Chicago Market Newsletter — July 2022

Fairtrade — Realizing Our Values

Did you know that you are already impacting the lives of farmers and farm workers through the Fairtrade system? 

It's true! You're on Team Chicago Market and our GM, Dan Arnett, was recently named President and Chair of Fairtrade America and was the US voting representative at the Fairtrade International General Assembly in Kenya in June. As he puts it:

"I am working to help build the community vision for a grocery store that delivers amazing products in a manner that elevates human dignity across our supply chain. While we are very committed to local agriculture and small businesses, Chicago Market will also be networked with a global food system. Crops such as coffee, tea, bananas, avocados, spices, vanilla, cacao, and more will be featured in our business (and are clearly important to many of our Owners!). When we engage supply chains further afield, our Purchasing Values demand that, beyond the high-quality standards we prize, we are supporting supply from environmentally and socially responsible sources."

Read more about his trip and check out the tea tree planted in his name here:
Dan Arnett's Fairtrade Visit to Kenya

---

Uptown Farmers Market

Beets, beans, berries, and so much more! Shop your Uptown Farmers Market every week for the best in fresh, locally grown goods plus the delicious cookies, roasted nuts, preserves, honey, canned goods, fresh pasta, tamales, sandwiches, sauces and more from our local food producers. 

Uptown Farmers Market
Wednesdays | 2:30 - 7:00pm (rain or shine)
Wilson & Broadway
SNAP accepted; Link Match available

---

Annual Owners Meeting

Mark your calendars for our Annual Owners Meeting — September 22 at 7:00pm via Zoom. 

One of your rights and opportunities as an Owner is to participate in the Annual Meeting where you'll get full status updates, financial updates, and the Board election process starts that day too. We'll have more information on the website's Event page soon, but hold the date!

---

Run for the Board!

Love your Co-op and want to volunteer on the Board to steer it to open? Now's the time to think about it and learn more. Start by attending Board meetings and volunteering with us. Elections are in September, but now's the time to get involved. Interested? Email Dana to let us know.

And we now have four So, You Want to Be a Board Member info sessions available (all on Zoom). Anyone interested in running is urged to attend one of these sessions so be sure to RSVP. 

Sessions:

July 24, 2-3:30pm August 10, 2-3:30pm

August 20, 2-3:30pm August 25, 2-3:30pm

• Board Meeting — July 12, 7:00 - 9:00pm on Zoom
• Uptown Farmers Market — every Wednesday, 2:30 - 7:00pm
• Board Meeting — August 9, 7:00 - 9:00pm on Zoom

Uptown's Argyle Night Market is back for 2022, and Chicago Market is proud to be participating! Every Thursday through August 25th, Argyle Street between Kenmore and Sheridan is featuring live performances and alfresco dining from 5pm–9pm. We plan to attend most (if not all!) Thursdays with a Chicago Market info tent—check our Events page each week for postings so you'll know we'll be there and come see us!

News from Our Business Owners

Collective Resource Compost:

"We’re delighted to announce that we have reached another diversion milestone: 9000 tons! That’s a whole lot of carrot tops, pizza boxes, eggshells, chicken bones, Chinet plates, etcetera, etcetera.

In the first six months that founder/owner Erlene was hauling buckets of food scraps in her Toyota Camry, she averaged about 77 pounds a week. Now our crew is routinely averaging 30+ tons a week! That’s over 60,000 pounds. 

We are so grateful to our composting community, our staff and particularly our hardworking crew who lifted all of this. It took us 11 months to go from 7000 to 8000, but only 8 months to go from 8000 to 9000! It’s catching on people. Keep spreading the word and separating the scraps!"

---