For more than 40 years, Seward Co-op has been committed to giving back to our community. In 2011, we introduced SEED, a new way for customers to participate in this commitment. This simple yet powerful community giving program allows customers to “round-up” their grocery bill for recipient organizations that share our commitment to a healthy community.

SEED Recipients are selected once per year. Application information for 2017 will be posted at seward.coop in the spring of 2016.

2015-16 SEED Recipients

October 2015
WE WIN Institute, Inc.
WE WIN supports student learning and social development in urban youth through academic activities, civic and community engagement. Funding will support WE WIN youth gardens that teach young people about the importance of food origins, eating healthy, and exercise.

November 2015
Waite House Neighborhood Center
Waite House trains neighborhood teens in community culinary arts and food justice. Funds raised would support the community based portion of their training – in Southside Kitchen providing healthy, made-from-scratch, free meals daily to neighborhood youth.

December 2015 and June 2016
Isuroon Ethnic Food Shelf
Isuroon is dedicated to building Somali women’s self-sufficiency so that they can lead healthier, more productive lives in Minnesota, nationally and in Somalia. Funding will support the creation of an ethnic food shelf serving the Somali Community in South Minneapolis.

January 2016
Full Cycle Bike Shop
Full Cycle is a bike shop that helps put homeless youth on a path toward independence. SEED funding will create jobs for homeless youth using a fleet of bike trailers to pick up and deliver food donations to organizations serving homeless youth. Homeless youth are best able to build up their own stability when they have the opportunity to help others at the same time.

February and December 2016
Sabathani Community Center
Sabathani provides food, clothing and housing to 26,000 neighborhood residents each year in South Minneapolis. We feed the chronically poor, those on disability or chemical dependent individuals and families. Sabathani Community Center has been providing basic needs services for nearly fifty years.

March and September 2016
Brian Coyle Food Shelf
Brian Coyle Community Center’s Basic Needs program offers a choice model food shelf, healthy cultural cooking classes, free produce giveaways, monthly senior NAPS food program, and is working toward expanding its community garden on site. Funding will support the purchase of fresh produce, dairy, whole grains and culturally-specific foods for the food shelf.

April 2016
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre
On May 1, 2016, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre’s 42nd annual MayDay celebration will build community vitality on an enormous scale. We will bring together 1200 volunteers to build and stage a parade and pageant welcoming spring and inspiring positive change for 50,000 attendees from every part of our community. Children, parents, youth and seniors are engaged for weeks in advance, building artmaking skills as they gain respect and develop friendships with each other.

May 2016
Mashkiikii Gitigan Urban Community Farm
Mashkiikii Gitigan (Ojibwe for medicine garden) addresses the food justice needs of people living in the Phillips neighborhood of South Minneapolis, many of whom face challenges in accessing fresh, healthy foods. SEED funding will support Mashkiikii Gitigan’s Karma Markets, weekly “pay what you can” farmer’s markets that provide community members with fresh fruits, vegetables, and traditional herbal medicines.

July 2016
Hope Community
SEED funds will support a Network of Community Gardens at Home Community, at the intersection of Franklin and Portland Avenues–about two miles west of Seward Co-op, in Philips Community. Hope is a community development organization that’s been around since 1977, doing both housing and community engagement in Philips. Gardens at Hope bring people together to learn about and grow healthy food, develop leadership and build a stronger, healthier community.

August 2016
The Hmong American Farmers Association
The Hmong American Farmers Association creates more economic opportunity for Hmong farmers. They make sure Hmong farmers earn more income through new markets like co-ops and schools, while bringing fresh, locally grown produced to thousands of people in the Twin Cities.

October 2016
Community Emergency Service, Inc.
Community Emegency Service has been feeding hungry people in our neighborhood for more than four decades, providing groceries and hot meals for 2,500 people monthly. SEED funds will help the organization provide holiday food for neighbors in need this season.

November 2016
Dream of Wild Health
Dream of Wild Health promotes health in the urban Native community by expanding knowledge of and access to healthy indigenous foods and medicines.. DWH’s programs focus on increasing knowledge of healthy foods, nutrition, cooking, disease prevention, traditional foods, organic farming and community advocacy.

Seward Community Co-op launched the Seward Community Fund (SCF) in 2005. The establishment of the SCF embodies our co-op’s commitment to grow not just as a business, but also as a community resource for organizations whose work aligns with our vision for a healthy community.

