The Renton Food Co-Op has opted to engage in a local Buying Club as an interim step towards realizing our own dream of opening a storefront. We did this in the hopes that we would be able to reach out to more people who may be interested in helping open a food co-op and so far that is what has happened.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Buying Clubs here is a definition borrowed from the Internet:

Buying Clubs are comprised of individuals and families ordering collectively to achieve a bulk purchasing advantage. Aside from the time and devotion involved in the buying club process, there are many benefits to this arrangement not the least of which is access to high quality, wholesome foods at affordable prices. Beyond the monetary advantage, there is often a sense of community that belonging to an organization of like-minded people generates. Many buying clubs are comprised of neighbors, mother’s groups, co-workers, young couples, church members, or family members.

If that sounds interesting to you then I wanted to let you know about some of the options that exist in the Renton area already. There are three stops in Renton currently. Two stops are active and are both located in the Renton Highlands neighborhood. The third stop is closer to the Cascade neighborhood, but they have a history of ordering less frequently than normal. The drops typically happen once a month on a Thursday ranging from 7-8:30 am in the morning. This means that you have to be available on that day and time to meet the truck to pick up your order, or you can talk with the drop site coordinator to make other arrangements for a later pick-up.

The first drop is located at St. Matthew’s Church at 1700 Edmonds Ave NE Renton 98056 around 7 a.m. The drop site coordinator is Leya Stefanski and her e-mail is lrmerideth@yahoo.com You can contact her or sustainablerenton@gmail.com for more information on this drop. The next drop occurs around 8:30 am and is located in the East Renton Highlands neighborhood. The next drop is Thursday June 12th, and the order cut-off time and date is June 9th by 4:00 pm. The drop site coordinator is Katherine Rausch and her e-mail is krausch@gmail.com You contact her for more information about this drop.

Both of these drop sites are for Azure Standard which is a company out of Oregon. If you would like to look at their catalog on line and see what they have to offer you can visit www.azurestandard.com If you wanted to find out more about the drop in the Cascade neighborhood you would have to call Azure Standard at 971-200-8350. They are very friendly and helpful.

Also, we have been coordinating with Blue Valley Meats located in Walla Walla, WA for a meat drop off. These drops happen every 3 to 4 weeks. The first one was right in front of the Sustainable Renton Office located in the Renton Highlands on Saturday, May 31st. If you would like to check out their product you can visit www.bluevalleymeats.com and make an order for our pick-up site. This company also offers Raw and grass fed Dairy products for delivery. The cut off for ordering is 4-5 days in advance of delivery depending on if it is dairy or meat.

I hope this is all making sense, if for any reason you have any questions please contact sustainablerenton@gmail.com for more information.

Thanks, and happy buying!