By Matt Perry, Bulk Department Manager

What’s for dinner? It is a question that we are often unprepared for. Or at least, it is for those of us who are not expert meal planners. I imagine that most of us start thinking about this question at
the end of the day when we are tired, somewhat hungry, and yes, crabby. It can be especially tricky if you are cooking not only for yourself, but for your family members or partner and have to take
into account their differing tastes and opinions.

Thanks to my coworker, Alexa, I’ve been thinking about the question “What’s for dinner?” much earlier in the day, as she usually asks me in the morning. When she first started asking me, I chuckled, because I have never really been conditioned to start thinking about meals so far in advance! “I dunno,” I usually shrug. This is usually followed by a bit of a brainstorming session, taking into consideration things like, ‘what’s in the fridge?’ and ‘what did I eat last night?’ You see, Alexa is a Foodie and loves talking about food, so we can usually come up with some pretty good ideas. Grilled chicken? No, I had chicken last night. How about salmon? Nah, not really in the mood for that. Spaghetti and meatballs? Yes, actually I have some ground beef in the fridge. Oh, and the Raos tomato sauce is on sale. Perfect!

Once you get into the routine of planning in advance, working with what you have, and discussing food with your friends, you’ll start to find that the question “what’s for dinner?” will become much easier to answer. Bon Appetit, Co-operators!

As you may have heard, local COVID case counts are dropping and the CDC and NH State recently made some changes in masking guidance. Therefore we’ve begun to roll back our current mask protocols. We realize it’s important we do this in a way that is transparent, inclusive and continues to serve everyone’s well-being.

While we don’t specifically require masks to be worn at the Co-op, we’ve been strongly suggesting it for a while now. Masks are now optional for customers. You can mask if you want to, or not. As of Monday 3/21, our employees will no longer be required to wear masks. If you have a respiratory illness, please be considerate and wear a mask so that it doesn’t spread to other customers and staff. If you have COVID-19, please stay home and refrain from entering the store.

If you’re not able to shop in person, we have a Curbside Pickup Service for Members. You can easily order your groceries on our website and we’ll bring them out to your car.

If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to us at info@littletoncoop.org. Thanks for listening, and we welcome your feedback!

Cooperatives around the world operate according to a set of principles adopted by the International Cooperative Alliance. All people deserve the right to represent themselves democratically (Principle 2) and be free from tyranny or control from others (Principle 4). We also believe in cooperation among cooperatives, which means cooperatives should help and support one another (Principle 6).

Ukraine’s Central Union of Consumer Societies oversees a wide range of cooperative services and everyday essentials in many Ukrainian communities. This includes food co-ops just like ours, as well as public media production, education, manufacturing, and essential services. All of these cooperatives are at risk – along with the citizens and communities that rely on them – as long as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues.

In a show of solidarity, National Co+op Grocers (NCG) has partnered with the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) and NCBA CLUSA to launch a fundraising drive to support the Ukrainian cooperative community. Our General Manager and our Board have organized a direct donation of $2000 for this fund, which will directly support Cooperatives in Ukraine. Even better, NCG is matching all donations up to $100,000, effectively doubling the power of our contribution. That’s especially critical right now, since many of the towns and cities where people are trapped will need the food, shelter, and services that the Ukrainian Coop provides!

“The sense of support and solidarity we feel from around the world gives us strength,” said Illia Gorokhovskyi, board chair of the All-Ukrainian Central Union of Consumer Societies (COOP Ukraine), adding that the country’s cooperatives are continuing to serve their members. “Despite these circumstances, consumer cooperatives are making efforts to provide the population with the necessities of life, primarily food, and delivering them to where it is most needed.”

We’re not actively seeking additional donations at this time, but there are other ways you can help! NPR has compiled an excellent list of organizations you can donate to, and World Central Kitchen is providing fresh, nourishing meals to Ukrainian refugees.

On Wednesday February 2 we learned that an employee from our store tested positive for Covid-19.  

The employee works in the checkout area at the registers. Their last shift was on Wednesday February 2. The employee is currently self-quarantining at home as recommended by their healthcare provider. 

We are encouraging anyone with concerns to contact their healthcare professional and get tested when appropriate. We have identified all staff members who may have been in close contact with the affected employees, and we are supporting them as they self-monitor. At this time we believe there is no communal spread within the Co-op. 

As part of our daily Covid-19 screening practices we ask that any employee who exhibits symptoms to stay home, contact our HR department, and notify their healthcare provider. Our co-op has a generous sick leave and vacation policy, and we are working with staff members on a case-by-case basis to ensure they have the support they need. 

Our co-op prides itself on its cleanliness, social distancing, and safety standards, and we are taking multiple steps to best serve you, care for our staff, and be a responsible member of our community. 