SCF grants are awarded annually in amounts up to $5,000 each. Applications are reviewed by a grant committee comprised of co-op staff, and recipients are announced at the annual co-op owners meeting in October. The next application deadline will be in early summer 2016. Click here for more information.

Grants are given to organizations whose work aligns with our Ends Statement:

Our Ends Statement

Seward Co-op will sustain a healthy community that has:

• Equitable economic relationships;
• Positive environmental impacts; and
• Inclusive, socially responsible practices.

In addition, priority will be given to organizations that:

• Are based in the communities served by Seward Co-op.
• Reflect the cultural and racial diversity of our communities.
• Use the funding for specific projects rather than general operating costs.
• Are nonpartisan and do not advocate a particular religion.
• Are registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

2015 Seward Community Fund Recipients:

Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals
$5,000
We will use this grant to revitalize Dakota and Ojibwe languages at the early childhood levels, as MN’s First languages; Dakota and Ojibwe are critically endangered. We are using an analogy of a tropic cascade when speaking of revitalizing Dakota and Ojibwe as current data points towards numerous cognitive benefits, cultural self efficacy and community well being.

Ananya Dance Theatre
$3,000
Ananya Dance Theatre is a contemporary company of women artists of color. Grant funds would support the creation and presentation of our 2016 production, “Horidraa: Golden Healing.”

Dream of Wild Health
$5,000
We work to restore health and well-being of the Twin Cities Native American community by increasing access to healthy fresh foods through our farm production, market and CSA outlets and donations; providing educational programs in organic farming, healthy indigenous foods, cooking skills and nutritional knowledge; and by creating opportunities for youth educational summer enrichment, employment and entrepreneurship programs.

Frogtown Green/Asian American Elders Garden
$3,500
We seek support for coordination, infrastructure and supplies for the Asian American Elders Garden, a space where elderly refugees build social connections and economic resilience by growing produce for household consumption and occasional sales. The Garden, a Frogtown resident-led initiative, also enhances cultural interaction and learning, by showcasing Asian farming techniques and produce.

Kente Circle
$5,000
Kente Circle, an African American owned mental health organization, is obtaining 501(c)(3) status for a new training institute and community gathering place – Kente Circle Training Institute (KCTI). KCTI’s work will align with the Seward Co-op ends statement in that it will be geared toward culturally inclusive trainings, research and community building in the Twin Cities and more specifically in the community where the new Seward Co-op Friendship Store is located.

Mashkiikii Gitigan: 24th Street Community Urban Farm
$5,000
The Mission of the Mashkiikii Gitigan is is to create and nurture the culture and practice of local food production, healthy eating, healthy living and related activities along the 24th Street Wellness Corridor and throughout the Phillips Community. These funds would go towards hiring a local resident, market supplies and “Karma Market Bucks” to support our “Karma Market” where communit members can contribute what they can afford for healthy, organic produce from our Urban Farm.

MSPCC/Sunshine Tree Child Development Ctr.
$5,000
We are an Early Childhood Development Center that provides sustainable Early learning services for Children from a diversity of families in our community. The funds will be used to upgrade our facility and enhance the materials used for the learning of our Children to make them exceptionally Kindergarten ready and also assist those that are in school to have successful educational and social experiences.

Permaculture Research Institute-Cold Climate
$4,500
PRI will provide full scholarship tuition for training eight new urban farmers from low-income, immigrant, and/or native communities, and will provide them with access to land and the training needed to launch businesses, to become teachers, and grow healthy food in their neighborhoods. Collectively, these eight new farmers will gain the leadership skills and experience to transform eight new farms and teach an additional fifty new community members over the course of their learning.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park Legacy Council
$4,000
We will use the funds to landscape an area around the Freedom Form II sculpture in the park. This is a special place, sacred ground containing the sculpture donated upon the re-dedication of the park in Dr. King’s name and then enhanced with granite and metal benches inscribed with quotes from Dr. King and responses from the community. The final touch would be landscaping.

Seward Longfellow Restorative Justice Partnership
$5,000
SLRJP provides a restorative conference process, as an alternative to the juvenile justice system, to neighborhood youth who have been arrested for lower level offenses including shoplifting, property damage and theft. Funding will be used to grow a new partnership with the Center for Multicultural Mediation and Restorative Justice in order to provide culturally-informed restorative conferences in Somali to referred youth, with participation of a Somali co-facilitator and Somali community members.

