We are looking for someone to organize a food club in Oregon City. This is a part-time (20-hour/wk) temporary (up to six weeks) position. Pay is $10 per hour. If successful, at the end of six weeks, the food club may provide an employment opportunity for the organizer.
Task: Create a food club – that is, an organization of families who pay in advance to jointly buy their food in bulk.
Explanation: The owners of the Singer Hill Café believe their half block of mid-town Oregon City is an ideal location for a community center that would include a café, a cooperative food store, community-supported flower and vegetable gardens, and a host of community services. To help get the Singer Hill Food Club started, the owners hope to recruit an organizer with experience in starting a food club, to work in cooperation with other entities using our space.
Existing Singer Hill tenants include:
The Singer Hill Café (using space in the building);
The Singer Hill Demonstration Garden (if you click on this link, go to page 3 of the pdf) (using a 7,000sf lot on the gr ounds), operated with funds from Metro and staff from OSU Extension’s Urban Horticulture department;
The Singer Hill Gardens (using backyards and schoolyards in the neighborhood), operated by a band of urban farmers who use our warehouse and refrigerators to distribute food to families using a “Community Supported Agriculture” model, and
a number of beautiful vertical gardens (if you use this link, go to page 2 of the pdf) (on the building’s walls and fences).
Short term goal: The owners of the Singer Hill building are willing to provide a short period of free rent for warehouse and retail/office space for a start-up food club. However, within one year, we hope to have a tenant that is paying market rents for part or all our available space (up to 4,000 sf of warehouse space, and up to 2,000 in retail/office space).
Long term goal: Within five years, our vision is for the food
club to evolve into a full-fledged food co-operative that is so successful it
is renting all of our available space, and is strong enough to purchase the
building and grounds.