Sevananda was “essential” long before we were dubbed an       essential business by city officials and so called media powers. In order to shape, calm, and influence the COVID19 pandemic and its hysteria, fear, and panic perceptions, information had to be shared. Some information was clear and some not. Some info on the up and up, some not. Conspiracy theories and underground counterintelligence were circulating, and folks were not sure what to believe.  Regardless of the absolute “truth”, we had a store to run.  Even in the midst of confusion and some natural fear of infecting our families or being infected, we were happy to have our jobs to continue to serve, pay our bills, and have some “normalcy” within it all. Cooperatives nationally stepped up to be many among the first to outfit their cashiers with sneeze guards, face coverings, gloves, establish online stores with call in orders, online orders, curbside pick-up, shopper metering, social distancing protocols, etc. Because our stores are smaller than most commercial and conventional grocery chains, and with smaller marketing budgets, and resources, cooperatives had to move swiftly to respond to the needs of their staffs, member-owners, and shoppers alike.

Being “essential” has traditionally meant simply living up to our Ends Statement (Add new Ends Statement here) and mission of “Empowering the Community to Improve Its Health and Well-being” by making sure we had all the great products you expect. It meant making sure our service was optimal, that we created strong partnerships and exciting events to support the community, and that we continuously worked to establish long term relationships with our vendors, staff, members, and customers. And, of course, living up to our Cooperative Principles and Values. It has also meant that all stakeholders were encouraged to do as much as we could to take care of ourselves and practice the principles and values we stand for, so that we can sustain this co-op for ourselves and our community.

With the onset of COVID 19, we found ourselves without a playbook, in uncharted territory. Experiencing confusion, doubt, and uncertainty, staff call-outs, self-quarantines and more, after the initial shock of it all, we worked in creating systems to aid in the business of running our co-op. We’re proud of the work we’ve done, and we hope you are too. Your board, leadership teams and staff members all rose to the occasion to support our safety and operational needs and they continue to do so. Many doing things they have never done before just to maintain our operation. It was beautiful to behold, the additional level of super heroism that was demonstrated every day.

ESSENTIAL PRODUCTS AVAILABLE AT SEVANANDA

Shopping List For Video to the left listed below

Shopping List For Video to the left listed below