This month brings us ever closer to some exciting developments for Membership. Our partnership with the Ambler Food Co-op represents the best cooperation has to offer. AFC consists of nearly 400 committed members who are ready and eager for Co-operation in their neighborhood, and  Weavers Way is a strong enough co-op to make that a reality. This is the coming together of the best of both worlds — a co-op in its infancy, full of commitment and exuberance, ready to get to work, and a well-established, mature co-op that’s been around the block a few times. 

Together, Ambler Food Co-op and Weavers Way Co-op will build a co-op where the need is greatest. 

In October, AFC hosted 175 members at their membership meeting. This is a tremendous turnout. Those members voted, overwhelmingly, to partner with Weavers Way. This is incredibly encouraging from a membership perspective. It means that we hit the ground running when we expand to Ambler! AFC has spent years doing the hard work of educating and cultivating within their community. Not only is Ambler ready for a cooperative, they are prepared to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

This bodes well for one of the more interesting, to me, aspects of this merger, which is Ambler’s desire for and commitment to a Working Member program. Ambler members want to be a part of their store. This offers an invaluable advantage for the new store. Working members are engaged members. These working members will be a part of operations, influencing and shaping the culture of their store, from Day One. I look forward to working and collaborating with these new members and, especially, to the day when we will all call each other Weavers Way members. 

Cooperatives grow out of a mutually held need. The citizens of Ambler have needed a grocery store for a very long time. Fortunately for them, a core group of dedicated and determined individuals recognized that need and began to organize around it. Their efforts have paid off. Thanks to all of their hard work, Weavers Way is coming to Ambler!