Report from the October 25th General Meeting
Our meeting on October 25 was a great success. Forty individuals attended. We ate great food, had fun, got informed and transacted some important business.

Charlie Tilt presented an update on progress made so far. The Willamette Valley Sustainable Foods Alliance has gone from vision to reality, from no members to over 25 member businesses. We have met with Mayor Kitty Piercy to begin dialogue between the City and the natural foods business community.

We have formed a committee to develop a co-operative delivery system to serve our businesses. Members of that committee hosted a discussion group at the recent Provender Alliance Annual Conference.

We have created a website to build community and to facilitate communication among us. We thank Golden Temple of Oregon for contributing $1,000 to fund the website's development.

It is now up to us to build on what has been begun. Bill Klupenger explained that we could do much more for our membership if we had a part-time co-ordinator to do the many tasks that make an organization such as this successful. He asked for a commitment of staff, money, equipment and/or space to make this a reality. Wildtime Foods stepped up to the plate and offered to supply a computer. We ask that others contribute, as well.

Four board members are retiring: Paul Fuller (Sweet Creek Foods), Siri Pritam Khalsa Kaur (Golden Temple), Marta Boyett (Glory Bee Foods) and Charlie Tilt (Honey Heaven). Their energy has been critical to bringing the WVSFA this far. Heartfelt thanks goes out to each and every one of them.

Four new board members were elected: Jeff Althouse (Willamette Brewery), Molly Morris (McKenzie Mist), Doug Furlong (Oregon Ice Cream) and Jason Lafferty (Eugene Freezing & Storage). Their terms run from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2008. Two board alternates were also elected: Ryan Rogers (Fisherman's Market) and Justus Grose (Cafe Mam).

Bob Doppelt of the University of Oregon presented a summary of the recommendations the Sustainable Business Initiative Task Force made to the City in the report they published in August of this year. It is clear that our business community - the natural foods businesses in Lane County - are integral to that vision.

Finally, we played "Name That Food", a game that asked participants to match rhymes describing a local food's ingredients to the food's name. Prizes were awarded based on draws from a hat for all particpants.

Check out this website periodically to see what your Alliance is doing for you!

May 16, 2007 —
5:30-8:00pm
General Meeting Campbell Senior Center
The next general membership meeting has been set for Wednesday, May 16, 2007, at the Campbell Center in Skinners Butte Park. We are looking at holding the meeting from 5:30pm to 8:00pm. The agenda is not finalized, but we will have several seminar/break-out sessions on topics of interest to member businesses. Among topics being considered are health care, distribution, & branding/marketing. If you are interested in helping put on this meeting, please email Jeff Althouse, Bill Klupenger , Jason Lafferty or Brad Averill. We welcome your input on break-out session topics, too.