Cally Peterson

CO-OP SHOPPNG
As described on its website, one of the BisMan Community Food Co-op’s guiding principles is, “Real food: We are what we eat.” That principle is reflected throughout the co-op store, where shoppers will find a high volume of organic products, sustainably raised meat and seafood, locally sourced produce, and a variety of specialty diet items, like gluten-free or vegan options. Food labels reveal local goods stock many shelves and coolers.

“From rather early on in this process, it became obvious that our rural grocery sector was in decline. And it wasn’t a slow, over time, kind of downturn – it was a rapid decline,” she says.

When NDAREC started the discovery phase in 2014, 137 grocery stores were operating in communities of 2,100 people or less. Five years later, as of August, there are only 98 operating full-service stores left. Of the remaining groceries,
16 are nonprofit or community-owned and 13 are financially strapped.

“We’ve always struggled out here on the prairie,” says Eric Hardmeyer, the current and 13th manager of the Bank of North Dakota. “It was that mindset that nobody’s going to look out for us except us, that feeling that we needed to take control of our own destiny. That’s what made the Bank of North Dakota.”

The North Dakota Living magazine, as it has been called since 2002, has changed throughout the years to meet the needs of its cooperative membership. Yet, there are portions of this publication that have become as institutional as the magazine itself. As the saying goes, “Why change a good thing?”

In May 1957, the popular “Recipe Roundup” was born. An excerpt from that issue of the North Dakota Rural Electric Magazine reads:
Starting with next month’s issue of the North Dakota Rural Electric Magazine, a new department for the ladies will be instituted.

The “Hunger in North Dakota 2018” study, conducted by the Great Plains Food Bank (GPFB), found that 1 in 5 children included in the survey were food insecure. As defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), food insecurity is a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life.

Joanne Geinert’s smile lights up a room. She is warm and kind – her spirit, infectious. When she speaks and tells stories, she sounds like home.

For the past 10 years, the former daycare provider and mother of five has been the head cook for Edgeley Public Schools. It’s a job she takes seriously, and it’s so much more than just preparing meals.

Joanne recalls a school conference she attended, where the speaker touched on the impact daily experiences and interactions have on students.

“Stress for farmers and ranchers isn’t new,” says Becky Kopp-Dunham, a licensed independent clinical social worker and farmer herself. “It’s the sustained level of stress (now) that makes it different. This has kind of been a perfect storm.”

“I’m on bonus time,” he says. “Every day is a good day.”

But it seems, on bonus time or not, Sorensen has lived his entire life by that notion.
 

Henry Bajebo, a Liberian refugee, has endured similar tragedy. Bajebo watched his father die at the hands of a rebel soldier. Civil war in Liberia also took the life of Bajebo’s sister and younger brother.

And so, as is the story of many throughout history, Ahmed and Bajebo sought refuge from their homes – war-torn and darkly dangerous – in Africa. Their pursuit of safety and peace ended aboard planes to America.