• Employees are required to wear masks inside the store. We ask customers to wear masks while they shop.
• Our staff self-monitor for symptoms and do not come to work if they are sick.
• All employees are asked to maintain a 6 foot distance from customers and coworkers.
• We practice social distancing in our work areas and have installed reminders throughout the store.
• We have installed extra sanitizer stations for staff and customers throughout the store, and encourage good hygiene and frequent hand-washing. 
• We’ve installed plexiglas safety barriers at our registers, and marked off spaces on the floor to help everyone maintain a safe social distance.

To learn more about the steps we are taking, please visit our website at www.littletoncoop.com/covid-19. 

If you have any further questions, please contact us at info@littletoncoop.org.

In the interest of transparency, we wanted to inform you that on Sunday January 30 we learned that an employee from our store tested positive for Covid-19.  

The employee works in the checkout area at the registers. Their last shift was on Thursday January 27. 

The employee is currently self-quarantining at home as recommended by their healthcare provider. To our knowledge, the employee has no exhibited symptoms while at work.

We are encouraging anyone with concerns to contact their healthcare professional and get tested when appropriate. We have identified all staff members who may have been in close contact with the affected employees, and we are supporting them as they self-monitor. At this time we believe there is no communal spread within the Co-op. 

To learn more about the steps we are taking, please visit our website at www.littletoncoop.com/covid-19. 

On Friday, January 14 we learned that two employees from our store tested positive for Covid-19.

One employee works in the deli department, and the other employee works in the bulk department. Their last shifts were on Friday January 7.

Both employees are self-quarantining at home as recommended by their healthcare providers. To our knowledge, neither employee has exhibited symptoms while at work.

We have identified all staff members who may have been in close contact with the affected employees, and we are supporting them as they self-monitor. As part of our daily Covid-19 screening practices, we ask that any employee who exhibits symptoms to stay home, contact our HR department, and notify their healthcare provider. Our co-op has a generous sick leave and vacation policy, and we are working with staff members on a case-by-case basis to ensure they have the support they need.

We encourage anyone with concerns to contact their healthcare professional and get tested when appropriate.

To learn more about the steps we are taking, please visit our Covid-19 information page.

If you have any further questions, please contact us at info@littletoncoop.org.

In the interest of transparency, we wanted to inform you that on Monday, January 10 we learned that two employees from our store have tested positive for Covid-19.

One employee works in the deli department, and the other employee works as a cashier. Their last shifts were both on Saturday, January 8.

Both employees are self-quarantining at home as recommended by their healthcare providers. To our knowledge, neither employee has exhibited symptoms while at work and most likely contracted the virus outside of the store.

We encourage anyone with concerns to contact their healthcare professional and get tested when appropriate.

As an added precaution we’ve done extra cleaning and sanitation in each area of the store. We have also identified all staff members who may have been in close contact with the affected employees, and we are supporting them as they self-monitor. At this time we believe there is no communal spread within the Co-op.

As part of our daily Covid-19 screening practices, we ask that any employee who exhibits symptoms to stay home, contact our HR department, and notify their healthcare provider. Our co-op has a generous sick leave and vacation policy, and we are working with staff members on a case-by-case basis to ensure they have the support they need.

Our co-op prides itself on its cleanliness, social distancing, and safety standards, and we are taking multiple steps to best serve you, care for our staff, and be a responsible member of our community.

Employees are required to wear masks inside the store. We ask customers to wear masks while they shop.
Our staff self-monitor for symptoms and do not come to work if they are sick.
All employees are asked to maintain a 6 foot distance from customers and coworkers.
We practice social distancing in our work areas and have installed reminders throughout the store.
We have installed extra sanitizer stations for staff and customers throughout the store, and encourage good hygiene and frequent hand-washing.
We’ve installed plexiglas safety barriers at our registers, and marked off spaces on the floor to help everyone maintain a safe social distance.

To learn more about the steps we are taking, please visit our Covid-19 information page.

If you have any further questions, please contact us at info@littletoncoop.org.

A few of our customers and Members have reached out to us with inquiries and concerns regarding our vaccination policy here at the Co-op. At this time we do not have a mandatory vaccination policy in place for our employees. We are waiting to hear from OSHA as they develop such a policy for businesses with more than 100 employees. 

For privacy reasons we do not divulge the vaccination status of individual employees, just as we would not divulge any other personal health information. What we can tell you is that our current vaccination rate is well above the state average. We have had multiple in-store opportunities for our employees to receive a free vaccination. We have a mask mandate in place for our employees and still do our best to practice social distancing. We haven’t had any community-spread events inside our store, and the few cases we have had most likely originated outside of the Co-op.

We know that Covid-19 can be transmitted among vaccinated people. Our employees wear masks to protect each other, to protect our customers and Members, and to minimize the spread of the virus in our community. We urge you to do the same and wear a mask when you shop here at the Co-op.

If you have any specific questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out to Ed King, General Manager, at eking@littletoncoop.org