Aloha Kakou:

We will be taking a few weeks to concentrate on our cooperative and doing some strategic planning to take us forward.  With the beginning of the new year we want to keep the momentum going by building our membership and incorporating the youth into our business venture.  We will be offering opportunities for youth to volunteer at the market and learn the basics of running a business.

Additionally, we learned that some of our farmers have a very limited supply of products due to the cold weather.  This past market, it was difficult obtaining all of the produce that was ordered, so we decided it best to use the time wisely and concentrate on the other business matters of Waimanalo Market.

Co-op members - don’t forget our annual membership meeting that will be held at the Waimanalo Health Center’s Goebert Hall - This Thursday, January 21st at 6:00 P.M.

Mahalo for your understanding - and we’ll see you at the market on February 13th.

Mahalo to Keoni Wilhelm and Lynn Vasconcellos for helping us obtain the use of Waimanalo School for 2010.  We appreciate your kokua to the market and thank the Department of Education for the use of their land.

As we continue to pursue the access to other land, preferrably - Bellows - we are thankful for the opportunity to use the Waimanalo School grounds for our market in the interim.

Let’s start the year off with a bang!  We look forward to having our first market on Saturday, January 16th.  The specific location is yet to be announced.  We have not obtained proper permission to use the Waimanalo School grounds again but hopefully there will be no problem continuing to use that space.  We will let you know as soon as permission is granted.

We continue to advocate for the use of the land in front of the Bellow’s AFB gate.  In my last conversation with Captain Pelzl he seemed to think that obtaining our non-profit status would help a great deal in having our request granted.

As a priority and a goal this year - we need to secure a permanent place for our market.  We would appreciate any help in attaining our goal as we work toward furthering our commitment to buying local, living healthy and giving back to our community.

On January 21st we will hold our first annual membership meeting.  At the meeting we will be ratifying the amended Articles of Incorporation so that, hopefully, we will be considered a non-profit cooperative.  As we are mission driven, it seems logical that we should be a non-profit.  We also will be electing a Board of Directors to guide our co-op forward.  If you would like to become a member of the co-op please send an email to kehau@waimanalomarket.com

We look forward to seeing you at the market.  Please consider putting your orders in early so that you can be assured your order will be filled.

Mahalo Nui Loa for your continued support!