GM Report Giving Thanks

Celebrating Our Success

To Our Community,

I have several updates for you today, including some very good news.

Thank You

First and foremost, a well-earned note of recognition. To put it mildly, our employees rocked it the past several weeks, especially over Thanksgiving week. They have been under tremendous pressure. And yet our teams have been out in force, working together, remaining positive and professional.

I would like to thank all of you who have reached out to me
to commend our employees. I have heard nothing but praise about their work.

To reward our employees for their efforts, I have some exciting news. Today I informed all of our employees that in addition to the annual holiday bonus that will be coming their way over the next week or so, another discretionary bonus has also been approved by the leadership team and will be going out to employees in January. Look for complete details over the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of our employees for their work ethic and dedication. As I regularly tell our Board of Directors, this is the best team in the business, bar none.

Listen Holiday Basket Program

Thanks to the efforts of our employees and the generosity of our shoppers, I am happy to report that we recently wrapped up one of our most successful fundraising and food drive campaigns ever in the history of our Co-op.

Like last year, in lieu of our Stuff-a-Truck program, this year we conducted a gift card fundraiser for the Holiday Basket Program organized by our friends at LISTEN Community Services. We use 100% of donated funds to purchase grocery gift cards for needy Upper Valley families and seniors.

This year the fundraiser collected more than $20,000,
a new record by far, allowing us to provide
400 gift cards to LISTEN.

Thank you to our shoppers for your support of the program. This sets a great goal for us to reach in the future!

Federal Vaccination Mandate

At this point, a court injunction continues to hold up implementation of the federal vaccine mandate. As I shared with you last month, if the mandate is implemented, the Co-op will not institute mandatory vaccinations, but will implement weekly testing for employees who are not fully vaccinated. This is to comply with federal law while also honoring personal choice. As always, I will update you as we learn more.

Thinking of Becoming a Board Candidate?

For those members interested in running for the Board, please mark your calendars for the Board Candidate Recruitment Forum scheduled for this upcoming Monday, December 6th, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. The forum will be held via Zoom.

This is an informal meet-and-greet, an opportunity for those interested in joining the Board to get to know current Board members. Board members will share their stories on why they decided to become a member of the Board, what makes our Board special, and why employees and members should consider joining. There will be a short Q&A session at the end. Please see the Zoom link below:

Learn About Your Board/Candidate Info Session Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89081650138?pwd=T1BQNXBaZ3pCcVJJRzNzTnl4L05xZz09
Meeting ID: 890 8165 0138
Passcode: 722837

Wrap Up

As always, thank you to all of our members and shoppers for your ongoing support. We will talk again next Thursday. In the meantime, remember to be kind to one another and to yourselves, and we look forward to serving you in our stores and at the curbside.

Onward and upward,

Paul

The following two tabs change content below.

Paul Guidone

Paul Guidone, CFA, spent the better part of four decades in the investment management business here and abroad. He held positions ranging from analyst through Deputy Chairman and Group CEO, at organizations such as Citigroup (US) and The HSBC Group (London and Hong Kong). He joined the Co-op in 2016 as the CFO and in 2018 became Strategic Advisor to the General Manager. Paul was appointed by the Co-op Board as interim General Manager in March 2020 and General Manager in September 2020. To contact, email PGuidone@coopfoodstore.com.

Latest posts by Paul Guidone (see all)