Weekends are Made for Community-Building in Old North
A few years ago the St. Louis Post-Dispatch described Old North St. Louis Restoration Group as a “super-charged community organization.” If that was the case in 2006, then the activities of recent weekends would suggest that the community has become even more “super-charged” over the past couple of years.
The highlight of this past weekend was a gathering of neighborhood residents and outside friends who assembled for an update on the plans for the Old North Grocery Co-op, which is scheduled to open in late June. But this meeting wasn’t a simple presentation on the progress to date; the occasion provided an opportunity for the co-op’s planning committee to invite others to join in the work of the various task groups that are working on preparing the building for opening, identifying products to offer, refining the membership structure, and crafting an outreach strategy.
The product selection work group had a lively discussion about the food and non-food items neighbors would like to see in the grocery co-op.
Stefene and Lucas report back to the whole group about the ideas from the outreach work group.
ONSLRG Board President Tino Ochoa reviewed some of the next steps necessary to get us to opening day in June.
The Old North Grocery Co-op Planning Committee will meet on Tuesday, April 27 at 7 p.m. to review the recommendations and status reports from the different work groups. The Building Prep work group will gather at the co-op building (2718 N. 13th) this coming Saturday, April 24th at 10 a.m. for another work day in the building (and anybody willing to pitch in would be welcome!); the Product Selection work group will meet on Thursday the 22nd in the 13th Street garden; the Outreach task group will meet on Monday, April 26th at 6 p.m. at the ONSLRG office; and the Membership Structure task group will meet this evening, Tuesday, April 20th at 7 p.m. All task groups are open to anyone who wants to participate in making the Old North Grocery Co-op a great amenity for all residents of Old North and other nearby neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, a lot of hard work has gone into sprucing up the green spaces and public areas of Old North. On Saturday, April 10, residents and volunteers from outside the neighborhood fanned out to clean up the empty lots, alleys, community gardens, and streets of the neighborhood as part of the annual Operation Brightside blitz day.
Volunteers gathered at the Hebert Garden to get their work assignments.
Tom Bratkowski shows off some of the 10 trees from Forest ReLeaf that were planted in the Hebert garden by Maryville students.
Some of the volunteers were from St. Louis University
Other volunteers came from Washington University.
Susan Tschetter and crew cleaned up an alley behind North Market.
Between the continuing work on the Old North Grocery Co-op, the North City Farmers’ Market (which opens its 4th season on Sat., June 5), and the annual Old North St. Louis House & Community Tour on Saturday, May 8, there will be plenty more opportunities to get involved with the community’s ongoing revitalization efforts. Give us a call at 314-241-5031 to learn more.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 12:22 pm and is filed under House Tour, Life in ONSL, North City Farmers' Market, ONSL amenities, ONSL people, Old North Grocery Co-op, Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, Parks and green spaces, Public Meetings, Uncategorized, Volunteer Opportunities, sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
RSS
1 COMMENT:
"Weekends are Made for Community-Building in Old North"
[...] Community members tend a garden in St. Louis. Photo courtesy of Old St. Louis Community Group [...]
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?