Sevananda is an independent, local, community-owned store that is operated as a cooperative run by and for our member-owners since 1974. What is for sale and how we do business is decided right here, not in a corporate boardroom. So we’re responsive to community needs in ways no corporate store can ever be. And we’re free to support local events, education and initiatives that promote good food, healthy living and community well-being. Become a co-op member, volunteer, or just take a class. It ís all part of making our world a little better place to live.
Member Meetings
Member Meetings are held twice per year. Twice a year Members connect with each other and the Board of Directors to get updates on the state of the co-op, current trends, issues and concerns, and to clarify the future vision of the co-op. In the spring Board of Directors candidate speeches are heard, voting begins and Member linkage occurs. In the fall, nominating committee nominations take place, and Member linkage continues. The 2011 Fall Member Meeting will be held Sunday, October 23rd.
Mixers/Healthy Happy Hour
Join us for our Taste of Sevananda Healthy Happy Hour monthly Member mixers! Sample new products or delicious existing ones, chat with Board Members, GM or staff, purchase artwork from our Artist Alliance Members, listen to their music performances, or hear from our community partners about the great work they are doing in the community. It’s a great way to get a social taste of Sevananda and get to know each other outside of shelf stocking and ringing phones. Taste of Sevananda mixers will resume in 2012 beginning January. Mixers are held the last Thursday of each month at select community locations throughout Metro Atlanta. Join us! Free for Members. Non-members are welcome with a $5 admission.
InStore Fairs
Sevananda In-Store Fairs are sponsored by Sevananda’s School of Commonhealth and Journey To Wellness educational empowerment series. Each fair includes a monthly showcase of food demos and product sampling, Wellness, Local, Eco/Green Friendly, and Kids/Youth focused products and services. Check Store calendars and Co-Options newsletter for details on upcoming In-Store Fairs.
By: Holly B.
Membership & Promotions
Welcome to Sevananda‘s new website! We are really happy to have this, and be able to reach out in new and exciting ways. One of those ways is the blogs for each department, and this is the one about our community. That’s a word you hear bandied about quite a bit. Sometimes it’s politicians trying to tell you how much they care about their constituents. Other times it’s someone trying to get you to sign something to change a perceived wrong. In our case, community means a little bit more than either of those examples.
Here in the heart of L5P (Little 5 Points) we have an amazing experiment-in-progress that has been going on essentially since 1974. The idea behind the founding of the store (originally called The Egg and the Lotus, by the way) was to share expenses across a group of people for healthy food they all wanted to buy. And if you think about it, we’re still doing pretty much the same thing. Sure, our scale and scope is quite a bit larger than it was in ’74, but we also have thousands more Member Owners as well. This is our community, Little 5 Points, where we’ve been for over 30 years, making us one of the cornerstone places in the neighborhood, along with Charis Books and B.O.N.D. Community Federal Credit Union.
Our community is also wherever you come from. You may live in Douglasville or drive from Alabama to get here. You don’t have to live here to be a part of Sevananda. Anyone walking in the door is welcome to shop, talk and socialize in the community of Sevananda. Our name translates from Sanskrit and means: The Joy of Service. This is a really good, even great ideal to live up to every day.
So many times, a life of service can be admired from afar by those who do not do it themselves. But here at Sevananda, you’re taking part in serving your community every time you shop here. Your patronage helps fund our Be The Change program, which works with a dozen different non-profits annually. Every time you round-up your total to the next dollar at the register or if you shop on the last Saturday of the month, those monies are given directly to those groups. Even if your life does not allow for volunteering directly, you can still help these groups serve the many in need, exemplifying the real meaning of community: working together for a shared future and the greater good for all.
We also have nearly 100 local and regional businesses whose products we carry in the store. Even if you don’t buy Hathor’s Creations soaps — made by our very own Accounts Payable department’s Michalea — when you buy anything at all in the store you’re helping these local vendors. This is a big part of who we are as a community-oriented shop. Concern for Community is principle 7 in the co-op principles, after all. This is just one of the ways in which we express the principle.
So, that’s where Sevananda started out all those years ago. We’ve not travelled far from these ideas and ideals to get to where we are today, and we’re grateful that so many of you have chosen to travel this path with us.
To close with one of my favorite quotes that shows me what the very idea of community means, I use the words of Ron L. Moore here. “He who raises others, raises himself.” And to quote Stan Lee (co-creator of Spider-Man) I also say, “…’nuff said!”
Be The Change Program began as the Community Change Program, started by Sevananda in 1997 in order to make contributions to locally based non-profit organizations. Twelve partners are chosen annually and represent arts, education, health, for you, adults, and a wide variety of services to the Georgia community.
Since 2005 the program has expanded to provide round up dollars at the register, 1% of our sales one day per month, a three day development seminar, and featured interviews on our Co-op 101 radio show, as well as marketing and tabling opportunities in-store and collaborative cross marketing opportunities in the community. Since its inception the program has provided resources for 150 organizations and raised thousands of dollars to support the nurturing of non-profits and the general community.
The 2011 Be The Change Partners are:
Truly Living Well Urban Farms
The Book Bank Foundation
Atlanta Harm Reduction
Hip Hop Horticulture Society
Wholesome Wave Georgia
Plaza Theatre Foundation
Sopo Bicycle Cooperative
One World Link
Inman Park Cooperative Preschool
Greening Youth Foundation
Ahimsa House
Citizen Advocacy of Atlanta & DeKalb, Inc.
Please take a moment to fill out our new shopper survey.
Co-op 101 radio shows are a partnership between Members of The Atlanta Co-op Round Table, Sevananda Natural Foods Market, WRFG 89.3 FM Community Radio and Conscious Living OmniMedia Group, created to serve as an educational and promotional tool to raise awareness about co-operatives and Sevananda’s organizational mission of empowering the community to improve its health and well-being.
The purpose of Co-op Central is to provide a resource for the community and to showcase organizations that live and embody the Co-operative Living Model, its collective mission, values and the culture. From Banks to bicycle repair shops, Co-Ops promote a business structure that creates a unique way of life that encourages and nurtures community, shared wealth, and integrity. Co-ops live to provide lucrative and progressive alternatives to their respective communities.
Co-op 101 Radio on WRFG 89.3 FM airs Mondays at 4:30-5:00pm and archives may be found at sevananda.coop. The program features local, regional, and global co-operatives as well as other businesses utilizing the co-operative model and co-operative principles in their daily business practices. We educate about co-operative principles, spirit and values, and the vast cooperative movement that exists today.
This program exists to raise awareness of these organizations so that we can connect to each other, gain collective strength, and empower the communities they serve worldwide.
The 6th principle of the Seven Cooperative Principles is to support “cooperation among cooperatives”. Co-op Central and National Co-op Radio were created with this in mind. From The National Co-op Directory to the Annual CCMA Conference, Co-op Central is a central information source for communities nationally and worldwide, providing access to the world of Co-ops — the movement, the businesses, and the cooperative way of life.
Programming will also feature health and wellness, green living, co-op education, products and services that Sevananda offers, class schedules, community partners and more! The program is hosted by Ahzjah Netjer Simons, Founder of Conscious Living OmniMedia Group and Marketing Manager for Sevananda Natural Foods Market.
Other Community Partnership Programs
Artist Alliance
Buy Local
Eco Partners
Health & Wellness Fair
Exhibiting and Speakers for your event
Contribution, donations and sponsorships for your event
