warehouse is continually seeking local sources of organically grown food. But some inexperienced local farmers trying to grow organically are very frustrated at the poor quality of their initial efforts. As the co-ops grow and farmers learn, an increasing proportion of our food will come from local sources. Stone Soup is a restaurant which was organized as a part of the New Pioneer Co-op last year and serves natural foods to a growing number of students and townspeople. The restaurant operates out of an abandoned kitchen in the basement of a former parochial school. The restaurant has a paid staff of a dozen part-time people and is still plagued by inefficiencies such as receipts dropped into the molasses. Volunteer workers eat free, and New Pioneer working members get a 20% discount. After supper the Stone Soup kitchen becomes a bakery, turning out 130 loaves of whole grain bread a night. The many varieties of bread are sold through New Pioneer and other coops. Granola and special goodies are baked sporadically. The bakery folk are debating how quickly they want to grow and whether they want to take on large orders from profit-making natural food stores in nearby cities. Also, whether they want to discipline themselves to the more rigid schedules and standards necessary in the regul-ar business world. Just this winter a Co-op Garage has been organized by folks from New Pioneer who each put in $10 (almost) every month. The money goes toward rent and major tool purchases. They have a temporary building where they repair their own vehicles and are seeking a more permanent location and additional members. Only the fifteen members use the garage. Another new project is a memorial society. They provide information about local funeral services and low-cost alternatives. After a summer of talking, New Pioneer invited a representative from the Iowa Credit Union League (an organization which helps establish and operate credit unions; each state has one) to explain to our monthly membership meeting how to set up a credit union. We were interested in gaining control over our own money and making low cost loans available to our members who might not qualify for bank loans. Then a group of New Pioneer folks sent out questionnaires asking how much people could deposit, what jobs they held, how long they planned to live here and whether they wanted to help operate the credit union. May 1976 RAIN Page 25 The response was surprising. Our membership was more diverse, permanent, employed and wealthy than we had thought. ("For a bunch of hippies ...") The representatives from the League and the State Department of Bankingwhich had to approve our application for a charter and our articles of incorporation-were surprised too, saying we had as much in initial pledges ($16,000) as most new credit unions • take in in a year. So we applied for a charter, which the Department of Banking approved six weeks later. The data from the questionnaire was the key to convincing the state banking people we could do it. It was interesting to us that the older, more conservative-looking, state people were the most interested in our cooperative organization. They said they thought our credit union would be more stable than those in factories, since our members were more likely to remain loyal to the co-op if they moved out of town than were factory workers who lost their jobs and had to leave. (It is not always so easy, however. In Madison, Wisconsin, a large co-op has tried three times over five years to get a state charter for a credit union and has been turned down each time. They finally sold bonds of their own to finance co-op housing projects.) After getting the charter, a New Pioneer membership meeting elected a board of directors, which set up books and committees to audit the.books and make loans. As co-op members join the credit union and deposit their savings, the money is loaned out again to members and to organizations and, if necessary, to other credit unions in Iowa. The difference between interest charged on loans and interest paid on savings is "profit," which goes first into legal reserves and operating expenses, with the remainder paid to members as dividends at year's end. All policies are set by the board, which is elected by the members (depositors), who thus control the credit union. Unlike a bank, the major source of collateral for loans is the trust and responsibility which people have within the co-op. New Pioneer recently sponsored a conference for co-op people from Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota on leap year weekend. Out of the meetings came not only new knowledge but also an increasing interest in more carefully defining the direction and purpose of our co-ops. It appears that something is growing here besides corn. Craig Mosher is a father and partner, furniture and toy maker, teacher at the School of Social Work (University of Iowa), and chairman of the board of the New Pioneer Co-Op Credit Union. For more information (perhaps a sample copy of their excellent monthly, Co-Op News) contact: New Pioneer Cooperative Society 529 South Gilbert Iowa City, IA 52240
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