cornerstone-award-winner-blog

Recognizing the Cornerstone of Our Community

Hello to our cooperative community!

For my first official message as General Manager, I’m excited to be able to share some amazing well-deserved news. This week the Co-op was presented with the Cornerstone Award from NH Businesses for Social Responsibility, the highest honor awarded yearly for the most principled and ethically driven businesses in New Hampshire. To quote the NHBSR website:

“The Cornerstone Award is presented to a member of the NHBSR network- an individual, business, or organization- that exemplifies the concepts of corporate social responsibility within their organization and promotes the concepts of corporate social responsibility to the greater business community within the State of New Hampshire.

The Cornerstone Award is named for the cornerstone of a building, a significant first building block of a large and important building, which is usually laid with appropriate ceremonies.

NHBSR chose the name for the award with the belief that corporate social responsibility should be a foundation of every business, a basic building block, or cornerstone, of our economy and our society.”

What’s remarkable about the Cornerstone Award is that it doesn’t just recognize one person, one program, or one idea. This is for everyone here and everything we do. It’s recognition for the incredible impact you all have on our community. It’s the Front End employee asking a customer if they would like to round up for Pennies for Change. Or the Finance employee processing donations checks. Or the Service Technician working on a car for a LISTEN client through the Car Connects program. Or the Produce employee selecting food for Willing Hands. Or the member purchasing local goods from our shelves. It’s for all of you—employees and members alike—and your collective contributions to our cooperative and the world around us. This award honors an entire cooperative culture that generations of people have worked together to build and nurture.

So congratulations to ALL of our employees, members, board members, shoppers, vendors, growers, suppliers, distributors, and supporters for this well-deserved honor. You earned it! Thank you for building up our business to be a cornerstone of our community.

We’ll talk again soon. If you need anything before then, reach out to me anytime.

—Amanda

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Amanda Charland

Amanda Charland is the General Manager of the Co-op Food Stores. She was first hired as the Co-op's Sustainability Coordinator in 2012, and joined the Co-op Leadership Team as Member Services and Outreach Director in 2014. She earned a Master's Degree in Cooperative Management in 2017, and she was promoted to Director of Cooperative Engagement in 2018. She was hired by the Co-op Board of Directors as General Manager in 2022. Contact her at acharland@coopfoodstore.com.

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