Coop helping residents buy healthier foods
By Nora Cardec Journal Correspondent

A small group of healthy conscious people started to purchase food in bulk and formed the Ashby Food Coop 33 years ago.

The food is bought from United Natural Foods, a national distributor of natural and organic food and other related products.

The main objective of the Ashby Food Coop is to p r o m o t e healthy eating at affordable prices, as well as to promote a sense of community, sharing and friendship.

"I like the conne c t ion experience, which is something other than mainstream food shopping," said Joanne Boudreau, a member for the past 25 years. "I also like the prices, the quality and variety of food."

Likewise, Stephanie Cassano, another longtime member of the cooperative, said she enjoys having the opportunity of buying organic food and other products such as vitamins in a cooperative way.

"It's nice to do cooperative buying," Cassano said.

Unlike other cooperatives where members own the organization or company, the Ashby Food Coop is more of a buying club except that there are no annual fees.

Boudreau is the current cashier for the Ashby Food Coop. She said the cooperative collects a one-time deposit fee of $25 for each new member.

Membership is open to anyone including people from other surrounding towns.

Word-of-mouth has been the most reliable method for recruiting members, who are for the most part w o m e n . Bo u d r e a u said women are naturally inclined to take part in the coop since they tend to be the ones to plan the family meals, the ones who share food recipes and the ones that seek the camaraderie of other women.

"Women join (the food coop) a lot when their children are little," she said. "The coop meetings are all about food; the reason why mostly women are members."

The sense of community comes in by sharing food with others, holding social events and sometimes splitting the cost of a box of items of which a person might just want a few, she said.

"We donate to the Ashby Food Pantry each month and make other donations to shelters or food banks once a year during the holidays," said Boudreau.

A benefit to participating in the food cooperative is the opportunities to learn more about food, health and nutrition, according to Mariana Furtney Fyfe.

Furtney Fyfe, a longtime member of the Ashby Food Coop, said by being part of a food cooperative allows participants to receive news and information on workshops and lectures related to a variety of interests.

She said she has taken advantage of some of the classes and workshops offered on food and nutrition including a class she took on organic farming.

"You learn so much through the cooperative about many different things. You are always learning," she said.

Members receive a monthly food catalog to order from and they may select from items from frozen fruits and vegetables, meats, dairy products, tea, coffee and juice to baby food, nuts and seeds, herbs and seasonings, grains and beans, baking products.

Like any other organization, the food coop has evolved since it was founded. It is better organized now with clear job assignments and a breakdown crew to divide the orders each month.

According to Boudreau, it was much harder in the beginning when each person had to fetch his or her own and measure their own products.

Now, she said, a lot of the items come pre-measured and many are labeled with the name of the recipient, the specific order and the price.

The food is dropped off at the First Parish Church on Main Street, where the cooperative rents the downstairs to use as the food distribution center.

The coop is not for people who live hurried lives or for impatient ones. On the contrary, Boudreau said it takes a lot of patience, flexibility as the delivery dates rotate each month, cooperation, planning since one must order food a month in advance and a health conscious because all the food is organic.

Years ago buying through the food cooperative was costly particularly because natural and organic foods did not abound. But with the increased interest in eating healthier throughout the country prices have leveled, Boudreau said.

"It used to be more expensive, but now you're bill is similar to a regular grocery store," she said. "But the quality is still higher and it's worth it."

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Nora Cardec is a correspondent for The Community Journal and can be reached at: ncardec@yahoo.com or (978) 827-3386. Ext. 10.

For more information on the Ashby Food Coop, call

Mariana Furtney Fyfe at

(978) 386-5671 or

Joanne Boudreau at (978) 386-2278 or send e-mail to:

ashbycoop@yahoo.com.