Co-op News
From "Maple Street Co-op News", Feb/Mar 2005
Donations, Workshops and Achievements
by Alan Harrington, Co-op Manager
The year hasn't started off too well for a lot of people with the tragic
tsunami disaster and the devastating fires on the Eyre Peninsula in
South Australia. However, the community response has been outstanding
and hopefully a lot of positives will come out of the relief and reconstruction
efforts.
Lori Sturtz and staff organised an Oxfam appeal box on the counter,
and in a few short weeks just over $1,300 was raised from members and
the public. Our thanks to those who donated; the money collected so
far has been remitted to Oxfam. This appeal is ongoing, so feel free
to donate next time you are in the Co-op.
On more mundane Co-op matters, we were exceedingly busy over the Christmas/New
Year period and had record sales. My thanks to the staff who have worked
even harder than usual and often in very trying conditions with the
heat and humidity. Although the roof extractors have worked well,
we are all looking forward to the renovations being carried out. There
will be more on this in the next issue, as the Directors put the finishing
touches to the design prior to submitting it to Caloundra City Council.
Our Secretary Mary Meadows recently ran a workshop for Directors and
interested staff on Co-op finances. This was designed to familiarise
Directors with all aspects of the financial operations of your cooperative
– after all, they are the ones who are legally responsible, not
I! The participation
rate was high and I understand that we have Directors who are now experts
on matters fiscal. I'm looking forward to being asked some pretty in-depth
and nitty-gritty questions at the next monthly Directors' meeting!
Speaking of workshops, under the auspices of the Sunshine Coast Environment
Council yours truly gave a lecture at the Woodford Folk Festival on
the need for trading co-operatives to be profitable. This talk was given
jointly with John Hepburn, who is currently based in Sydney as the Greenpeace
spokesperson on genetic engineering issues and who founded Brisbane's
Reverse Garbage co-operative. John and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience
and the very positive feedback. Staffer Rod Castle and a couple of alternative
fuel enthusiasts also gave a delightful and entertaining talk on biodiesel,
with a hands-on under-the-bonnet demo after the talk. More on this in
Rod's article,
"Chewin' the Fat, Talkin' up the Oil".
You'll be interested to know that Maple Street Co-op is now 25 years
young! It was officially registered on 18 December 1979, so this quarter-of-a-century
in business is a wonderful achievement for any enterprise and is a credit
to all who have been involved over this time. My personal thanks to
everyone who has played a part [and thanks to Alan from the rest of
us for his input towards the Co-op's ongoing success; Ed.]. The Directors
have decided to celebrate this milestone later on in the year –
and in some style. See our next newsletter for details of planned celebrations
and activities.
[From "Maple Street Co-op News", Feb/Mar 2005; published by
The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny,
Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.coop@serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]