RAINBOW BOARD MEETING MINUTES


June 16, 2009 Rainbow Natural Grocery Board Meeting Minutes

Charlotte Lundemo took minutes for the meeting which started at 6:18pm.

Board Members present: daniel Johnson, Charlotte Lundemo, Leo Huddleston, Scotta Brady, and Tom Lowe.
Also present were Luke Lundemo, Steve Whitlow, Bruce Frazier and Bob Gilbert.
Board Members not present: Gen Barbour and Irene Jones.

The board voted on officers: President is Irene Jones. Vice President is Daniel Johnson. Secretary is Charlotte Lundemo. The Interim Treasurers are Irene Jones and Daniel Johnson..

Luke reported that our chapter 11 lawyer, Eileen Schaeffer, said we didn’t have to do anything toward our debtors in order to switchover to a consumer cooperative.

Luke and Bruce are completing a request for documents required to get a loan to buy the building.

Egroup signups: 843 people signed up for Rainbow, 140 people signed up for the Community Garden.

There will be a Solar Expo this weekend.

Steve Whitlow's report: The economy is still not strong. We are following national trends with modest growth. We’re close to last years $300,000- within 3%. Management is continuing to watch expenses. We have 5,000 paid memberships and a POS system that tracks when a membership expires. We have been running large ads in the Jackson Free Press. The TV ads will end the last of June. We discussed the Rainbow advertisement sign at the MS Braves field. Steve informed us that Rainbow will be advertising on a digital billboard on Lakeland near Riverside coming into Jackson. This will start about the time the TV ads end.

It was discussed we need to reach out to people west of North State St. Scotta mentioned that Jimmy & Anna Hall were interested in starting a community garden. It was mentioned we could benefit from a census profile of our neighborhood. Another way to reach out would be mailers to this neighborhood up to Meadowbrook. Luke will make a map by zip code with the percent of members. Michael & Luke & Mayor Harvey Johnson are interested in promoting more community gardens.

Luke mentioned that Fondren now has a merchant organization to promote the area. The merchants group could be putting up electronic signs around the city.

Bruce Fraser’s report: April and May brought us into the black the first time this year. Last year was a record year. July 31 is the end of the fiscal year. Cash flow has been tight.

Discussion on who in uniform is eligible for a discount. It was mentioned that Rainbow needs to set a policy for uniformed people. Decide who and what are we giving discounts to. It was originally only to the military.

The board moved to create a category titled Public Service Membership to Police, Paramedics, Firemen and Military for a free yearly membership that has to be renewed.

The meeting adjourned at 7:49pm.