By Taylor Dibbert
TPSS Co-op will hold a Member Appreciation Day (and Spring Member Meeting) on May 24 at the VFW. The event will run from 6pm to 8pm, and include a member forum, a raffle, and time for socializing. There will be free food and drinks! Attendees will also hear updates on TPSS Co-op’s renovation plans.
The theme for the event is “Building Community.”
“Normally we use these meetings to provide updates and hear members’ ideas and concerns. But we wanted to do something more for the faithful members who join us every year, and to give all shoppers an opportunity to get to know each other better,” says Elizabeth Teuwen, the Vice President of TPSS Co-op’s Board of Representatives. “I’m hoping we use this meeting as a springboard to plan and build interest in future community events,” comments Teuwen.
“I attend member meetings because I care deeply about having a thriving Co-op at Takoma Junction,” says Susan Katz Miller. Miller, who joined TPSS Co-op more than two decades ago, shares that the Co-op embodies a lot of the values that drew her to Takoma Park, including supporting fair trade, strengthening local food systems, and embracing cultural and ethnic diversity. “So at the membership meeting, I like to hear about everything the Co-op is doing to support those values,” she notes.
“The Co-op is the heart of our community. I run into friends there every single time I go, whether it’s the teachers who taught my kids in the public schools here, or farmer Mike Tabor, or [Congressman] Jamie Raskin. And the Co-op gives back, quietly and constantly, to our community in so many ways, from hosting events and food trucks on the lot, to supporting food distributions by Small Things Matter,” says Miller. “I cannot imagine our community without the Co-op,” she remarks.
Taylor Dibbert serves on TPSS Co-op’s Board of Representatives.