Indy Food Co-op on Inside Indiana Business

IFC's board president, Kyle Hendrix, speaks with Inside Indiana Business' Garry Dick this week. Check out the interview HERE:

August 14 - News From Indy Food Co-op

It has been an exciting couple of weeks for Indy Food Co-op and a great deal of progress is being made towards opening our doors in late October. As you know, a couple of weeks ago, we signed a lease at the location we presented to you at the first member meeting -- so, 2828 East 10th Street is our new home for Pogue's Run Grocer (a name you chose at our kick-off meeting). Then, last Saturday, after a few words to the press along with important supporters like East 10th Civic Association and the Super Bowl 2012 Legacy Committee, it was you, the members and supporters, that helped us take down the walls as we began transforming this 70-year old building into new hope for healthy, local food in Indianapolis. In fact about 35 of you helped with deconstruction and clean-up, and several more of you stopped by with food for the volunteers, as did a local favorite, YATS!

In other words, we couldn't have done all this without you! Our community-owned grocery store is becoming a reality because of YOU!

Over the coming weeks, we'll be calling on you again and again. Where you can help, it will make a difference.

• Help us reach 300 Member households by store opening by spreading the word about Indy Food Co-op!
• Commit to spend your first grocery dollar each week with the Indy Food Co-op!
• Volunteer to staff a booth at an upcoming event!
• Volunteer to paint, built, stock, clean and help us get this store open!!!!

And, now, more news you can use.....

CALL FOR CONCEPTUAL MURAL DESIGNS
Indy Food Co-op is seeking talented, creative artist to volunteer to create conceptual designs for our exterior mural. Designs will be narrowed by the IFC board with the final two designs coming to the IFC membership for a vote! Mural concepts should scream "food" as it is intended to be a major attention grabber for the store for those traveling briskly down 10th Street. The chosen designer will oversee the painting of the mural using volunteer assistance by willing co-op members. Conceptual designs must be submitted electronically in PDF not to exceed 8 MB by September 18, 2009, to jrhodes4@indy.rr.com

WELCOME TO THE IFC BOARD
Indy Food Co-op Board of Directors added Renee Sweany in June 2009. Many of you likely know Renee from the farmer's markets around town. Renee works on two projects right down the IFC alley: GreenPiece Indy e-newsletter (http://www.greenpieceindy.com) and Green Savings Indy coupon book (http://www.greensavingsindy.com). Renee has jumped right in and is serving on the Marketing and Operations Committees.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
August 15, 1:00 - 3:00, Indianapolis Vegetarian Society dinner at Chef's Academy, Savor the Summer Garden. For info, visit: http://www.indyvegsociety.org/

August 22 (morning) - Painting/Workday at Pogue's Run Grocer. More details soon!

September 15, 6;30 - 8:00 - Member Loan Kick-off at the Pogue's Run Grocer site. Details soon by e-mail and by mail.

September 28, two fascinating lectures by Lisa Heldke, Department of Philosophy, Gustavus Adophus College, brought to you by Department of Philosophy, Department of Sociology, and American Studies Program of the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, and by the IUPUI 40th Anniversary Speakers Fund along with Indy Food Co-op, Indy Winter Farmers Market, Slow Food Indy and Indy Tilth/Urban Farming Forum

• CULTIVATING COSMIC PATRIOTISM BY CULTIVATING COSMOS: URBAN GARDENING AND THE CREATION OF COMMUNITY -- Open discussion: 3:00 PM-4:15 PM, IUPUI, Campus Center (CE) 309, 420 University Boulevard, Indianapolis
• STAYING HOME FOR DINNER: RUMINATIONS ON LOCAL FOODS IN A COSMOPOLITAN SOCIETY -- Local Food Reception: 6:00 PM; Lecture: 6:30 PM-8:00 PM, Lilly Auditorium, On lower level of IUPUI University Library, 755 W Michigan St., Indianapolis

- Free Parking available at the North Street Garage, 819 W. North St. with validation
- Space is limited for both events. Please R.S.V.P at jrhodes4@indy.rr.com
- For complete details, visit: http://www.indyfoodcoop.org/calendar.html

IFC OUTREACH:
Can you spare a few hours to help us staff a booth for a shift at one of these upcoming events? If so, please let us know!

• August 29, Feast of Lanterns, a Near East Side Community Organization event, noon - dark, Spades Park
• September 8, IUPUI Green Business Fair, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., IUPUI Campus
• September 12, Mapleton-Fall Creek Neighborhood Block Party, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
• October 17, Cottage Home Block Party, 5:00 - 11:00 p.m., Cottage Home Neighborhood

FOR OUTSTANDING SUPPORT, A SPECIAL THANKS TO:

• East 10th Street Civic Association for all their financial and other support;
• HAUS, The Architecture Studio (www.HAUS-ARCH.com) for so much incredible probono design work on our building;
• Our new website volunteer, Renee Sweany;
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) for their financial support;
• All those who attended FOOD, INC. with Indy Food Co-op to better understand why we are working so hard to provide an alternative; and
• All the members of Indy Food Co-op who are making this project happen!

Keep up on Indy Food Co-op progress by visiting www.indyfoodcoop.org and www.indyfoodcoop.blogspot.com

Volunteers Bring Down the Walls on Sat, Aug 8

A tremendous volunteer turnout this past Saturday (August 8) resulted in the Indy Food Co-op's first major workday to get the store open. More than 25 volunteers (most shown here in photo) came out to clear out the interior walls to make way for Indy's first non-profit, community-owned grocery, Pogue's Run Grocer!


More details about the news conference to follow, but check out this week's great coverage by our local press......


Indianapolis Business Journal
Indy Star
Channel 13

And look for more member-volunteer workdays to follow!

