Fall 2017 Member Update

Dear ALFN Members,

The board has been working through all of the fabulous feedback we received over the last 6 weeks or so. Thank you for sharing your opinions, experience, and suggestions with us. The information provided has helped guide our next steps. Here are the three things we are focusing on right now.

1. User Experience with Website
The majority of comments we received centered around our dated website. The Locally Grown platform has been a great tool for ALFN over the last several years but we know we’ve outgrown it. It’s an old website that has served us incredibly well! It’s time to look for a solution that allows new and current customers to shop easily, allows us to run a more efficient and informed business, and allows our vendors to sell more goods.
Currently, the board is investigating online solutions that will serve all of our members and vendors needs. We hope to narrow down the search within the next two weeks. Stay tuned for more information! We’ll be sharing information along the way making way for a smooth transition.

2. Board Member Recruitment
We have several board member positions that will be opening over the next few months. We need new folks who would like to serve ALFN in this capacity. Specifically, we are looking for the following positions and experience:
- Treasurer – needs bookkeeping/QuickBooks knowledge; will work with current treasurer in 2018 and will move into the treasurer position in 2019.
- Governance Chair – helps ALFN keep organizational compliance with internal bylaws and constitution, as well as advises on any legal questions
- Tech Guru – as we move into a new system, we’d love to have someone with technology experience to help with transition
- At Large positions – we also have several ‘at large’ positions that allow people to plug in how ever they are best suited
Attached are the Board Member Roles & Expectations as well as our application. If you are interested, please apply and email to Claire at littlerockfoodclub@gmail.com.

3. Keep sharing ALFN with your friends!
We have seen an increase in interest about ALFN over the last few weeks! Your efforts are working! Please keep sharing with everyone you know about how much you love ALFN. Here’s a few ways you can get the message out:
Tell your friends about ALFN! Feel free to copy and paste this content for your emails:

Dear friend,

You’ve probably heard me mention the Arkansas Local Food Network before as one of my go-to resources for local foods. I love the ease of shopping online for Arkansas goods like farm fresh eggs, in-season produce, and handmade soaps. In fact, ALFN has the BEST selection of Arkansas produced goods of any other market.

You can try ALFN for two weeks before you pay the membership fee of $7.50 per month. I’d like to invite you to see what ALFN is all about! Here’s a link to their website: https://arkansaslocalfoodnetwork.org/online-market/. Let me know if you have any questions!

If you are on social media, please follow ALFN on Facebook and Instagram. Like and share every post from ALFN to your newsfeed.
Facebook: @ARSustainability
Instagram: @ arlocalfoodnetwork

We have flyers to share! Please pickup flyers at market pickup and post at your place of work, schools, churches, coffee shops – anywhere that has a community bulletin board.

We appreciate you all so much! Thank you for working to keep ALFN an amazing organization!