A quarter-two update from your Board Presdient and each Board Committee
Hello Fellow Cooperators,
We’ve had a wonderful spring quarter at Breadroot! We were thrilled to welcome three new Board Members: Manya Larson, Robert Blatnick, and Marko Kocada. We also had a strong turnout at our Annual Meeting—thank you to Libbertie, our Administrative Assistant, for your time, energy, and dedication in helping make the event a success!
Sharissa (our General Manager), Erin (our Marketing Manager), and I had the opportunity to attend the CCMA (Consumer Cooperative Management Association) Conference in Duluth, MN. It was an energizing and informative experience. I came back with ideas to support our store expansion, insight on how to keep our GM thriving, and inspiration from other Co-ops around the country. We also had the chance to visit local farms and Co-ops in the area—which is always a highlight.
Every time I attend CCMA, I walk away even more proud of what we have here at Breadroot. We have an incredible store, top-tier management, and deep community involvement. The growth we’ve seen is a direct result of your support—and we don’t take that for granted. Breadroot is all about building up our local community, and we feel the love in return.
There’s a lot of exciting work ahead, and we can’t wait to share it with you. See you at the Co-op!
With gratitude,
Tiffany Knight
Member-Owner (just like you!) & Board President
The Board Development Committee has been hard at work this second quarter, with our primary focus on the annual board election. We successfully conducted in-person interviews with all candidates, allowing for more meaningful engagement during the selection process.
We also took this opportunity to completely reformat and enhance our new board member orientation, ensuring a more comprehensive and welcoming experience for our incoming members.
As you know, we were thrilled to welcome three new board members this year! In addition, we’ve introduced new resources to support the full board’s engagement and effectiveness, including a monthly board newsletter and a shared board calendar.
We’re excited about these improvements and look forward to continuing to strengthen our board’s impact and collaboration.
The Member-Engagement Committee has been hard at work planning community events, deepening partnerships, and expanding how we connect with Breadroot’s Member-Owners.
Here are some highlights:
COMMUNITY OUTREACH:
We recently tabled events with Black Hills Center for Equality, Monument Health, WDT’s Earth Day Expo, and a few campus events at SDSM&T. We’ve also begun building ongoing partnerships with organizations like Children’s Therapy Services to strengthen our community presence.
BREADROOT’S BLOG:
Our blog is going strong, with new posts going up monthly since launch! We’re working to include more voices—are you interested in collaborating on a post? Email erin@breadroot.com and pitch your idea!
EVENTS:
Wiener Wednesday is happening Wednesday, July 23 from 11AM–2PM in the Breadroot parking lot! Join us during Summer Member-Owner Appreciation Week for our annual community cookout. This year, we’re excited to welcome Chef Justin Warner as our guest grill-master!
Connect With Your Co-op returns Saturday, October 11! Our second annual “Shake the Hand That Feeds You” celebration features vendor booths, food trucks, and in-store samples—bringing you face to face with the people behind your favorite local products.
Thanks for supporting community-centered Co-op values at Breadroot!
The strategic planning and effectiveness committee has been busy and highly productive in sending out new surveys and gathering new data to see how well we’re fulfilling our mission. We have made updates to our 5-year plan, the policy manual and have a strong team to move us forward into the next phase.
