With 23% of staff with us for five to nine years, and a robust 15% for nine years or more, Seward Co-op is proud to be a workplace where employees want to stick around. While some cite schedule flexibility, connection to food systems, or desires for “doing good” in our local communities, one refrain is also frequently stated and particularly emphasized by Friendship store Front End employee, Rosa: it’s really about the people.

Rosa (she/her) has been a caring, connective, and versatile member of the team since the Friendship store opened in 2015. With a 15-year background in the hectic restaurant industry, Rosa was looking for a second job and a change of pace when she applied to be a Housekeeper at the soon-to-be opened Friendship store. Over time, her aptitude for customer service became evident and she started working in the Grocery department, then moved to cashiering, and now also works in Produce. While she says she was initially nervous to work in a cashiering role due to her experiences with anxiety, today she says it’s one of the easiest parts of her job. It can still get busy, but she tries to take it as it comes by helping one customer at a time. That service-oriented attitude, a desire for connection, and opportunities to educate customers about the co-op have all been sources of joy for her in the last decade.

“I really enjoy the people I work with. I get to work with a bunch of different people, but I feel like everybody here is a part of it.” Throughout her career, she says it’s been less about the job for her, and more about the people. “I love interacting with the community, because I’ve seen kids grow up. From pregnancy to now the kids being now, like, eight! It’s really awesome.”

Rosa has seen so much change at the co-op over the years. She values the importance of community participation and helped with the creation of the SEED Community Choice program. “I always thought it’d be a great idea to get the community involved. The SEED Committee still picks candidates, but then the community decides. I think that’s really awesome, because then people are participating in something.”

When asked what she wants to see in the future of the Friendship store and the co-op overall, she responded she wants to keep seeing growth. “I just want to see things keep growing in different directions and going with the flow.” At Seward Co-op, we hope for the same and look forward to another ten years of Friendship alongside caring co-workers like Rosa and community members like you.