Sustainability Recognition

added 05/01/12

by Emily Neuman
Sustainability Coordinator

For this, my last article in the Co-op News, I’d like to recognize those people who have helped our Co-op reach our environmental goals and challenged us to do more. When it comes down to it, our co-op is about people helping each other, and these people take that to heart. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know member volunteers and staff as we’ve worked together. Thank you!

Member volunteers

I want to thank the tremendous group of member volunteers who brought the cooperative spirit to the Gimme 5 program. It was not always a joy to sort yogurt cups, but it was good to be together doing it! I am particularly grateful to those members who volunteered time and again:

Mary Donin
Amy Stephens
Karli Lindig
Elisabeth Gillaspy
Vicky Drucker
Evelyn Kaiser
Yolanda Baumgartner
Barbara Parry
Sharon Racusin
Larry Litten

I am also grateful to members who volunteered to help us make our events Zero Waste:

Jyoti Graber
Cassidy Robinson
Lucy Bergwall
Hallie Bergwall
Sarah from SSF
Thanks to Kids for a Cooler Planet, who brought Green Bags to the Upper Valley:
Ellen Irwin
Katie Gougelet
Brian Kispert

And, thanks to those members who have given time to keep the reusable bag efforts rolling:

Katie Irwin
Morgan Danna
Marjorie Rose
Kimberly Clark

Staff

We have some wonderful can-do staff here at the Co-op with a passion for sustainability. I would like to recognize them for their service to the Sustainability Team, for their thoughtful approach to their jobs, and for making sure that the big goals we’ve set for the Co-op are coming to fruition on the ground. In particular, thanks to:

  • Jess Bagley (Hanover Bulk) for sticking with me on the quest for a good compost bin to use for the coffee sampling.
  • Cindy Balzotti (Lebanon Floral) for all-around enthusiasm, commitment to the cause, and follow-through.
  • Kevin Birdsey (Hanover Front End) for addressing Hanover High Students at their assemblies, which drastically reduced the number of bags students were taking during school day shopping.
  • Chip Blodgett (Maintenance) for enthusiasm for recycling and for being willing to look at issues as (seemingly) insignificant as what size and thickness of trash bags we use.
  • Ken Davis (Education) who created the Sustainability Man that I never made enough use of, and who put life into my boring program descriptions.
  • Tara Gridley-Herzog (Lebanon Prepared Foods/Café), Matt Protas (Hanover Cheese and Wine), and Matt Sczesiul (Lebanon Beverage) for jumping in to lead staff trainings and generally serve as leaders in their departments.
  • Vicki Grilli (Demo Coordinator) deserves a huge amount of credit for bringing her department to Zero Waste. Her dedication is, ultimately, what made it possible.
  • Sue Jacobs (WRJ Front End) for being so dependable and for inspiring her staff to wear eco-jewelry last Earth Day.
  • Sally Page (Hanover Center of Store) for her efforts to reduce food waste at the Hanover Store.
    Katrina Peront (Hanover Cheese and Wine) for asking great questions.
  • Dave Phillips (White River Junction Center of Store) for being willing to help with whatever project was at hand.
  • Jolleen Shepard (Lebanon Front End) for taking on paper towel composting without fear and having a passion for recycling.
  • Ryan Wilcox (Hanover Receiving) deserves special recognition for having passed along a stack of notes he had saved from a project in 1999. That information was helpful in getting our current composting program up and running ten years later.

Goodbye, Emily

Emily Neuman has been the Co-op’s Sustainability Coordinator since August 2007. She and her family will be moving to Salt Lake City, Utah, at the end of May. Her enthusiasm for her work has been an inspiration to all of us, and her fellow employees wish her well in her new home!