Staff Profiles

• Dianne Fogarty

Dianne Fogarty joined the Co-op staff in November 2006, initially in a back-up role and soon taking on additional shifts. Dianne has been living in Maleny for over 10 years with her daughter Charlotte, the last four-and-a-half years also with partner Tony Cleaton.

As well as working at the Co-op, Dianne teaches art at a Sunshine Coast school. When she first came to town, she was involved with the Flexi School. Her interests and hobbies include the arts, gardening and social sports.

Dianne says that the best thing about working at the Co-op, other than working with the great team, is that members and customers take their choices seriously as consumers. The questions she has to field range from "Is that locally grown?", "Is that 100% organic?" and "Is that produced in Australia?" to "Do you have any yellow [anti-Woolworths] stickers?", "Would you like all my plastic bags?" and "Do you know where I could source a vanilla plant?"

While endeavouring to assist, Dianne has learned much about how any purchase we make has many follow-on effects. To her, this makes working at the Co-op a liberating as well as an educative experience. Plus, she enjoys the reward of the 70% cocoa organic dark chocolate...!



• Alan Harrington (Co-op General Manager)

Alan Harrington started at the Co-op as a director in 1995, and due to an emergency filled in as "temporary" manager for three months in December that year. He must be enjoying it, because he's still here! To ensure he is kept busy, Alan has recently taken on overall managerial responsibility of the UpFront Club.

His background is in the development of computer systems and the investigation of fraud, and subsequently as owner/manager (with wife Mary Meadows) of a number of retail businesses.

Alan is also a director of the Maleny Credit Union, enjoys playing chess and is keen to contribute to the sustainable development of Maleny.



• Janelle Leong

Janelle Leong, together with her family, has been living in the Maleny area for a number of years. She has been on the Co-op's staff since March 2006, and is proud to be part of "a business that operates with the understanding that, together, more can be achieved".

During the previous five years, Janelle worked in administration at the local Booroobin Sudbury Democratic Centre of Learning. She loves being part of a working community with shared values and ideals.

Janelle has a background in the hospitality industry and has a keen interest in alternative therapies, health and well-being. Her interests include jewellery-making, writing, camping and bushwalking, astronomy and philosophy.



Gay Liddington

Gay Liddington joined the Co-op's staff in September 2006 to relieve General Manager Alan Harrington of the day-to-day accounts and weekly payroll practices.

Prior to this, Gay was employed at The UpFront Club as payroll clerk for almost five years until the two co-ops merged in late 2005. During that time, she worked as a volunteer in various roles ranging from "galley slave" to management consultant. She was also a director for two years.

Apart from working in administration, Gay is a writer and creative performer who often displays a wicked and irreverent sense of humour. Through her writing, she embraces life on all levels.

Gay's love of the arts began in Mackay where her writing, character performances and workshops were expressed through the Festival of Arts and Mackay Writers Group. In more recent times, she has performed at the Woodford Folk Festival, Celtic Tearooms, The UpFront Club, with Maleny Players and at private functions.

For several years, Gay was an employee and volunteer counsellor with Lifeline (Mackay/Whitsunday), and she later worked in Sydney as an executive administrator in the field of personal development and corporate seminars. Gay finds bookkeeping satisfying and is amused that people often ask how such a creative person could enjoy stewing over figures. Her answer is that she loves the challenge of getting it right.

LETS (Local Energy Transfer System) is another co-op close to Gay's heart. She joined LETS within the first month of settling in Maleny and embraces the idea of cashless trading. She has been the LETS newsletter editor for six years.

Gay has a keen interest in health, nutrition, cooking, self-healing and sustainable living. In 2005, she moved to the Cedarton Foresters Co-op community at Booroobin. Her other interests include reading (mainly non-fiction), photography, music and well-crafted movies.

[See “Maple Street Co-op News” Oct/Nov 2006 for more on Gay's story.]



• Lori Sturtz

Lori Sturtz has been a Co-op staff member since mid-2000, having lived in the Maleny area for about 10 years prior to that. American-born, she has degrees in English and Advertising and is in the final stages of her Bachelor's degree in Naturopathy. She is a member of the Cedarton Co-operative, where she was an active participant in its projects until moving to town in 2003. She is also a keen runner, having competed in a number of marathons, and has a passion for reading and researching.

Lori is very willing to share the knowledge she has gleaned in her studies. She believes wholeheartedly in the organic food industry and in helping to implement sustainable production on a planetary scale. With her keen interest in natural therapies and organic foods, she is a stalwart for sourcing the best, most ethically sound produce and products for the Co-op to provide.

She has contributed numerous articles to "Maple Street Co-op News", covering everything from pressing health issues of the day to Maleny's stance against the Woolworths supermarket that has affected platypus colonies on the banks of our local Obi Obi Creek not to mention the local economy.

Lori is committed to the Co-op for the long term, and makes a significant contribution to our operations and profile.



• Sue Verstraten

Sue Verstraten has been on the Co-op staff since early 2001. A long-time Maleny resident and Co-op member, Sue has plenty of experience in the hospitality industry. She enjoys working with people and believes in the Co-op's philosophy and ethics. From personal experience, she is a very strong supporter of the importance of clean food.

Sue showed her culinary skills in action at our Healthy Living organic cooking demonstration in 2004 at the UpFront Club. She has always enjoyed cooking, particularly making speciality cakes; so when the offer of a job working at a tourist resort and being trained by a qualified chef came her way, she jumped at the opportunity. Later, Sue started working on the Range in smaller establishments, and, as more and more people were exposed to her culinary skills, catering was the natural progression.

Catering for individuals and groups gives Sue more creative, personal input in preparing food. She's dedicated to using quality organic ingredients and creating food that is both healthy and enjoyable. For the last few years, Sue has been contributing recipes to "Maple Street Co-op News" [see Recipes section].

Sue is committed to making a stand on issues affecting our society and environment, and her creative window displays for the Co-op have covered a variety of themes including platypus power and the Maleny People's Park, organics, pesticide dangers, fair trade, the hemp alternative and so much more. She even baked a birthday cake for Daniel Jones during his six-week bunya tree sit-in in 2004 to help save the Obi Obi creekbank from the Woolworths supermarket.



• Yacoba Verstraten

When Yacoba Verstraten joined the Co-op staff in late 2002, she was carrying on a family tradition that started in 1996 when her brother Luke joined us and continued in early 2001 with her mother Sue Verstraten's arrival.

Yacoba helped out in her early days here as our cleaner and general back-up person, but then took on other tasks and has since "grown" her job. She is concerned about health and the value of organic over conventionally grown produce and believes in healthy, ethical and sustainable choices.

Her outside interests include pottery (both thrown and hand-built) and growing organic vegetables. She's kept a large organic garden continuously growing a wide variety of vegetables, and this has helped her appreciate the effort that goes into organic production processes. She's also had experience in selling excess produce on consignment to the Co-op.

Yacoba advocates a healthy lifestyle and has an interest in complementary medicine. She's contributed to the Recipes section of "Maple Street Co-op News" and has willingly participated in many Product News photos for the newsletter.

She brings hands-on knowledge, efficiency and passion to her job at the Co-op.