Hi guys! Remember me? Life has been kind of crazy from March on and I haven’t been posting as much as I’d like to. The past three weeks went into nutso overdrive and thus blogging has taken a back seat to other life happenings. Good changes have been afoot, though, and things are slowing down. I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things here soon.

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In case you haven’t heard the news by now, on May 31, a car drove into the Tacoma Food Co-op. Four customers were injured and taken to the hospital, in addition to employees getting knocked around. The car drove straight through the building’s glass doors and knocked into both checkout lanes/cash registers. The driver had passed out, and we’re still not sure why yet.

Thankfully, all of the individuals were released from the hospital the same night with only bumps and bruising.

I found out about the accident through Facebook, when a friend posted a photo. I immediately emailed a fellow board member, talked with her as she was arriving, then decided I needed to head over, too.

Interior after the accident. You can see that both registers/lanes were knocked from their original locations by the car.

When I arrived, many members from the community were there in solidarity/support. Some were taking photos/video, KIRO, KOMO and KING5 were on the scene with video cameras. Many more came by to ask if we needed help with anything. I must’ve been stoned faced when I walked on the scene, as I’d been in the store just about an hour before this happened. Though shocked and rattled, many of us got to work immediately to get the co-op cleaned up and to prep covers for the windows/doors that were knocked out.

So much glass.

As the co-op hasn’t even been open a year yet and is still very much in “startup mode,” this was a bit of a blow. Though we’ve been doing well financially thus far, any setback in the first year is rough. Thankfully, the co-op’s board, general manager Henri and employees are a strong-willed, determined bunch, and rather than worry about what was going to happen the next day, we all kept reminding each other that things could’ve been worse – a lot worse. We were all just happy that everyone came out of it okay.

I stayed for a few hours and some of the people who helped put the temporary plywood door up were at the co-op ’til 1 a.m. the next day.  A group of local bicyclists were out in front of the Red Hot nearby on the evening of the accident attending the last event of Bike Month. Henri mentioned many times that had bike folk from the Red Hot not yelled out “car, car!” he would not have known that there was a car approaching at 35 mph that wasn’t going to stop.

Co-ops are by definition voluntary organization composed of a group of people and formed for their mutual benefit. The co-op provides many in the community with healthy food and products. Though we’ve been around for only a short while, I’m amazed at how many loyal customers, members and fans have come about as a result of the store existing.

Our co-op’s bruised, but it’s far from being broken. Due in part to the amazing, sheer support, concern and help from the community, we’ve proven that it would take a lot more than this to take us down. This is one of the many reasons why I’m so thankful to be a part of this organization.

Functioning register success.

If you haven’t been to the store since the accident, know that we were up and running the next day at 8 a.m. Both registers are functioning, our plywood door will soon be replaced with an actual one, and all of your favorite items are still available. Employees and Henri appreciate all the concern, but more than anything they (and the board) appreciate your support.