Food.
All animals need it to survive and thrive. Seems simple enough: Find food. Eat food. Survive. Thrive.
Sure-you can eat just about anything and survive. Fast food, frozen processed TV dinners, energy drinks-you can certainly survive on all of them. But over time, it will take a toll on your body. The question is-what can you do to thrive? What choices can you make right here in Renton to do that? And-what can you do to not only nourish your body to thrive, but to help your community and planet thrive?
These are all concerns and questions that a local group of community members are exploring together. And the channel we are using to explore these questions is the idea of a local grocery co-op. Currently using the name Renton Food Co-op (although Renton Grocery Co-op is gaining favor), this group is gathering on a regular basis to create a vision of a local, sustainable, member-owned and operated grocery cooperative. We are inspired by other successful grassroots co-op models that already exist in the region, such as Olympia Food Co-op, Tacoma Food Co-op, and the under construction Delridge Grocery.
Why does Renton need a grocery co-op you ask? We already have a Grocery Outlet; Fred Meyer and Safeway have organic produce; Minkler’s has gluten-free products. True-but a locally owned, member operated grocery co-op provides something unique and special that can’t necessarily be found in those other businesses: an opportunity to nourish our community, the environment, and all people.
A grocery co-op would provide many benefits to Renton:
– A space to find locally sourced, sustainable, organic food;
– An opportunity to be a stakeholder in how the grocery co-op is run;
– Create and provide new jobs;
– A space to hold educational classes on cooking, making healthy food choices, sustainability, etc.;
– A means to care for our environment by intentionally offering sustainable shopping choices;
– and A space to build community connections and partnerships.
Our steering committee meets every few weeks, and is growing. But we want to see this idea engage the wider community and thrive. We encourage any interested parties to get in contact with us. There are many ways to get involved-some very simple, and some that are more in-depth.
We look forward to sharing more details about this project as it proceeds and develops in the near future.
If you would like to find out more or get involved, please contact us via email at sustainablerenton@gmail.com or visit us on Facebook.