Volunteer Sign-Up

Yes! I'd like to get involved now!

While construction is going on, there are lots of other things to do to get ready for opening day. Many of these things will require professional support from staff, consultants, and contractors, but there are also projects that call for member participation and support. Founding member-owners are all invited to help out during this exciting interim period before the co-op opens for business.

It'll be fun!

Simply check the box(es) next to the event(s) you would like to participate in. Descriptions of the activities are located below the form.

The following are descriptions of several volunteer opportunities.

Join the Outreach Committee.
Consider joining the Outreach Committee to help with the planning and implementation of upcoming co-op events. We meet monthly and there are a variety of sub-committees that communicate and complete projects between meetings. We need people who like to promote co-op membership in the community and people who like to plan events. Your support, from designing flyers to passing out brochures, is also welcome.

Contact Marci Linker at linklet@RiverValleyMarket.coop or (413) 584-8817 to learn more.

Join the Co-op Green Team.
This is the group of co-op member-owners that worked with me to write the $400,000+ grant we were awarded by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative for our green building design. Now that we are under construction, the green team will be finalizing and developing many of the green aspects of our project. If green building, energy efficiency, green housekeeping, and environmental education are issues that you are passionate about, consider joining the co-op green team.

Contact Lynn DiTullio at (413) 665-3741 or lynn@wintergreengroup.com to find out how you can get involved.

Join the Art Committee.
We are forming an advisory committee to envision how visual arts can be incorporated into the store. We'll be making many design decisions over the coming months (from wall color to the use of wall space) and it will be the job of this committee to brainstorm ideas, research feasibility of the ideas, and organize art-related projects. This committee will also consider how local art can be displayed in the store and incorporated into the store's informational signage and interior design.

One of the key projects this committee will be working on is the Founder's Wall. We've long envisioned a Founder's Wall in the co-op to honor the special efforts and vision of our founding member-owners, and now the time has come to start designing it!

Help to Craft a Co-op Quilt.
At the groundbreaking event in May, we displayed a quilt that was made from co-op t-shirts in order to represent the many sister co-ops that have supported our project. That quilt (which was made by members of the Davis Food Co-op in Davis, California) is auctioned off each year to raise funds to support the Howard Bowers Fund, which provides co-op training scholarships for food co-op staff members across the country. (River Valley Market has received Howard Bowers training funds.) The highest bidder displays the quilt for a year and then it is auctioned off again. This quilt is very popular and has rotated to many different co-ops over the years and has raised many tens of thousands of dollars.

Over the years, nearly 50 independent food cooperatives from across the country have supported our project with membership loans and loan guarantees. (Our loan from the National Co-op Bank Capital Impact was approved in part because of $400,000 in deposits that our supporting sister co-ops made to guarantee our loan.)

As a thank-you to our sister co-ops for all their support, we are seeking member-owners who are interested in making another quilt from these co-ops' t-shirts. Our goal is to complete the quilt for our opening in early 2008. Then, in June of 2008, we can donate this quilt to the annual Howard Bowers Fundraising auction, where it, along with the original quilt, will help raise additional funds to help other co-ops. And, while on display in food co-ops across the country, this quilt will relay the exciting story of a new food co-op in Northampton!

Create and/or Donate Pottery Bowls for our Soup Bowl Supper.
We are in the planning stage for our second Soup Bowl Supper. The first step is to collect donations of handmade pottery soup bowls. We need potters (both professional and novice) to make and donate bowls for the event.

The event is a fundraising soup supper to raise money for River Valley Market's Low Income Membership Fund. The Soup Bowl Supper features a simple soup supper served in hand-made ceramic bowls, which are then taken home with everyone. The number of bowls donated determine how many tickets will be available to sell. We had 347 bowls last time!

Co-op member-owners will have the opportunity to make pottery bowls in a variety of bowl-making events and the bowls will be donated to the event. Stay tuned for information about our upcoming bowl-making events.

If you'd like to host a bowl-making event in your studio or if you'd like to donate your bowls, please contact Susan at sjkimball@amherst.edu or (413) 533-1705.

Organize the Time Capsule Project.
We are forming a committee of founding member-owners to plan and implement a time capsule project to commemorate the opening of our food co-op. Our goal is to bury the time capsule in the sidewalk near the co-op's front door as part of our opening dedication ceremony.

Plant Trees at the Co-op Site.
Treefrog Landscape Designs will be coordinating a co-op member landscaping and tree planting workday on the site so that members can be a part of the process. Additionally, they will provide an educational session for co-op member-owners about sustainable landscaping. We are working with the general contractor and Treefrog to coordinate the schedule and we expect that this will happen in late October once the paving has been laid and before the snow flies. Stay tuned for more information about when these events will happen.