Board News | Summer Quarterly 2017
MAC Movie Night Creates Compelling Conversation
In May, the Member Action Committee hosted their first movie night at Richards’ Goat Miniplex in Arcata. Thirty-two people packed the room, which has a capacity of 34.
We screened the award-winning documentary “Just Eat It,” a film about food waste and food rescue. When filmmakers and food lovers Jen and Grant learn that 30-40 percent of food is thrown away before it even reaches store shelves, they vow to survive for six months only on foods that would otherwise be thrown away.
The film’s cinematography was beautiful to watch. In a nation where one in 10 people have food insecurities, images of dumpsters filled with perfectly good food were both shocking and compelling.
The film concluded with several steps that people can take to help prevent food waste: use food preservation techniques such as freezing, canning, or drying to prevent food from rotting, shop in smaller quantities more often to prevent food from going bad, and purchase fruits with spots or bruises that might otherwise get thrown away.
North Coast Co-op donates thousands of pounds of food to our local food bank each year. We donate produce that is “imperfect” to look at, but acceptable to eat. We donate food that is close to the ‘sell by’ date, as well as give it to our employees. We also compost our pre-consumer food waste that is no longer edible, which keeps it out of the landfill.
The Member Action Committee is an advisory committee to the Board of Directors and is open to all Co-op member-owners. In addition to continuing the food waste discussion, we would love to have members help us plan our Annual Membership Meeting, share your ideas for the Co-op, and give input into what other movies we might screen—the next Co-op Movie Night is Oct. 2!
Member Action Committee meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month from 5:30-6:30pm at the Ten Pin Building at 793 K Street in Arcata. For more information please go to Board Committees or contact Membership Coordinator Nicole Chase at nicolechase@northcoast.coop. When we come together as a community we can make great things happen!
