by Rose Paul, Board President

The Co-op Board recently voted to appoint two new members to the Board, Jan Waterman and Andy Robinson, until elections at our next annual meeting. Our bylaws say we can have 5-7 Board members, and we now have six. Kathleen Sueltz resigned a month ago, as her personal life has created new demands. This was after she did the heavy lifting of leading our General Manager search committee, and participating in frequent meetings during the run-up to purchasing the Hardware Store. We are very grateful to her.

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Meet our new Board members

Jan Waterman

I was appointed to the Board in September, which already seems very long ago. I’ve been a Plainfield Co-op member for 22 years, treasure it, and want to support it however I can.

I’m retired now. Previously, my two favorite jobs were with Native Seeds/SEARCH (a small non-profit organization conserving heirloom crop seeds and agricultural traditions in the southwest U.S.) and as a Montessori Pre-K teacher.

The values of cooperation, equity, trust, and inclusion are important to me. Right now my focus is on being a conduit for information exchanges between store workers and the Board, and being an advocate for staff members.

I believe that with the destabilizing effects climate chaos continues to bring to our communities, the stronger our cooperative skills and our local food systems are, the stronger and more able we will be to adjust to the changes.

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Andy Robinson

Andy Robinson has been a Plainfield Co-op member since 2002. In recent months, he helped with the fundraising campaign for purchase of the hardware store. He runs a consulting and training business serving nonprofit organizations and is excited to join the board.

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