February 2022

Have you heard the news?  After 8 years of hard work, we have signed a lease for 7007 N. Clark Street!  Our architect and store designers are busy working on the store layout and design, and we hope to get all necessary documents to the city for permitting in the next couple of months. Because it had previously been a grocery store, it is filled with equipment, shelving and even carts!  This not only saves us a lot of money, but also speeds up the process.  We hope to open the doors of Wild Onion Market in 2022!

Join Founder Mary Meyer and Board President Jillian Jason on a tour of the store in its current state – the video has close to 4,000 views in just the last couple of weeks!

A few pictures of the site:

We’re forging community connections with the Capital Campaign!  We raise our funds through Owners having conversations with other Owners.

Co-op Owners, you will get a phone call or a text from a fellow Owner during the Capital Campaign.  You don’t want to miss this call!  It’s your opportunity to invest in your co-op and in your values, and it is only available until May 22.  If you get a voicemail, be sure to call back.

If you can’t wait for the phone to ring, you can fill out the pledge form to get started.  Or you can always reach us at invest@wildonionmarket.com with questions.

We have many ways to connect!  More information is coming your way via postal mail and email.  Let’s start the conversation about how we bring more healthy local food to our neighborhood and build our local food system.

Join as an Owner today to learn more about these exclusive investment opportunities.

February 22:  Wild Onion Market Info Session/Meet & Greet, 7-7:45 PM. Build co-op and community connection. New owners, interested folks, and co-op veterans are all welcome!  ZOOM LINK: https://zoom.us/j/92616234252?pwd=bC9hTFVPS3h5YTZxTkF0Yzd3YmVoUT09 DIAL IN: +1 312 626 6799, Meeting ID: 926 1623 4252, Passcode: 157744

February 23:  Candidate applications are due for the upcoming Wild Onion Market Board elections. See above for more information.

February 27-March 13:  Co-op Board Election voting is open. Details to come.

March 6:  Wild Onion Market Annual Board Meeting & Capital Campaign Kick-Off, 1-3 PM. All Owners are invited to attend and bring questions and comments. We’ll get a sneak peek of the new store and news about how we are going to fund it. Board candidates are encouraged to attend. RSVP here, Zoom link will be sent to all Owners on March 5.

March 15:  Capital Campaign Committee/Community Engagement Committee Meeting, 7-8 PM. Meetings are the third Tuesday of each month. Write mary@wildonionmarket.com or lisa.gordon@wildonionmarket.com for Zoom link.

Call to Action

We did it.  We found our store at 7007 N. Clark Street.  Very exciting!  Now we need you to help keep up the momentum to fund our construction and opening!  Don’t miss this opportunity to join our Capital Campaign team to raise the investments and donations needed to build our dream store.

Be part of a team of Owners, like you, to make calls and do follow-up work during our focused Capital Campaign phase March 6 – May 22.  New to fundraising?  Worry not!  We’ve got two national consultants who will train us.  We’ve got lots of materials, too.  And, we have each other! We’ll gain inspiration and motivation together.  Why?  Because TOGETHER is the co-op way.

Consider joining our team of callers.  Callers will be people who enjoy talking on the phone and are comfortable engaging with other Wild Onion Market Owners.  Callers will be trained and supported to become a team confident and competent in answering questions about investment opportunities.  If making phone calls isn’t your thing, there are other opportunities.  If you’re good with numbers and spreadsheets, join our team of collectors who will be responsible for collecting the funds and making sure that all paperwork is in place and appropriately signed.  We’ll train you, support you and inspire you! Don’t wait – the first training session is this Thursday, 2/17 at 7pm.  Intrigued?  Email ann@wildonionmarket.com to get answers to your questions and to get started.

Looking for a fun and flexible way to help the co-op while getting out and about in your neighborhood, or learning a new neighborhood?  Join our Visibility team!  We have window clings for co-op Owner businesses that will identify them as Owners at this important time of growth.  We’ll identify a list of businesses near you and provide window clings, and you provide time, energy and passion for spreading Wild Onion Market’s name.  Win-Win!  Email ann@wildonionmarket.com to get connected to our recruitment effort.