By Marina Gomide
A NEW ‘community care’ initiative to help Maple Street Co-op members during times of crisis was one of several announcements made at the organisation’s annual meeting last week.
There was also a change of directors, a focus on local produce heroes and the announcement of a new oral history archive.
John Ford, Eugenie Schwartz, and Jonathan Waites replaced outgoing directors Robin Harper, Kerry Cosgrove, and Anna Morningstar at the October 26 AGM.
Robin said the creation of the Community Care Account was borne through a desire to “pay forward” the need for healthy food.
“We want to be able to pay forward the need for healthy foods by channelling money and efforts into a crisis account to support people in need,” she said.
Robin gave the example of a person who, due to health issues, isn’t able to work, resulting in them losing income and not being able to afford organic food, leading to a downward spiral in health.
Co-op business manager Peter Pamment explained that they want to make this process the least intrusive possible and will rely partially on the trust and honesty of the community and its members. Funds for this crisis account will be raised through donations which can be made at the Co-op.
The last major announcement made during the meeting is the Oral History Archive event, which will be held on November 27. Created by Lindsay Kruger, this project dives into the history of the Co-op and the origin stories of the alternative Maleny community.
“The aim of this event is to acknowledge and pay respect to the Co-op history and to understand the social forces that helped create it,” Lindsay said.
Involved in the project are Co-op founders Lorna Huston and Matthew Davies.
Chair of the Board of Directors Kamala Alister (pictured) ended the meeting by thanking the community, staff, directors and members, including Fiona Emberton, Adrian Anderson, Patricia Lake, Elke Watson, Anna Sibbel, and Charlotte Fogarty-Henderson.
“Everyone here is the reason this Co-op has been so successful, and you are all responsible for this amazing community we have created,” Alister said.