October is National Co-op Month, and this year’s theme is “The Future is Cooperative”.  The Three Rivers Board is holding our annual retreat on October 13^th, and this will be the perfect opportunity to reflect on where we want our cooperative to go over the next few years, and what role we want our market to play in the Knoxville community.  The first official Co-op Month celebration was declared in Minnesota in 1948, and since 1964, the US Department of Agriculture has put out a proclamation recognizing It nationally.

To help think through the important questions of our role in the local food ecosystem, the Board was proud to welcome Kimberly Pettigrew, the Director of Food Systems for the United Way of Greater Knoxville, to present at our September meeting.  Kimberly was an engaging and emotional speaker, telling stories about the assumptions she had made about food access when taking the job, and how her rigorous process of talking to people about their food access challenges had sharpened her understanding of the pressing needs in our community.  She challenged us to think more deeply about our role as a market in helping to support a stronger food ecosystem.

The United Way’s Food Systems Report shares some daunting facts about the challenges our neighbors face in accessing quality food., Knox County has 18 food deserts, and 48,410 county residents are considered food insecure. A survey of 848 county residents showed that about a quarter had gone hungry sometime in the past month.  Kimberly also shared the report’s comprehensive plan for food justice, which involves a right to access nutritious, affordable, culturally appropriate food; abundance and community prospering; economic inclusion; creating increased capabilities; and collective shared power.

We were proud that Kimberly mentioned the role that our General Manager, Fadi Aboush, played in addressing the United Way’s research team and sharing his knowledge on how supermarkets operate.  We hope to stay involved in this community effort, and provide pathways for our members to support the next steps that the report lays out.  The United Nations has declared 2025 the second International Year of Cooperatives, and we want to enter this year with a robust plan for how our unique co-op model can contribute to a thriving, well-fed Knox County and East Tennessee.