Calling @AndySylvester - and others that are interested in the world of Co-Ops - the Open Coop have announced that they are going virtual this year (who isn’t).
@JohnPhilpin Hi John, I had two years of experience with food co-ops at Oberlin, overall great times. Most dining at Oberlin was run by Saga Food Services. Not bad, family style dining with the dining halls located in the women dorms. It's where I first discovered homemade honey butter on warm rolls. Wow!
But two of the women dorms operated their own non-profit orgs to pool our money and time to prepare our own meals. It was a little cheaper than Saga and more fun. We each did some work & it was a very popular option. A drawing was done each year to see who got to be in the co-op. There were always more kids that wanted to be in the co-op than there were available spaces.
I read what you posted, but don't know whether that is anything like what we did. It seemed to be written in a special language of buzzwords that wasn't familiar to me.
@Ron initiatives like Open CoOp and ICA are modern day organizations seeking to expand the idea of cooperative thinking into as many places as they can.
I think that the CoOp movement has a potential to deliver greater equity in the world. The flip side is the very word ‘coop' comes with a lot of baggage.
For example in the UK there is this which is different to this that most people would think of in the UK - if asked about ‘The Coop’.
@JohnPhilpin The co-op I was in at Oberlin has grown a lot since my days there. We had only two dining halls, now they have many more. Documents about them are here. Is this organization similar to what you're talking about or is it something completely different?
My favorite one was Tank Hall. I was so glad to be able to eat and work there my senior year. Stephanie and Don were two wonderful friends I had there who came out to CA when I did. But they have both now passed on. I was verrry lucky to have known them. Treasure your good friendships while you have them, folks!