In order to accommodate deliveries for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have skipped an order week in October.
Current Order Cycle: September 21-28 Delivery Days: October 2-3
Week Skipped Here
Order Cycle: October 12-19 Delivery Days:October 23-24
IMPORTANT: We are giving our volunteers and staff a Christmas and New Year’s break. So there will be ONLY ONE order cycle in December. So, PLAN AHEAD for the holidays!
See the new Autumn Calendar or the Home page for upcoming dates. Print the Autumn Calendar for easy reference!
You might have noticed the new ‘skins’ that the NFC delivery truck has been wearing as of late.
Courtesy of long-time member and new board member Gary Fehr, the truck’s refrigeration box now touts a fresh white skin. Thank you, Gary, for volunteering once again!!
In addition to the new paint, the NFC truck no longer travels the roads incognito. New Nebraska Food Cooperative signage was just added by Greger Graphics and boy, does it look fantastic!
So now, not only our members are spreading the ‘local’ word. NFC’s truck is doing so as well!
The NFC board of directors last met on May 27, 2014. Among other business, there was some great discussion about pricing and deliveries.
Members are always welcome to attend board meetings (scheduled every other month) and are encouraged to become involved as advisory board members. If you are interested in directly supporting your coop in this capacity, contact Caryl Guisinger, the general manager at gm@nebraskafood.org.
Large Order Discount: $600+:
Among other decisions from the May board meeting, orders over a $600 value will receive a 10% discount. We hope to roll out some additional savings in the future, but this is our way to start making your food bills more affordable.
Little-known fact: Although it has never been advertised, most large orders also receive personal home deliveries by Kevin, our route driver. This has been one of NFC’s best-kept secrets for several years, and now we’re letting the cat out of the bag. There could be some circumstances when a home delivery is not possible, but we haven’t discovered any yet.
We are seeking opinions about how NFC members would like to see their Forum List utilized.
The purpose of the Forum is to share relevant NFC news, discussions, and as a means for increasing exposure and participation. However, we also realize that many people like to minimize their e-mail volume.
Currently, all new members are automatically subscribed to the NFC Forum (ie, an Opt-Out forum: members may OPT-OUT of the list at any time).
So, we would like to hear from you for a short TWO QUESTION survey: 1) Do you prefer an: OPT-IN or OPT-OUT forum, and 2) what topics you would like to see on your forum. Help us improve the forum by sharing your opinion on this SURVEY MONKEY poll by the end of June.
Thank you for your time, interest, and support in improving your NFC experience.
Now that Nebraska farmers’ markets are offering Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to their customers, NFC customers are wondering if we can follow the same lead.
The US Department of Agriculture Food Nutrition Service (FNS) who manages SNAP says, “No” that the Nebraska Food Cooperative does not operate the same as farmers’ markets with our multiple delivery points. Another kink is that the SNAP process does not allow for online ordering of products for a later delivery date.
But NFC wants to find a solution. So we are working on providing an alternate method.
It is possible that by working through churches as delivery points that FNS would allow pre-ordered products (ie, you would be able to use SNAP for NFC products by picking up your order at a church).
So, NFC is looking for interested members located in Omaha, Lincoln, and other towns who are associated with churches to start a SNAP drop point for NFC products.
Everyone should have equal access to healthy food. And it should matter not whether you are paying with cash, PayPal, or through SNAP.
If you would like to volunteer to be a church site coordinator or if you have an alternative solution, contact the NFC General Manager or the NFC Treasurer of your interest.
This morning, we made a several updates to the NFC website, including switching to secure protocol for data transmission, also known as SSL or TLS. Beginning now, you will see a “padlock” on all NFC pages, indicating the data between your computer and NFC is encrypted.
This will help ensure the privacy of personal data, such as usernames and passwords, even when working from a public wi-fi network. Sensitive financial information (such as credit-card numbers) have never been at risk with NFC since they are only handled by external agencies, like PayPal, who specialize in protecting that sort of information.
Finally, the recent “heartbleed” OpenSSL security flaw has been addressed at NFC and poses no known risk for the future. We strive to keep your information as safe as possible and would be happy to discuss any concerns you may have.
Your site coordinator graciously volunteers their time to be a pick-up site for your NFC order. They receive your products, receive your payments, make deposits, and they prepare a site accounting report for each cycle.
The pick-up location, pick-up day, and hours for each site are clearly defined on your invoice. If you absolutely cannot pick up your order on the designated date and time, PLEASE contact your site coordinator IN ADVANCEof the pick-up date to discuss alternatives.
NFC policy states that if your order is not picked up at the designated time, your paid order will be distributed to someone else.
No-Show Policy The Nebraska Food Cooperative is a volunteer run organization that also depends on the willingness of local churches and businesses to open up their facilities for our pickups.
As such, we are unable to provide storage for our customer members after designated pickup times. Our official policy therefore is to not offer such storage.
Orders not picked up during the order window may be donated at the discretion of the site coordinator. The customer will still be liable for payment in this case, in order to fulfill the obligation with our farmer members who supplied the products in good faith.
In practice, we recognize that each site and each site coordinator work under unique circumstances. We leave the application of this policy to the discretion of the each site coordinator or cashier. If you have a concern about your ability to pick up your order during the designated time, please call your site coordinator as soon as possible. His or her phone number is listed on your invoice. Thank you for helping your cooperative run smoothly!
The DEDICATION of every single one of these MOVERS and SHAKERS ensure that NFC’s collective wheels keeps delivering healthy local food to you every other week. Show them your appreciation the next time you see them!