Are You Ready to Get This Co-op Open?

On Saturday, August 8, at 8:45 a.m., the Indy Food Co-op will begin the process of transforming our leased building into a community grocery store, and we need your help! We know that many of you have been anxiously awaiting this day, and now, finally, we are ready to take down walls and build up shelves, refrigerators and freezers of fresh, wholesome food for ourselves and our neighbors.

Please join us for an 8:45 a.m. news conference at 2828 East 10th Street, followed by a 9:00 a.m. tearing down of the interior walls. We'll work until 1:00 p.m. and then we are looking for volunteers who will bring dishes to feed the hard working volunteers.

So, if you are able to help with demolition, please e-mail Chris Barnett with the operations committee, to let him know what skills and tools you might be able to provide at barnett_dc@yahoo.com (provide e-mail and phone number). Up to 20 volunteers can be utilized for this important event!

If you want to bring a pitch-in item to help feed volunteers that day, please contact IndyFoodCoop@yahoo.com and tell us what you plan to bring.

We hope that you are as excited as we are about building up Indianapolis' first storefront cooperative grocery and that you are ready to help us get the doors of Pogue's Run Grocer* open!!!!!!
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*p.s. Pogue's Run Grocer was the name chosen by our membership in November 2008! We are already hearing some great feedback about people's memories and the history of Pogue's Run and George Pogue in our near east side community. We hope you'll share your stories with us as well!

Indy Food Co-op to Open First Store as Pogue’s Run Grocer in October; Mission-driven grocer commits to near east side community

July 31, 2009 - INDIANAPOLIS – In the past five years, two major grocery chains moved out of Indianapolis’ near eastside, and the 40,000 residents of the community fell prey to the high cost and low nutritional value of the dozen convenience stores that emerged since.

With a goal of providing affordable, healthy food options to the community, Indy Food Cooperative, Inc. announces its first non-profit, community-owned grocery store will open at 2828 East 10th Street in October 2009 as Pogue’s Run Grocer.

“Pogue’s Run Grocer seeks to improve the quality of life in Indianapolis by providing the community with access to good food, while supporting the local economy instead of national grocery chains,” said Kyle Hendrix, president of Indy Food Cooperative.

“Nearly 200 households representing residents all across Indianapolis have joined as members of the cooperative, but putting Indy’s only non-profit, storefront grocery store in an underserved area of the city meets an important mission of our group,” continued Hendrix,

This week, Indy Food Cooperative announces the signing of a lease for a building that has sat empty along a blighted section of East 10th Street for five years, the former Lane TV building. Volunteers of the cooperative will begin demolishing the interior walls on August 8 in preparation for the transformation of the space into a grocery store.

“Finding an adaptive reuse for this property will preserve and improve another building as well as provide jobs and a living wage -- a touchdown for the community and a great start to the 2012 Super Bowl Legacy project goal to revitalize the 10th Street Corridor during the next three years,” said Patrick Dooley, co-chair of the 2012 Super Bowl Legacy’s committee for economic development along the corridor.

Over the next three months, the 70 year old building near the intersection of 10th and Rural Streets will be renovated into a 3,000 square foot full-line grocery store. Shelves will be lined with fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, meats, poultry, personal care items and more. Members receive discounts on their purchases and other benefits, but the store will be open to the general public.

"Building a strong neighborhood relies upon people working together and the Indy Food Co-op's investment in this community demonstrates the positive impact neighbors can make. The Food Co-op will bring fresh food back into our neighborhood -- making it available to residents that do not have access to a grocery store," continued Dooley.

“The location offers a central location and is conveniently accessible by car, bike, bus or foot,” added Hendrix. “Pogue’s Run Grocer will be a true community marketplace to benefit those who care about health, and who believe that good food should be affordable and accessible to all.”

For more information about the event or the Indy Food Coop, visit www.indyfoodcoop.org , e.mail indyfoodcoop@yahoo.com, or call 317.631.2220.

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About Indy Food Cooperative, Inc.
In the summer of 2007, a group of individuals met for the first time to begin discussing how to bring the city’s first non-profit, community-owned storefront grocery cooperative to Indianapolis. Since that time, a group of dedicated volunteers have been working hard to secure a location, raise funds and build membership for a grocery cooperative near downtown. The goal of the store is to support the local economy, while making local, fresh, organic and affordable food and products available to urban neighborhoods that currently are not served by healthy grocery options. In addition to operating a store, Indy Food Co-op is dedicated to educating the community on healthier eating through outreach programs, cooking classes and more. The organization kicked off its Founding 150 membership drive in November 2008 and reached the 150 member household milestone in early February 2009. Today, nearly 200 households have join the co-op, and the store is expected to open its doors in late October 2009. In the meantime, the Indy Food Co-op board of directors organizes gatherings and events that are forming a community of lifetime food cooperative supporters and customers. www.IndyFoodCoop.org , www.IndyFoodCoop.blogspot.com

FOOD, INC premiers Friday - Join Indy Food Co-op at 7:10 showing

After several weeks of delays, the management at Keystone Arts Cinema assures me that THIS Friday, July 31, FOOD, INC will open for one week.

The run dates are Friday, July 31 through Thursday, August 6. Show times each day will be 1:45; 4:45; 7:10; and 9:40. Tickets went on sale yesterday.

About FOOD, INC:
In FOOD, INC., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin,
Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

For more information, visit: www.foodincmovie.com/

Won't you join Indy Food Co-op at the 7:10 showing of the movie? We hope to see you there!

During the first official meeting of the Indy Food Co-op members, over 1oo people came together to share a meal, discuss the status of the location search, and vote on board terms and bag preferences.