The Cedar Cultural Center
$5,000
Launched in 2014 in partnership with Augsburg College, Midnimo is a program featuring multi-week residencies with Somali artists from Minnesota and around the world that include public performances, workshops, discussions, and activities on campus and in the community. The proposed funding will support the growth and continuation of Midnimo, and build on its momentum as a platform for developing the social connections and cultural touchstones that promote unity and the celebration of our community’s diverse cultural assets.

Seward Co-op has your holiday shopping and dining needs covered! Here are our holiday hours of operation to bear in mind when planning gatherings with family and friends. Please note the hours of the Co-op Creamery Café differ from the Friendship and Franklin stores.

We’d also like to remind owners to redeem the 50% off postcard for the Co-op Creamery Café that you received in the mail. We will accept the coupon all day on Dec. 31 (the Creamery will close at 2 p.m. that day), and we have extended the offer through 10 p.m. on New Year’s Day.

Franklin and Friendship stores:
Christmas Eve: 8 a.m.–8 p.m.
Christmas Day: CLOSED
New Year’s Eve: 8 a.m.–8 p.m.
New Year’s Day: 10 a.m.–10 p.m. (Note: this was listed incorrectly in the Sprout! newsletter as open at 11 a.m.)

Co-op Creamery Café:
Christmas Eve: 8 a.m.–2 p.m.
Christmas Day: CLOSED
New Year’s Eve: 8 a.m.–2 p.m.
New Year’s Day: 8 a.m.–10 p.m.

Seward Co-op is issuing a voluntary recall of Cascadian Farms Frozen Cut Green Beans (16 oz.; retail $3.39) due to the possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes. No illnesses have been reported in connection with this product. We have pulled the product from our shelves.

The affected product’s UPC code is UPC: 000219085014 with a Best by Date of 6/29/2017. The product would have been sold between July 6, 2015 and October 4, 2015. If you have purchased the product and are in doubt, do not consume the product. Recalled products will be fully refunded at our Franklin store Customer Service desk.

Last Saturday, co-op shoppers had the opportunity to meet members of Featherstone Fruits and Vegetables. The farm was started in 1995 as Jack Hedin and Jenni McHugh’s five-acre garden at the Zephyr Valley Land Co-op near Winona, Minn. Since then, the farm has relocated to land near the town of Rushford, Minn., and now employs nearly 50 people working on over 250 acres of optimal vegetable-growing ground. Beginning in late May with leaf lettuce through a summer’s harvest of zucchini and cherry tomatoes into winter squash and carrots in the winter, there’s hardly a month that Featherstone isn’t represented in the co-op’s Produce department. The farm is certified organic and is dedicated to creating a truly sustainable agriculture system. That includes geothermal heating and cooling for the packing shed, as well as a solar array that generates about 60 percent of the farm’s energy. Featherstone also operates a community-supported agriculture program and is currently signing people up for their winter 2015-2016 season!

We are proud to introduce the management team of the Friendship store! This talented group of leaders brings a wealth of experience and diverse backgrounds to the co-op.

Raynardo Williams, Store Manager
Samuel Bjorgum, Produce Manager
Nick Cronin, Assistant Store Manager
Karl Gerstenberger, Meat & Seafood Manager
Angel(ika) Matthews, Deli Manager
Diane McCarthy, Wellness Manager
Vivian Mims, Front End Manager
Rebecca Yuzefovich, Grocery Manager

Raynardo Williams, Store Manager

As a former entrepreneur, I am accustomed to the work required to bring a vision like the Friendship store to fruition. I’m used to being very hands on; I like getting my hands dirty on projects. My undergraduate degree in business administration is from National American University and I hold a master’s degree in management from Hamline University. This financial service and retail management background means I’m used to immersing myself into projects like the Friendship store, working long hours as I did as a retail manager for Aldo Shoes.

I think the goal with the Friendship store is to make it a staple in the community by upholding and representing our owners and constantly taking steps to create something that reflects the Seward Co-op Ends Statement.

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Samuel Bjorgum, Produce Manager

After working a season on an organic vegetable CSA farm in Wisconsin, I started working in a co-op produce department (at a different co-op). That was 10 years ago, and I’ve been working in co-op produce retail ever since. I have been employed at Seward Co-op for seven years, and I am excited to serve South Minneapolis as Produce Manager at the Friendship store. I’m passionate about sustainability, resilience, and justice in our food systems, and I love providing visually engaging displays of fresh nutritious produce. In my free time, I paint in my studio and attend art events with my partner Justine who is also a visual artist.

