Board of Directors, owners voted for 10 local nonprofits that will make up next year’s community action program.  These partner organizations will receive donations during their assigned month that are collected from shoppers who choose to round up their purchases at checkout.  Now at over 1 million dollars in total donations since its inception, the Community Action Program has made such a great, positive impact on the lives of Austinites all around our city.

Lastly, there is also another, less common item owners voted for on the ballot this year—a bylaws change. Ownership voted yes on this simple wording change that will have a positive effect on member eligibility requirements by allowing trusts and similar legal instruments to be eligible for co-op membership and introduce an option for survivorship of our outstanding investor shares.
Another fruitful election for the books!

Community Action Partners

January: People’s Community Clinic
February: The SAFE Alliance
March: Let’s Feed Austin
April: Austin Wildlife Rescue
May: Urban Roots
June: Meals on Wheels Central Texas
July: Sustainable Food Center
August: Austin Humane Society
September: CASA of Travis County
October: Cooperative Community Fund
November: Central Texas Food Bank
December: Caritas of Austin

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SUSTAINING A ROBUST COOPERATIVE ECONOMY

BY BOARD DIRECTOR BRANDON HINES

Austin is a truly special place. We live in a city that is unique within this region of the country, supporting a long-lived cooperative community. Having lived elsewhere in Texas I have always wondered what sparked such a community to come together in Austin and why didn’t that same spark fuel similar communities in other Texas cities.

I recently read an article that was shared by the folks at Austin Cooperative Business Association about the world’s largest co-op, Mondragon. Before reading the article, I had only a passing familiarity with Mondragon through my interest in their Orbea bikes. Bikes are only one of a multitude of products and services offered by Mondragon. Mondragon is a co-op conglomerate in the Basque region of Spain. The article shares the history of the region and how the region became dominated by cooperative businesses providing many types of goods and services filling many needs of the community. My takeaway was not so much about the products and services but about the template for developing so many cooperative companies within the community to
fill just about every niche of their economic ecosystem. The history of Mondragon is unlike any other co-op but there are many interesting insights that could be valuable to any community looking to strengthen its cooperative economy.

Cooperatives contribute to the overall health of a community in many ways. Co-ops enable people to participate in prosperity. Co-ops provide a means of democratic control that aligns the values of cooperative companies with that of the community. Co-ops build social cohesion connecting diverse members of the community. Co-ops bolster the local economy by circulating more of the profits within the community.

There are many types of co-ops in Austin but Wheatsville stands alone as the only full-service retail cooperative grocery store in Texas. A search of food co-ops in the U.S. depicts Wheatsville as somewhat of an outpost—farther from our next nearest food co-op neighbor than any other co-op in the nation. It is amazing to see the number of co-ops in other cities such as Seattle or Minneapolis. What makes these cities different from Austin and are we are doing everything we could be doing to better serve the greater Austin community.

While Wheatsville is only one co-op among many. It is arguably the most visible in Austin. Having a successful co-op visible in the community introduces cooperative principles to new people who may decide to form their own co-ops. It provides an example of what is possible. Wheatsville is both a reflection of the community as well as a catalyst for propelling the community.

Austin is changing. It is not the same Austin as it was back in the days of the Armadillo World Headquarters or Liberty Lunch or Mother’s Garden Cafe or [fill in your own personal first experience of Austin]. That is to say that Austin is constantly changing but the change has not extinguished the core of what makes the community special.

As the city grows in both population and geography, what will Wheatsville’s role be? How will Wheatsville continue to serve members of our community who are increasingly spread throughout the expanding Austin region? Will Wheatsville grow with the community or be enveloped by a growing metropolitan city? And what will this mean for Wheatsville’s ability to contribute to the cooperative economy? I like to think that there is a future where Wheatsville, along with many other co-ops, can serve everyone who wants to participate in the cooperative economy. Where there are more cooperative jobs allowing more people to participate economically with livable wages. A future where we all come together and spark the next phase of cooperative growth and development enabling Wheatsville, along with my other co-ops, to serve and support the growing community within our own cooperative economic ecosystem.

