Rising Stars: Meet Linda Jones of Eastown, Grand Rapids

Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Jones

Hi Linda, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I moved to Grand Rapids in 2014 to be near our grandson. We moved into a house in Heritage Hill. I looked around for our grocery store options and was sorely disappointed. The nearest Meijer was about 4 miles away. GR seemed to have few grocery store choices: Meijer, Family Fare and D&W. There were a few smaller stores but moving from Ann Arbor I was used to having more independent grocer choices. I was also used to my town having a food co-op I could co-own with others. So while I was at a meeting of neighborhood organizers and a city commissioner, I mentioned that I thought Grand Rapids needed a co-op grocery store. Deborah Eid was at that meeting and she agreed with me. We met up, realized we had a lot in common and decided to explore the idea together. Soon after that we were able to attend a national conference for food co-op start-ups and we realized we weren’t alone in this project. We put up a Facebook page and the likes started pouring in! We had no idea so many people wanted a co-op grocery here. We’ve been working with a broad community of folks to bring the store to reality and we are getting really close. We are nearing our goal of 800 owner households and should reach it by the end of 2024. Then we can find our site, have our community investment campaign, continue welcoming new owner households, get the store built out, hire staff and have a wonderful Grand Opening.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has definitely taken longer than we expected when we started out. I had no idea that Grand Rapids wouldn’t quickly embrace the idea of a cooperatively owned grocery store. We have worked hard to get the word out through every avenue available and we feel like people are much more aware of the empowering model of cooperation, the access to healthy and local food for a part of town that lacks that access now that our co-op will bring to GR. We have found a couple of sites that might have been good, but we weren’t able to move on them because we didn’t have the ownership support that a successful co-op needs. Today we have great leadership, professional advisors, lots of volunteer effort (hours and hours of volunteer effort!) and we are nearing our goal.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a retired music teacher. I taught mostly elementary music in Ypsilanti. Now I lead the Grand Rapids Threshold Choir. We sing in quartets at the bedside when people are close to dying. I’ve been involved with Threshold Choirs here and in Ann Arbor and have served on the board of the national organization. I am also currently leading the Fountain Street Church Choir on a temporary basis as they search for a permanent director.

My experience of being a teacher has really helped with the organizing needed to get the food co-op started. I’m used to “hearding cats” and creating something of beauty with others. I enjoy helping people understand something new and exploring how it relates to their lives. Leading choirs calls for preparation, time management, careful listening, and keeping an encouraging spirit, all of which applies to so many other things in life.

I guess my ability to think ahead to what will be needed next, to help our co-owners find meaningful ways to contribute to our work, to notice and appreciate what others are doing for our cause might be things that set me apart.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I am purpose guided. I envision and am working toward building a community that supports cooperation in every form to nourish people and our planet. through empowered and equitable participation that shares the created wealth justly and equitably.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]; [email protected]
• Instagram: Instagram.com/grfoodcoop
• Facebook: Facebook.com/grfci
• Other: https://www.grfoodcoop.com/ and https://thresholdchoir.org/