I can’t tell you how great it is to finally be in Moscow!  

By the time you read this,  I will have been at the Co-op for several days and will have already met a few of you at Annual Meeting.   I have been very excited about the prospect of being the General Manager of the Moscow Food Co-op since I first heard about this opportunity over seven months ago.    Since accepting the position in mid-August, I finished up my last few weeks as the Store Manager of the Berkshire Co-op in time to attend the NCGA (National Cooperative Grocers Association) General Assembly meetings in Cambridge, Massachusetts a few weeks ago.  It was a great way to begin my new role by having the opportunity to meet and interact with General Managers from over 100 Co-op’s from across the nation to discuss issues that affect all of us, share best practices  and develop strategies to  keep the co-op  movement thriving  and growing.

Seth Marcantonio has a plan. In order to arrive in Moscow in time for the Co-op’s annual membership meeting on September 25, he hopes to wind up all his packing and all his work stuff and leave Massachusetts in mid-September and then drive for 4 or 5 days across the country to his new home (he has already rented a house in Moscow).  At least, that was Seth’s plan at the time of our interview on September 1.  He’ll be driving to Idaho alone in his Honda CR-V.   Seth, 43, is single and has no pets.  He does have 2 children, a daughter aged 7 and a son, almost 6, who live with his former wife in Salt Lake City.

I am under the impression that Kyle Parkins is a reliable guy.  First of all, he was recruited for his current position as a meat cutter four years ago based on the reputation of his work at the former Tidyman’s grocery store.  Also, his landlord relied on him for the maintenance of his numerous properties. My third submission supporting Kyle’s reliability is the fact that he showed up to our interview fifteen minutes early, which I believe is unprecedented in the three years of my writing these articles. 

I met Richard previously through my best friend Bev, who also hails from England.  I quite enjoyed  interviewing this engaging personality.

Richard began volunteering for the Co-op five or six years ago.  He puts together the informational back page of the Co-op newsletter. Richard has a background in communications, having worked as communications officer for local government, and as a sports writer for the Camden New Journal newspaper in London. He ends each newsletter back page with the Vigil for Peace, which he sees as the anchor for the page – both as the final entry and as the representation of a harmonious community. Richard says of our newsletter editor, “I love working for Bill, Bill's an awesome dude.”