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A message from the General Manager: Proposed Bylaws Change

Howdy fellow Wheatsvillagers!

Our annual co-op election begins September 7, and I encourage each of you to vote at your earliest convenience! As usual, we have an excellent slate of board candidates for three rotating open seats as well as an impactful group of non-profit organizations hoping to be selected as our monthly Community Action recipients for the 2023 calendar year. Democratic Member Control is one of the International Cooperative Principles upon which all co-ops are founded, and voting for your board and Community Action groups is the primary way Wheatsville’s owners help to set the direction of our shared cooperative endeavor.

In addition to the usual candidate statements and non-profit groups, there is also another, less common item on the ballot this year—a bylaws change. It has been roughly a decade since we last modified our bylaws, so this is an unusual occurrence. As such, further explanation is both appropriate and necessary to help owners understand what your co-op’s board and management are hoping to accomplish with this change.

The change itself is quite simple. We would like to strike the word “natural” from the phrase “natural person” in section 2.2, which outlines eligibility to become an owner the co-op. This would allow the legal definition of “person” to be eligible to join the co-op as opposed to what you or I might normally think of as a person. This means that trusts, self-directed IRAs, non-profits, businesses, and other organizations would be eligible for co-op membership.

Our bylaws currently have only one set of member eligibility requirements for both regular co-op ownership—or “common stock” as it is known in a legal and financial sense—and investor shareholders. Wheatsville’s investor shareholders are those owners who purchased what’s known as “preferred stock” in the co-op, which was offered in both 2005 to fund the expansion of our Guadalupe location and 2013 to fund the opening of South Lamar.

It is important to note that these are non-voting shares, which means that they do not give the investor shareholder any additional control or rights over co-op governance than any other co-op owner. However, they are a critical element of your co-op’s ability to raise capital to grow both the services we can offer and the impact we can have on our community. Without these investor shares, we would effectively have no way to raise capital beyond our retained earnings from prior fiscal years.

What are the benefits of this change?
First, by allowing trusts and similar legal instruments to be eligible for co-op membership, we introduce an option for survivorship of our outstanding investor shares. It is unfortunately a fact that the co-op’s founding generation is not getting any younger—a group that is heavily represented among our investor shareholders. The passing of an investor shareholder is becoming an increasingly common reason for redemption of shares. This presents a financial challenge to your co-op and negatively impact our cash position. By allowing trusts to be eligible, investor shareholders have a viable option to pass their shares on to the next generation of cooperators without them ever needing to be redeemed back to the co-op. This is an option we would likely encourage in future share offerings.

We also maximize eligibility for future investor share offerings. A real-life example may be helpful here. In 2010, Wheatsville invested the final $50,000 that our friends at Black Star Co-op needed to open their doors. We still hold that investment to this day. This was only possible because Black Star’s bylaws allowed for cooperative organizations to be members in addition to “natural” persons. The proposed bylaws change will allow your co-op to similarly solicit investment from a broader range of sources in any future efforts to raise capital. The goal is to better equip ourselves to ensure the health and future growth of Wheatsville.

What is the worst-case scenario of this change?
Let’s address the elephant in the room. The most cynical read of this proposed change is that it would allow a corporation or privately-owned business to become a co-op member and to thereby have a voting interest in our co-op. I will not deny that this is true. However, there are a few caveats to note here that significantly curtail any negative impact that this might bring:

