April Board Reflections
Hi members,
Things are really tough right now and every single person is affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
The board and staff are resolved to do whatever it takes to get through this and continue our growth. It may sound trite at a time like this to say, but through challenges and pain comes growth. I know we can and will continue to serve our community after this.
Early on in this crisis, like many of you, I started to stock up on supplies and most of it came from Open Harvest. Looking forward, one of the best things we can do long-term is to keep shopping safely at Open Harvest. Send one family member who has had no signs of illness in the last two weeks. Have them wear a face mask and non-latex gloves. Try to shop only once per week and have the trip through the store planned out ahead of time. Stay six feet away from everyone, especially the staff. The staff are putting themselves out there so that the community can have access to the quality products Open Harvest offers.
Open Harvest is still looking toward the future in many ways and using technology to continue our work while we aren’t able to meet in person. We attended our annual board retreat via Zoom on Saturday, April 11th, to take our annual deep dive into issues that pertain to our role as the Board and how it relates to the General Manager and the store itself. Speaking of which, the Board had our first successful online Board Meeting on April 1st; it was a success and we have even had several online Board subcommittee meetings in the last several weeks as well.
Be assured that we are all doing our best to hold up our end of the Co-op. I’ve seen the staff and Amy working very hard when I was in the store, and the rate of restocking really reflected this. The management also made the wise decision to have occasional days where the store is closed to sanitize the store, restock, and reflect.
In hope you all stay well and hope to see you all soon.
In cooperation,
Aaron Druery
Board Director