President: Randy Wattermann Vice President: Stephanie Kennedy Secretary: Liz Sarno Treasurer: Jeremiah Picard Chief Information Officer: Roy Guisinger
Board Members: Bob Bernt, Libby Broekemeier, Jim Knopik, Lanette Stec
Advisory Committee Members: Frannie Bruening, Laura Chisholm, Gary Fehr, Rebecka Fleischman, Liz Frombgen, Brynn Jacobs, Luke Jacobsen, Jeff Kazor, John Johnson, Beth Kernes Krause, Brian O’Malley, Katie Wattermann
Site Coordinators: Adam Hoogeveen, Shelly Grimm, Beth Farleigh, Beth Kernes Krause, Bruce Reneaud, Libby Broekemeier, Al Mittan, Tammy Kuper, Jill Hansen, Heidi Slaymaker, Francine Bruening, Paul Verderfecht, Yvonne Wilder, Sandi Hohn, Randy Wattermann, William Powers, Susan Stoppkotte, Lanette Stec, Phyllis Randall, Danna Seevers, Laura Chisholm, Catherine Renshaw
The word is getting out about the Nebraska Food Cooperative and the local food movement! Since the start of the year, new memberships have exploded with a 300 percent increase. So what does that mean? We need more micro-sites to staff customer pick up.
Two sites are newly in action as of the February order cycle: Beatrice and Unadilla. And two more sites will be open very soon: Hastings and Lincoln in the Farmers Union parking lot. As interest increases, we plan on expanding in even more markets! So spread the word. NFC is coming your way!
The Nebraska Food Coop is growing, plain and simple. That’s great news! And that means more opportunities for both customers and producers.
Most shoppers prefer to purchase food more frequently than just monthly. As the local food movement grows, conscientious shoppers prefer more options on a more frequent basis. With NFC’s commitment to an “every other week” cycle, more consistent buying habits will follow.
Just think! You now only have to remember that everySunday is an order day…by 6 pm, of course!
Running a four-week cycle, NFC found that an increasing number of orders often maxed out the delivery truck’s capacity, which caused additional juggling of product in and out of the truck.
By going to an “every other week” cycle, the delivery driver doesn’t have to go through needless and time-consuming gyrations to get all of the products to fit and properly sorted into the appropriate pick-up site containers. So logistically, it makes better sense to open up a second cycle in a given month so that products can be properly sorted and stored until the driver reaches the appropriate pick-up/delivery site.
Once we move into the vegetable season, it gets even more complicated. Perishables typically don’t keep so well for a month at a time, especially those delicious cucumbers!
Think about it…..
Likewise, laying hens don’t have on and off switches. And customers typically don’t like eggs that have a pick date older than two or three weeks.
So by increasing the frequency of deliveries, you are reaping the benefits of fresher produce, eggs, and fewer number of lost products!
Shopping NFC every other week also reduces stress. How so, you may wonder? To determine all of your shopping needs a full month ahead can be stressful. You never know when you need to plan that special meal to impress someone, and you might not have a whole month to plan ahead. By opening up the cycle to every other week, one only has to plan for two weeks instead of four weeks at a time.
More and more of our vegetable producers are not raising produce as a hobby… it is their livelihood. Timely harvesting – for the freshest possible fruits and vegetables - requires frequent cycles. Unlike the grocery store where produce is maintained via ethylene inhibitors for months, NFC farmers know that you want your tomatoes, cantaloupes, zucchini, etc, as fresh from the ground as possible.
Fresh from the farm
Many NFC vegetable producers have invested in greenhouses and hothouses to extend their growing season and meet the increasing demand. This means that NFC producers may have local produce available before area farmers markets ramp up in May. What a boon for NFC customers!
NFC has been blessed with our current delivery driver, Kevin. As tight as the job market is these days, how can NFC ask our driver to commit to driving only one week out of a month? NFC needs to maintain enough job stability so that the products you ordered are assured of being properly delivered in a timely fashion on a consistent basis.
As NFC grows through increased volume for both the coop and our family of producers, we will eventually be able to offer discounts for certain products. But until then, we continue to expand our market of producers in order to meet the new demand for emerging farm-to-customer activities. Two new initiatives that are taking shape are the farm-to-chef and the farm-to-schools opportunities. More information will be forthcoming soon about these programs as they are just getting off the ground.
Look forward to more news about our growing cooperative that you helped us grow with every single local product that you ordered. So thank you, for your continued support of the Nebraska Food Cooperative.
NFC is starting the new year in DOUBLE time…that is, delivery days now occur every other week.
January and February 2014 Cycle
Doubling the delivery opportunities will help not only the producers get more product to you more often, but come summer and fall, vegetable producers will get it to you fresher!
Some delivery sites will sometimes choose alternate schedules, so be sure to verify with your site coordinator that your delivery site is open for both monthly cycles.
If your particular site decides to take a cycle off, don’t worry. You can still order, but you will need to select another delivery site for that cycle.
Just refer to the Select Locations to find an alternate delivery site. Likewise, any producer may opt to only provide products one cycle per month so be sure to check product offerings during both cycles in a given month.
Note:BELV1 will only be open for pick-ups on January 23, February 20, March 20, April 3, and April 17 for the first quarter of 2014.
And Kevin, NFC’s truck driver, is definitely steeped in providing superior customer service.
NFC Producer Route: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
Kevin dedicates four and a half very full days to picking up products from producers in 16 towns, sorting each item into its respective delivery site bin, and delivering products to each of the 23 customer sites in 11 cities and towns across eastern Nebraska for each cycle.
NFC Delivery Route: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday
NFC knows that without the dedication and attention to detail that Kevin provides many products would be incorrectly sorted. But, Kevin is keen on getting it right the first time.
So when you see Kevin on his very long route, give him a friendly nod of appreciation.
Finally, the recent “heartbleed” OpenSSL security flaw has been addressed at NFC and poses no known risk for the future. We strive to keep your information as safe as possible and would be happy to discuss any concerns you may have.
