My partner just moved in, and yesterday she joined the coop!
Reminder: the coop is awesome.
The look on my partner's face when they first saw the produce aisles... "I had no idea!!"
Then she saw the cheese. lol
The main draw was the cooperative nature of the coop. Nobody owns it. There's no exploitation. We all get to contribute and work, from packaging to office tasks. I hope longtime members do not forget how wonderful this place is. What an example it is for others. Every person who welcomed her on joining was a volunteer — every interaction was helpful and informative. Despite being busy as hell, fellow members were courteous and generally chill. (DESPITE ALL RUMORS TO THE CONTRARY)
After depending on groceries stores that are either ultra-processed nabisco outlets or overpriced "luxury" goods markets... our household can now afford to eat organic. There's a slight discount on the markup for people (like her) who are on Medicaid, which is also super thoughtful and cool.
She was genuinely surprised that she hadn't known anything much beyond stereotypes about "Park Slope busybodies"... which, turns out, are greatly exaggerated. Turns out, sharing really is caring.
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We got Baby Gem lettuces to make a great recipe from Alice Roman's cookbook Nothing Fancy, and it was DELICIOUS.
She was inspired to spend a couple hours on the phone with friends and family encouraging them to at least check it out.
It's not a little pie where we're all fighting for a piece, it's a labor of love we build together. And that's not something a lot of us have really found in this life.
L'chaim.