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Nick Cronin, Assistant Store Manager

I was raised in South Minneapolis, and I graduated from South High (Go Tigers!). I have spent the majority of my professional life in food service as a chef. Outside of work, I am the father of two amazing little children. I am so excited to be a part of the Friendship store. I firmly believe that the Seward Co-op continues to be committed to the same goals it has been committed to for the past 43 years: living-wage jobs; support for small, local farmers/producers; and investment in local neighborhoods. I believe that the Friendship store will play an integral role in connecting the people of the Bryant-Central neighborhood with nourishing food that is essential to a long and balanced life. I also believe Seward Co-op is an engine for socioeconomic change and that the work we do day in and day out makes the world a better place.

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Karl Gerstenberger, Meat & Seafood Manager

My zeal for food and co-ops started early. My grandparents were Hanover (New Hampshire) Food Co-op managers starting in the 1940s. I grew up in a household that valued organic vegetable gardening and scratch cooking/baking. I started cooking professionally in 1994 at Stars/Chez Panisse/Oliveto (San Francisco/Berkeley/Oakland), where I learned to appreciate farm-direct suppliers, wood-fired cookery, and meat craft. My transition into the meat processing profession started in 2008 with courses at Iowa State and the University of Minnesota, which led to a sausage production manager job at Lorentz Meats. I’ve been at Seward since 2010, where I’ve worked as a butcher since day one. I’ll soon be a graduate of the Saint Mary’s Master of Management–Cooperatives and Credit Unions program.

My responsibility at the new store will be managing the Meat and Seafood department. I’m looking forward to serving our new neighborhood, developing a fun and skilled team, and increasing the economic viability of local meats. I’m very excited to help create a path for people to learn the craft and trade of cutting meat. Learning and personal growth are what it’s all about.

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Angel(ika) Matthews, Deli Manager

I was born and raised in Duluth, Minn. We moved to St. Paul in 1994, and I attended Humboldt High School on the west side. I graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in the Twin Cities in the spring of 2007 with a degree in culinary arts. After a few years I moved to Madison, Wis., in the summer of 2009. In the late fall of 2009 I was hired as the sous chef for Fresh Madison Market, which was a new grocery store set up in the campus area of the University of Wisconsin. In 2011 I applied for a sous chef position with the Willy Street Co-op. I had never really understood at the time what a co-op was or the level of production their off-site kitchen produced in one day. Let’s just say I had my work cut out for me. Three months into the sous chef position I was promoted to the Production Kitchen Manager role, and I stayed in that position for four and a half years. Working for Willy Street was one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs of my career, and I am truly grateful that I was able to experience it. When I started with them they were very much in the same boat that Seward Co-op is in now, opening a second store and becoming a multi-site organization.

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Diane McCarthy, Wellness Manager

I was raised in Minnesota and currently live in South Minneapolis near the Friendship store. I worked for Lakewinds Food Co-op and opened the Wellness Department in the Richfield store in a little over a year ago. My leadership style has been most impacted by being a mother. That has taught me to lead, cooperate, problem solve, be a good listener and work very hard. I am most excited to build an excellent team that understands Seward Co-op’s mission in the community and that can have fun at the same time. I feel my challenge may be to find a balance between work and home life, but the support of the Seward family will be there for me also. A fun fact about me is that I am from a large family and I am twin.

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Vivian Mims, Front End Manager

As a young girl, I was immersed in my community with a vast array of opportunities to see things optimistically. I believe a big part of my customer service skills developed as I was surrounded by my parents’ employers, extensive travels and their social activities. I was the youngest of four and the only girl. I attribute my inclusion of all individuals and socially responsible practices to my familial structure and experiences. I graduated from St. Paul Central High School and attended the University of Minnesota for two years, where I was the UMN’s first African American Homecoming Queen (without perks). I spent several years away from Minnesota. I continued to expand my socially responsible practices as the wife of an officer in the United States Air Force and mother of our two children. My daughters and I moved back to Minnesota for their formative education, and they both have B.A. undergraduate degrees. Moving was a great decision. I was able to obtain an associate degree in hospitality management, and I have a desire to complete a B.A. sometime soon. At my last place of employment, Courtyard by Marriott, I served as Operations Manager.

As Front End Manager of the Friendship store, I’m looking forward to all of the new experiences and providing exceptional customer service to all who enter the co-op.

