by Anya Firszt, General Manager
Hello dear Owners,
Happy New Year! 2025 has officially arrived. The amount of daylight is growing by the second since the winter solstice. The weather is unpredictable as ever. Even though this is an odd-numbered year, make it a good one!
Find your Wellness at the Co-op
Wellness Wednesday is on January 8 this month because we’re closed on the first Wednesday of the month. As an additional treat to our Owners, we’re offering a 15% discount this month on your health and wellness purchases.
If you are one for making a New Year’s resolution and your goal or promise is to learn a new skill this year, you might want to consider taking a class at the Co-op. We offer cooking classes, as well as meditation, nutrition, and yoga classes at the Co-op. If making dietary changes is what you’re looking for, we have you covered.
You can look forward to extra special Owner sales the second week of January—you can find some of them on page 21 of this issue.
Community Reinvestment Fund
It’s that time of year when we look forward to receiving proposals for the Community Reinvestment Fund annual granting cycle. The deadline for submitting applications is January 31.
This year the Co-op will award $65,000 in grant money to selected recipients. And, an additional $20,000 for up to two recipients has been designated specifically for larger capital purchases/investments to support our local food system.
As a reminder, these grants are paid for by using abandoned and donated equity. (Equity is the investment made when Owners join our Co-op.) These funds are deposited at a separate foundation, held in our name, and withdrawn to support qualified 501(c)3 nonprofits and cooperatives incorporated under Wis. Statute 185.
2018 Owner Bonds
In 2018, we asked Owners to support our Willy West expansion. Borrowing money from Owners has been a long-standing tradition for our Co-op and one of the key ways we have financed property acquisition and expansions. For those Owners who purchased a seven-year bond in 2018, the Co-op will be issuing repayment of $295,000 in bonds plus interest beginning in late January and early February. Thank you, dear Owners, for helping to make that remodel and expansion project a reality.
FY2024 Annual Report
The FY2024 Annual Report was sent out last month to Owners either by printed copy or electronically. If you missed it, you can check out the report on our website here: https://www.willystreet.coop/FY24-annual-report.pdf
Stores are closed:
January 1 (New Year’s Day)
All the best to you in this new year,
Anya