1. There is already nothing stopping the CEO or another officer of a corporation from joining the co-op as an individual. This would entitle them to a vote and access to summary annual financial statements, among other rights. In other words, allowing (for example) HEB to become a member has little functional difference from allowing Howard Butt to personally become a member. Their rights and access would effectively be the same.
2. A corporation joining the co-op would have exactly the same say as you or me—one single vote out of 27,338 and counting. This is not enough to have any significant level of control over our co-op.
3. This was already the case in the not-too-distant past. When I first joined the co-op as both an owner and employee in 1999, the co-op had a number of businesses and other organizations as members. Several area housing co-ops were (and still are) members. But beyond that, Ballet Austin had a membership. So too did Half-Price Books when it was still located across the street in the building now occupied by Black’s BBQ and Hopfield’s. These are but a few examples, and none of them caused significant issues for the co-op as a business.
4. The board is empowered to set expectations and capital requirements for co-op owners—including any organizational ones—through our Membership Administration Guidelines, which co-op management is then obliged to execute.
5. As a final recourse, the board also has the ability to expel any co-op member under Section 251.152 of the Texas Business Organizations Code. Thus, should a significant problem arise from this eligibility change, the board already has the tools necessary to address it.

I would absolutely understand any co-op owner having skepticism regarding this change. Were I not so involved in the process, I might feel the same way. I hope the above sheds sufficient light on the reasons for the proposed bylaws change as well as its ramifications. Like each of you reading this, Wheatsville’s board and management want to position our co-op to grow and thrive into the future through additional locations and services. Making this change to the bylaws supports this goal by protecting our current cash position and allowing us greater fundraising flexibility in the future. I hope you will join me in helping to secure your co-op’s future by voting in favor.

Thank you for your loyal patronage and support of your co-op!

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BOARD of DIRECTORS CANDIDATES 2023

Cameron Tepper 

Oh, hey there, didn't see ya! My name is Cameron Tepper (he/him). Six years ago, during my first week in Austin, I visited Wheatsville and got a hug from an employee who said, "Welcome Home, Brother." I knew at that moment that Wheatsville was a special place built in cooperation, by and for the community. I would be honored to serve on the board to support the vision of Wheatsville, and work to ensure its place in Austin for another 46 years with an emphasis in equity, transparency, and communication. My hope is to expand participation in the co-op and find more moments of connections for owners and potential owners to further impact and expand the cooperative model in Texas and beyond.


You might be asking yourself, "Yeah, this guy loves that popcorn tofu, but what makes him qualified to run?". For the past 8 years, I've worked in higher education supporting students in their college career in different positions such as managing a dorm at UT Austin, working in a disability services office, and academically advising students at St. Edwards. Recently, I changed fields, and work in recruiting for a local company. In all these positions, I approached the work through an equity lens. What has made me successful is having a varied background to approach all concerns with empathy, flexibility, and a positive perspective. 

Thank you for your time and see you in the produce section!

Brandon Hines 

For the past 30 years I have been a loyal shopper of Wheatsville as my primary grocery store. I have had the honor of serving on the Wheatsville Board of Directors for the past five years, with this most recent year serving as Board President. I am excited about the prospect of continuing to serve on the Wheatsville board. For my background, I attended the University of Texas at Austin receiving a Bachelor of Science in Communication and a Master in Business Administration. I have extensive experience in technology and media and have worked across industries such as health care, entertainment and finance. I believe that I bring a unique perspective and strong passion in representing Wheatsville members and promoting cooperative principles.

Over the past five years serving on the board, I have learned so much about the co-op. As a director, I focused my efforts on financial stability, owner outreach and inclusion & diversity initiatives. Working with management we have seen a year of profitability, the board has hosted a successfully community connect session, and both staff and the board have embraced diversity training. As board president I have expanded my focus to also include expanding the cooperative economy and board perpetuation. We have been largely successful with these initiatives but have much more work to do. I hope to have your support and vote to continue my work on the board on these important initiatives.

Cody Atkins 

Hi, my name is Cody Atkins and I’ve been connected to Wheatsville for almost fifteen years. I started shopping here before the Guadalupe store renovation and was hired as an employee in 2010. I spent 11 years working in various roles from Department Manager to Category Manager. I was a part of many big projects during that time which increased the efficiency and profitability of the co-op. I’ve almost certainly met many of you in the aisles at one time or another!

