Thank you

Thank you.

Thank you to each and every person who committed to this project, to this community, to the future of sustainable food, to fair labor, to healthy soil, to strong communities.

Thank you to everyone who made phone calls and sent email to their friends, who talked to those around them about what Common Ground means to our community, and what it can mean in the years to come.

Thank you to those who convinced a spouse that the new car could wait, but our relocation couldn't.

Thank you to sons and daughters who asked their extended families to chip in, and thank you to those family members who, though perhaps far from our community, are connected to us by bonds of love and trust.

Thank you to our staff, who designed letters and signs and fliers, and who explained over and over again what it meant, how it works, why it matters, how to do it.

Thank you to our finance committee volunteers, who stuffed and stamped letters, made phone call after phone call after phone call to numbers that had often been disconnected, leaving messages, patiently calling back at later times, helping turn a "maybe" into a "yes," not losing faith after waves of "no."

Thank you to my fellow board members, whose commitment to the project has been unwavering, who sat through meetings and updates and changes and emergencies, who listened, blogged, and emailed.

And an extra special heart-felt thank you to Jacqueline, our general manager. Leadership is an undefinable quality, but you know when you are in the presence of someone who has it. Without her constant effort, her long weekends and late nights, her passion for our mission, her patience, and her determination, none of this could have happened.

We are not done yet! There is still an enormous amount of work left to do to get to our new home. But I believe it's important to pause and be thankful for all that has brought you to where you are, and I hope we'll all do that today.

It's not an April Fool's joke. We raised $250,000 from our members, which has never been accomplished by a co-op our size. But perhaps there are no other co-ops our size whose members have hearts as big as yours.

Thank you,
-Clint
CGFC Board Chair