H Street Food Co-op Is Here

The H Street Food Co-op is here! Its goal is to open a store on H Street specializing in healthy, natural and organic foods, cosmetics and household items. It is starting out as a consumer-buying club, with membership. The membership fee is $25.

The next H Street Food Co-op meeting will be on Monday, March 1 at 7 p.m., at the old Bank Of America building at 961 H St. NE.

So far, the Co-op is putting food orders together once a month. It has already made two successful buying orders that have included eggs and lots of typical vegetables such as carrots, cabbage and sweet potatoes, as well as more exotic vegetables such as White Daikon.

Since the group is just getting organized, it has two tracks that members can take: You may be a buying member and only participate as a consumer, or you can be a part of the steering committee as well as a buying member.

If you are interested in becoming more than a buying member, the group would love to have you participate in the multiple tasks required to get the Co-op up and running as a business.

Right now, the steering committee is working on its 501-c3 application for the IRS to make the group a nonprofit corporation, filing its articles of incorporation with D.C. government, drafting its bylaws, designing a Web site and marketing materials, developing a membership guide and newsletter, drafting a business plan, recruiting new members, etc.

So far, the group has come up with a draft set of H Street Co-op Principles:

• To support local, organic, family-owned and sustainable agriculture;

• To make available healthy, fresh, delicious, diverse, and often more affordable alternative foods;

• To increase consumer control of our local economies and sources of sustenance;

• To educate the community on important environmental, health, economic, and agricultural issues; and

• To be open to all, bringing neighbors together in a common and spirited effort to achieve these goals.

The H Street Food Co-op is looking for members, supporters and volunteers. Interested persons may contact Amira Moore-Page at 388-4220 or amirracle@hotmail.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hstreet_foodcoop. §