Prior to my employment at Wheatsville, I worked at another Texas-based grocery store for 10 years, with two of those years in their natural foods division. Since I left Wheatsville in October of last year, I have been working on the manufacturer’s side of the grocery business so I’ve been in and around the industry for 20+ years! I believe my experience will serve the co-op well if elected.
My wife and I currently live just east of town on a few-acre homestead with our two children. We enjoy gardening, DIY projects, and spending time outdoors.

Lisa Mitchell 

I have lived in Austin for nearly 25 years, and I have been a Wheatsville owner for several years. When I’m not working at my day job, I’ve been involved in organizations that serve the humans and animals of Austin, including my prior service on the Wheatsville Board. The pandemic has helped me focus on how I want to spend my precious free time and where I want to direct my efforts.

The pandemic has made me value Wheatsville more than ever. It is one of the few places I feel safe frequenting, and I have at times used and very much appreciate the curbside service. Wheatsville’s response during the pandemic motivated me to get involved again in the Board's work. I want Wheatsville to continue to thrive and serve as a center of community. These last few years have shown the resiliency of our co-op, and I want to help try to ensure its continued success.

Joelle Williams

Though currently in the tech industry today, my first career path and passion were in retail- store operations specifically, for 20+ years. I also took some time to complete an MBA in Strategic Design- the intersection of business and design. The thread that runs through each of these experiences is continuously working to have a deep and insightful understanding for the end user/client/customer- that is my ultimate passion. My skill and thought leadership as a strategic transformation consultant has resulted in successfully helping people understand opportunities and design clear, actionable solutions over time.

Having been in Austin 5ish years, I’d like to make an impact broader than my current reach. I’ve been an owner of the COOP since I moved here and instantly felt aligned with the values of Wheatsville and the community; which speaks to my desire to apply to be a part of the BOD.

An aspect I truly appreciate about Wheastville is that you already represent what many are just beginning to talk about today- Environmental- Sustainability- Government with a side of social justice and D&I. I classify Wheatsville as an early adopter and therefore a leader of Austin’s future- a microcosm how many would like to see their day-to-day community and I would like to be a part of this future vision.

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Message From Our Board Director Brandon Hines

SHAPING OUR SOCIETY BY BUILDING STRONG COMMUNITIES

I have re-written this article several times since my initial draft. It seems that every day I reflect on how much the world has changed since yesterday’s draft that I have to start over again. The events in Buffalo and now Uvalde seem like a natural progression from a long steady stream of disturbing events. A series of events that both signal and exacerbate the eroding of communities.

We live in a modern society—a society that is evolving quickly and not always for the better. We tend to our daily needs with little control over the ever increasing trauma in the world. It is easy to accept what society provides without much consideration when times are good. Many companies have made ordering things online very convenient or have pushed prices down on many commons goods. As a society we often accept these immediate benefits without much thought about the longer-term impacts to our communities.

We are lucky here in Austin that so many forward thinking people built such a strong community. A community that cares about important issues such as having a healthy environment, providing livable wages, working to improve food security, and pursuing social and economic justice. A community that has built much inertia over the years to work towards solving so many issues. Many of these issues are forever uphill battles and inertia can only carry a community forward uphill for so long. I don’t believe that economics should be the sole basis of a community, however, it is an unavoidable fact that economic pressures can provide a community with great strength or slowly weaken a community over time.

It is easy to get lost in the enormity of it all. So many of us have worked most of our lives just to stay afloat. And many more have faced the real struggles of falling behind. The machine of society is large and can be indiscriminate without strong community influence. I often think about what can I, as an individual, do to affect change. At most, each of us can only make a difference at the margins. However, if enough of us align our energies in the margins, we can have a tremendous collective impact.

I chose to live my values. To me, that means doing what I can when I am able to support the organizations that share my values in an effort to benefit and strengthen our community. Of course, I shop at Wheatsville and volunteer on the board. Wheatsville does so many great things for our community. But it is about much more than Wheatsville. It is about the power of cooperatives.

