Springfield Co-op celebrates 25th anniversary

”Large enough to meet your needs; small enough to meet your neighbors.” According to general manager Naomi Lauritsen, that’s the motto of the Springfield Food Co-op, which celebrated it’s 25th anniversary on Friday

   

2017-07-22 / Front Page Springfield Co-op celebrates 25th anniversary By KELSEY CHRISTENSEN kchristensen@eagletimes.com (From left to right) Ashley Cole and her daughters, Bella and Angelina, watch on while co-op member and local potter Susan Leader leads them in a free clay activity outside of the Springfield Co-op. On Friday, the co-op celebrated its 25th anniversary with free food, activities, and door prizes. — KELSEY CHRISTENSEN (From left to right) Ashley Cole and her daughters, Bella and Angelina, watch on while co-op member and local potter Susan Leader leads them in a free clay activity outside of the Springfield Co-op. On Friday, the co-op celebrated its 25th anniversary with free food, activities, and door prizes. — KELSEY CHRISTENSEN SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — ”Large enough to meet your needs; small enough to meet your neighbors.” According to general manager Naomi Lauritsen, that’s the motto of the Springfield Food Co-op, which celebrated it’s 25th anniversary on Friday with ample free samples throughout the store, activities outside, and door prizes — like Springfield Co-op tin lunchboxes, which went to the first 25 kids that visited the co-op that day. The co-op was founded in 1992 by a board of directors that wanted to bring fresh, local food to the Springfield community, opening its first storefront on Chester Road that year. Thirteen years later, in 2005, the co-op moved to its current River Street. The co-op is community owned, and features a wide variety of produce, dry goods, a deli counter, and even locally-crafted gifts and jewelry. “For a lot of people, the co-op means community,” said Lauritsen. “It’s been member-owned since 1992: it means having a say in where your food comes from.” Member-ownership allows the board to direct management on where the co-op should be going, Lauritsen added. The co-op has changed quite a bit since it was first chartered in 1992: the co-op sources its products from around 200 farms and businesses, purchases $300,000 annually from local farmers, and boasts 1,800 members, which come from an array of communities in surrounding areas. “The co-op means access to healthy local food,” said front-end manager Ali Lillie. “And farmers have a way of selling their product.” Lauritsen says one of the best parts the growth and success of the store in the past two decades is the co-op’s ability to give back to the community. “Since we’ve been able to grow and be profitable, we’ve been able to be a community partner,” she said. The Change for Change program, for example, which was launched in November 2016, allows customers at the co-op to round up their total price at the register and donate the difference to a local cause. In January, the program raised over $1,000 for the Springfield Warming Shelter. Currently, the co-op is working on a program called Community Outreach Projects, which works to develop access to healthy foods for low-income families. It’s anticipated to launch in October. The co-op also accepts electronic benefit transfers (EBT) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Further developments and expansions may soon be on the horizon for the growing local grocer. “We just completed a market study that had a very favorable forecast for increased sales,” Lauritsen said. The co-op hopes it can one-day expand into a larger space, with a sit-down area to enjoy prepared foods. Being a space that creates fertile ground for community socializing — as the motto suggests — means that aisles are frequently congested with customers eager to visit and commiserate. “It’s a happy place,” Lillie says. “A busy place,” Lauritsen adds. It’s no wonder, then, that both Lillie and Lauritsen mention that people are the best part of the job, second only, maybe, to the abundant good food. “It’s really a privilege to work with people who are working hard to make this world a better place, and their community a better place,” Lauritsen said.