By Michael J. Conway, Board Secretary, Co-op Owner
GreenTree Cooperative Grocery is my home base in Mount Pleasant. All of my activities tend to involve our store. My favorite weekend activity begins with an early morning trip to GreenTree where my family of four stocks up on breakfast burritos, samosas, muffins, juice, and coffee. Yes, you can eat samosas for breakfast! We have two young boys who love the outdoors. Life doesn’t get any better than having a picnic at one of our amazing parks before heading out for a day hike. We love the city park system, but we also venture further to Deerfield Nature Park, Sylvan Solace or Bundy Hill Preserves, and even to the North Country Trail outside of Cadillac.
GreenTree has given me and my family tremendous joy. A major part of this joy stems from ownership. We own this store. WE ALL DO. Every time we shop at GreenTree we are making a conscious decision to support a democratically run community space that offers healthy and locally sourced products. GreenTree offers us something that no other business in town can – a longstanding commitment to its local community and to its Owners.
Our cooperative has been in existence for 47 years and it has grown considerably. We all know that we have reached the capacity of our current location, and that we have been working with a number of developers over the years to plan for expansion. Expansion is a complex process that will require increased participation from GreenTree’s Owners.
Importantly, expansion will require leadership and investment. I urge our Owners to consider running for the Board of Directors in the spring. We need your expertise and passion. I also urge our Owners to consider their original investment in GreenTree and the benefits that they have received as a result. GreenTree has given us a wonderful community space, great jobs, healthy products, and friendly faces. I hope that we will soon have an opportunity to reinvest in our cooperative and expand the size of our store and our community impact. I invite you all to make GreenTree your home base too.