Cooperatives are, by their very nature, focused on the betterment of the community. People create co-ops to address common needs. Such needs can vary from a desire for having healthy sustainable food, to crafting good beer or, as in the case of many formerly enslaved farmers after the Civil War, because their survival depended on working together and sharing resources†. Cooperatives keep power within the community in terms of the economic multiplier of circulating more money locally as well as by maintaining decision making authority over the operation of cooperatives. Even more, cooperatives build
strong communities.

What can you do strengthen the community? Find more opportunities to support cooperatives. The Austin Cooperative Business Alliance (ACBA) is a great resource to learn more about co-ops here in Austin. Do more of your shopping at Wheatsville. Doing so puts our co-op in a better position to grow our community initiates and support a larger cooperative economy. Do you have a particular set of skills and have time to share? Consider volunteering for one of Wheatsville’s community action partners or any of the other great charitable organizations around town. Would you like to get more directly involved with coops? Run for the Wheatsville, ACBA or any of the other co-op boards. ACBA also provides resources for starting your own cooperative. Above all else, identify what matters to you most and take steps to align your everyday activities to increase your impact and align your efforts within the community. As a strong community we can shape society to be more inclusive and responsive to people’s needs reinforcing the idea that there is strength in diversity and that we are all better together. And, just maybe, we can build a society that does not experience so much needless tragedy.

If you would like to learn more about the history of Black cooperatives, check out “Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice,” by Jessica Gordon Nembhard.

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State of the Board

The Wheatsville community has been through quite a bit over the past couple of years with the pandemic, ice storms, disrupted supply chains, and all the social turmoil in response to racial injustice. As a community grocer in a highly competitive market, things have been tough. Beyond selling groceries, Wheatsville has a mission focused on transforming society and building thriving a community. Wheatsville’s commitment to the community is the reason why I have made Wheatsville my primary grocery store for the past 30 years and why I initially decided to run for the board. Having a healthy co-op puts us in the best position to do all the great things we aspire to do. I am happy to say that through the hard work of everyone at Wheatsville and all the support from owners and shoppers, the co-op has established a new foundation of financial stability. While there is still much work to do, we believe that we have the foundation upon which we can grow over the coming years.

I am proud to be stepping in for outgoing board president, Rose Marie Klee. Rose Marie has been a true champion of Wheatsville for many years—bringing a wealth of knowledge and working tirelessly in support of the cooperative mission. I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from Rose Marie as well as so many other talented people on the board. The board is in an overall good position to raise our sights from the pressing needs of the day and focus our attention on the future.

It is an exciting time to be on the board. In many ways, like Wheatsville, the board is firming up our foundation. We have a slate of new officers, a growing level of owner engagement and exciting ideas for the years ahead. Our primary responsibility on the board is to oversee the health of the coop. While overall sales have been down year over year, Wheatsville staff and management have made adjustments to adapt to the changing circumstances. Their work has led to modest but consistent profitability. Being in a stable financial position frees our attention to focus on other priorities such as growth and owner engagement. In 2021, the board organized a Community Connect virtual event that featured a panel of local food experts and facilitated some engaging conversations among owners. This was a great opportunity to learn more about local food production and understand how we, as individuals within the community, shape important issues such as food quality and food access. We are looking to host a similar event again this year where we explore a different topic pertinent to Wheatsville. We are also exploring other ideas for strengthening the co-op and bringing the community together.

While board work is work, it is rewarding work. Austin is a special community. And for the past 46 years, Wheatsville has contributed to the fabric of the Austin community in immeasurable ways. Through our celebration of the 45th anniversary I got to learn much about our history—seeing photos, listening to recordings and talking with people who were there when it all started. I do
not know if the folks who started Wheatsville envisioned that their efforts would have such a lasting impact on the community. What I do know is that the work we do on the board today is both in honor of what we have been gifted in Wheatsville from everybody who has worked so hard up to the present, and in an effort to realize the full potential of what Wheatsville can be for
the next 46 years.

Let us know if you are interested in getting
more engaged. There are many opportunities to participate on board committees, join discussions at the next Community Connect, run for the board, or even by shopping at Wheatsville more often knowing that you are playing a crucial part in keeping our community and your co-op strong.

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