Give us your opinions and 20 minutes of your time, and we’ll give you a chance to win one of three $100 Co-op Cash gift certificates!

It’s hard to believe, but 2018 marks our 5th year in business. Now that we’ve reached this milestone, we want to know what you think: What are we doing well? How can we improve?

We’re conducting our first shopper survey since the store opened because we want (and need) your feedback. We’ll use your answers to guide our operations and strategic planning for the coming years.

We’ll ask about your shopping patterns and your satisfaction with the co-op. There’s also a section specifically for Owners and a series of demographic questions that are entirely voluntary. Most questions have space for your comments, too.

We value everyone’s input, so this survey is open to all shoppers.

Click here to take our shopper survey.

The survey will be open through February 18th.

It’s time for our Owners to select our nonprofit recipients of next year’s Lend a Hand register round-ups.

For 2018, we have 22 applicants. Half of them have never received Lend a Hand donations. We invite our Owners to select 11 of these nonprofits for our monthly round-ups. (December is reserved for collecting necessities for the shelter residents at the Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living.)

Please review the applications linked below before completing the Lend a Hand selection survey, located here. You can also review our charitable donation guidelines here. Asterisks indicate organizations that have not previously benefited from Lend a Hand. To view prior years’ totals, click here.

• Access Alaska*

• Boreal Sun Charter School*

• Bread Line Inc./Stone Soup

• Calypso Farm & Ecology Center

• Fairbanks Animal Shelter Fund

• Fairbanks Children’s Museum

• Fairbanks Community Food Bank

• Fairbanks Open Radio*

• Fairbanks Senior Center’s Meals on Wheels*

• Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival*

• Fairbanks Youth Advocates

• Friends of Creamer’s Field

• Friends of Fox Spring*

• Georgeson Botanical Garden Society

• Green Star of Interior Alaska

• Guys Read/Gals Read*

• Inspiring Girls Expeditions*

• Interior AIDS Association*

• NAMI Fairbanks*

• North Star Imagination Library

• Northern Alaska Environmental Center

• The Folk School*

Are you ready to stock up and save? Buy by the case and save up to 50% at our 3rd Annual Truckload Sale this weekend! Sale hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 20th, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 21st.

We’ll be offering cases and bags of shelf-stable pantry stockers at significant discounts. Look for great deals on more than 100 items, including sustainably caught canned tuna and salmon; organic grains, beans and dried fruits; organic coconut and honey – and much more. The list of items and pricing is available here.

Also this weekend, you’ll find special deals in other departments, too. Produce will have organic cantaloupes for just $1.99/lb. And local brats are on sale for $8.99/lb. That’s $2 off!

Speaking of brats: Join us for free grilled brats and vegetarian dogs from 11 to 3 p.m. Saturday! On Sunday, we’ll have free Northern Lights Dairy ice cream. (Sadly, we’ve just learned that they’re closing the dairy, so this may be your last chance to taste that goodness.)

This year you can bring your kitchen knives and scissors for sharpening while you shop. We’ve invited Trevor Burns and Ryan Keener of Sharp Again to set up their sharpening station at the store from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Knives are 90¢ per inch with a $5.50 minimum, and scissors generally run about $10.

While you’re in the store, sign up to win a wooden garden wagon from Woodstock Foods. We’ll also be giving away a kids’ gardening play set. And don’t forget: Our Garden Center is flourishing with beautiful hanging baskets and flowering containers from Risse Greenhouse!

Please note that all sales are while supplies last. If there’s something on the list that you really want, please be sure to get here early. Many items sell out quickly.