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Rebecca Yuzefovich, Grocery Manager

I was born and raised in South Minneapolis. For the past 14 years, I lived in Israel on a kibbutz (a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture). I moved to Israel where I met my husband and had three children. While living on the kibbutz, I worked in various branches including laundry and clothing repair, children’s daycare and HR at one of the factories. For the past seven years I worked in our community grocery store in various roles including stocking, front end, replenishment buying, lead buyer, and assistant manager. In the last three years I was the General Manager for the store. I love working with people and enjoy the dynamic vibrant energy of working in grocery. I am excited to bring a wide variety of nourishing and healthy options that we can introduce and provide to our customers.

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General Mills announced a voluntary Class 1 recall involving 10 ounce bags of frozen Cascadian Farm Cut Beans produced over two days in March 2014. The recall is being issued as a precaution after one package of finished product tested positive for the presence of Listeria Monocytogenes. No related illnesses have been reported.

Affected product is not currently on the shelves at Seward Co-op; we are not currently stocking this item. We have carried 10 ounce cut beans in the past as a promotional item ($2.00 sale price; $2.79 reg. price). Other sizes and varieties of Cascadian Farm products have not been affected.

If you purchased 10 ounce bags of frozen Cascadian Farm Cut Beans between July 30, 2014 and Aug. 7, 2015 with “Better If Used By” dates of 04-10-16 or 04-11-16, please return them to Seward Co-op for a full refund.

The affected product’s UPC code is 21908-50345 and has “Better If Used By” dates of 04-10-16 and 04-11-16. Complete information from General Mills is available here or by calling 800.624.4123.

Hoch Orchards and Gardens, run by Harry and Jackie Hoch (above), is a family farm near La Crescent, Minn., with a long tradition of growing fresh fruit. A handful of the farm’s original trees, planted in the 1940s, can still be found on the farm, though production is concentrated on newer varieties. Besides 50 varieties of apples, Hoch Orchards also grows grapes, plums, apricots (cold-tolerant varieties they have developed right on the farm), cherries and berries. It is a testament to Harry and Jackie’s farming ability that they are able to grow such high-quality fruit organically, as apples are very vulnerable to pests and disease.

Hoch Orchards is certified organic by the Midwest Organic Services Association (MOSA) and is working with MOSA in a pilot project to create a certification process for domestic fair trade. Such a program would maintain standards that verify a farm is getting fair prices for its products and providing a living wage and healthy working conditions for its employees.

Many of Hoch Orchards’ products are biodynamic certified by Demeter (as well as certified organic), and their raspberries are particularly excellent this year. Come say hello to Hoch Orchard farmers tomorrow and ask them if biodynamics has made the difference with their sweet and zingy raspberries!

This Monday, July 13! Join Seward Co-op and other Seward members at Fair State Brewing Cooperative for happy hour 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. Bring your Seward ownership card and enjoy a beer at half-price (one per person).

Did you know Fair State Brewing is a co-op just like Seward? They have membership, a board of directors, and an annual election, just like we do. The one big difference?

THEY HAVE BEER.

Case in point, we’re particularly excited to try Fair State’s Hefeweizen, if it’s still available. City Pages calls this beer “a great addition to the local scene!”

So join let’s get a mob of Seward owners over at Fair State and get some co-operating done.

WHERE: 2506 Central Avenue Nordeast Minneapolis
WHEN: 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. Monday, July 13

WHY: Well. Co-operation among co-ops IS a key principle…

Wirth Grocery Co-op Board of Directors

Wirth Grocery Co-op isn’t a brick-and-mortar store yet, but they’ve announced a location, 500+ owner-members have already signed up, and Seward shoppers donated nearly $20,000 in “SEED money” to the new co-op in May 2015, by rounding up at Seward Co-op registers.

Wirth Board members attended a small ceremony at Seward yesterday so that a check could be presented by our cashiers and other staff for the SEED total.

Seward cashiers have championed SEED and made it into a major force for food-related non-profits, food shelves, and co-operative efforts like Wirth Co-op in Minneapolis. We were all very excited to present this check to Wirth Co-op!

The new co-op will be located at Golden Valley Rd and Penn Avenue N., in the Willard-Hay neighborhood of North Minneapolis (Google Map).

Seward picks a new SEED recipient month. The SEED recipient for June is the Brian Coyle Food Shelf. Check out their website to learn more about this great community food shelf.