Food co-op is nearing reality on East 10th

Membership goal: 3,000 members by opening day

By Bill Brooks

Another weekend, and another day for swarms of volunteers to converge upon the formerly vacant TV store, working

Carol Isaacson and Tim Eveniew of Broad Ripple paint a wall inside the new Pogue’s Run Grocer with their son, Isaac, during a work session on Saturday, Aug. 22.

diligently to turn the Near Eastside building into a hub of the community.

Into a food co-operative – to be called Pogue’s Run Grocer, to be located at 2828 E. 10th St., just two doors east of the busy Rural Street intersection.

If the renovation continues to go as planned, the food co-op will open in late October, a little over two years since residents of eight Eastside and Downtown neighborhoods began meeting with exactly that goal in mind.

Kyle Hendrix, president of Indy Food Cooperative and a Cottage Home resident, said the organizing committee has been increasing concerned over the past five years, as two major grocery chains moved out of the Near Eastside – and the 40,000 residents of the community fell prey to the high cost and low nutritional value of the dozen convenience stores that emerged since.

At the same time the founding committee has been working toward the goal of an actual store, the group has been laying other building blocks, as well. To date, nearly 200 families have paid their dues to join the co-op; organizers would like to push that number to 300 by the opening of the 3,000-square-foot store.

Through that store, the Pogue’s Run Grocer, the not-for-profit Indy Food Co-op’s goal is this: to provide affordable, healthy food options to the community. Hendrix explained that the store will stock, as much as possible, food which comes from local and regional sources.

Once the renovation of the 70-year-old building is complete, Hendrix said, the store will be filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, meats, poultry, personal care items and more. Co-op members will receive discounts on their purchases and other benefits, but the store will be open to the general public.

“We know that opening in October will limit our ability to source local produce,” Hendrix said. “We believe that we may open our doors with a smaller percentage of local, and as we build local capacity and local year-round growing, we can increase that over time.”

“Pogue’s Run Grocer seeks to improve the quality of life in Indianapolis by providing the community with access to good food,” Hendrix said, “while supporting the local economy instead of national grocery chains.”

The first workday to rehabilitate the former Lane TV building on East 10th St. drew a strong group of volunteers, who took down some interior walls among other chores at the long-vacant building. At another work day in late-August, volunteers painted interior walls with environmentally friendly paint.

He said that the co-op’s founding membership includes families from all over the city, but he emphasized that “putting Indy’s only non-profit, storefront grocery store in an underserved area of the city meets an important mission of our group.”

The building which will house the grocery has been empty along a blighted section of East 10th Street for the past five years, since the closing of Lane TV. Volunteers of the cooperative began demolishing the interior walls Aug. 8.

Patrick Dooley, co-chair of the 2012 Super Bowl Legacy’s committee for economic development along the corridor, was impressed. “Finding an adaptive reuse for this property will preserve and improve another building as well as provide jobs and a living wage – a touchdown for the community and a great start to the 2012 Super Bowl Legacy project goal to revitalize the 10th Street Corridor during the next three years.

“Building a strong neighborhood relies upon people working together and the Indy Food Co-op’s investment in this community demonstrates the positive impact neighbors can make,” Dooley continued. “The food co-op will bring fresh food back into our neighborhood – making it available to residents who do not have access to a grocery store.”

“The location offers a central location and is conveniently accessible by car, bike, bus or foot,” Hendrix said. “Pogue’s Run Grocer will be a true community marketplace to benefit those who care about health, and who believe that good food should be affordable and accessible to all.”

Membership is still open for the Indy Food Co-op, with organizers hoping to pick up another 100 families or so before the Pogue’s Run Grocer is opened in late October.

People interested in joining the cooperative can get more information at www.indyfoodcoop.org, or by emailing indyfoodcoop@yahoo.com, or calling 631-2220.

The effort to create a food co-op started in the summer of 2007, when, a group of individuals met for the first time to begin discussing how to bring the city’s first non-profit, community-owned storefront grocery cooperative to Indianapolis. Since that time, a group of dedicated volunteers has been working hard to secure a location, raise funds and build membership for a grocery cooperative near Downtown. The goal of the store is to support the local economy, while making local, fresh, organic and affordable food and products available to urban neighborhoods that currently are not served by healthy grocery options.

In addition to operating a store, Indy Food Co-op is dedicated to educating the community on healthier eating through outreach programs, cooking classes and more. The organization kicked off its Founding 150 membership drive in November 2008 and reached the 150-member household milestone in early February 2009. Today, nearly 200 households have join the co-op.

In the meantime, the Indy Food Co-op board of directors organizes gatherings and events aimed at forming a community of lifetime food cooperative supporters and customers.