Leila has left!

Leila, our General Manager for the past two years, has farewelled The Community Grocer in order to pursue a passion for food systems research. Leila has made significant contributions to The Community Grocer through a period of consolidation and innovation. Her achievements include; implementing the bicycle powered box scheme; establishing purchasing partnerships with market gardening enterprises; opening markets in Pakenham and Heidelberg West; tailoring our social impact evaluations; and developing a range of processes and systems for business efficiency and increased social impact.

 We are sad to see Leila go but are so grateful to have had her for so long. 

Good luck in future endeavours, Leila!

We are pleased to announce that the wonderfully talented and passionate Tess Gardiner will be replacing Leila as General Manager. She is currently managing our accounts and the Heidelberg and Fitzroy Markets, and will continue to do so when she takes over.

The Cardinia Farm and Food Festival!

On 7th February, we were lucky enough to have a stall at the Cardinia Farm and Food Festival, which was held by the Cardinia Food Movement. Paddy, Manager of the Pakenham market and Finn, a Pakenham Market volunteer, attended to answer questions, promote our box scheme and hand out refreshing watermelon in the heat!

Thank you to the Cardinia Food Movement for putting on a fun event, gathering local enterprises and initiatives, to promote local healthy sustainable food systems.

That’s what we are all about!

Staff changes in pakenham

Paddy.

Paddy will be taking over Tamsyn’s role as The Market Manager in Pakenham.

Paddy is a qualified nutritionist and is currently studying a Masters of Dietetics. She is interested in supporting vulnerable people to have access to healthy food, supporting people to engage with their food, and is fascinated by how food is so personal and political. She has spent time working in child nutrition in remote Aboriginal communities in central Australia, has worked on food education initiatives, and comes from a strong background in research.

We look forward to seeing how Paddy will bring her passion and her new ideas to the Cardinia Shire!

Hellos And goodbyes!

Goodbye Heather!

Last Friday we said goodbye to Heather; who is departing for her home town in Ohio.

Heather started as an intern with TCG in 2018, helping to increase sustainability at markets. She implemented Pedal-Powered Produce —our bicycle delivery box scheme— and reduced plastic at the markets. Heather proceeded to take on the roles of Market Manager at the Fawkner and Carlton sites, as well as a managing the accounts and communications.

What a superstar!

Hello Tess and Isabella!

Tess has joined the team as the Accounts Manager and Market Manager of Fitzroy and Heidelberg West.

Tess has a wealth of knowledge around nutrition and food sustainability. We look forward to learning from Tess’ experiences in agriculture and dietetics.

Isabella has joined the team as the Communications Manager and Market Manager of Carlton and Fawkner. Isabella is studying Nutrition Sciences and has volunteered in a variety of settings, including TCG for the past two years at the Fawkner Market. We are excited to learn from Isabella’s experiences working in community settings.

Catch our newest members at one of our markets and say hi!

We made a film!

The Environment Film Festival Australia has launched Australia's largest environmental film festival ever, including our very own short film!

EFFA provided us with training to create a short film as part of their Community Storytelling Project, and you can see our 'world premiere' at 8.30pm Saturday 26 October at Cinema Nova! Our film screens with the feature film THE HOTTEST AUGUST. 

Or if you can't make that one, catch our short film screening with ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (27 October, 12:00pm) or AUSTRALASIAN SHORTS at EFFA (31 October, 6:45pm). 

See the EFFA website for more about all 44 films screening this year, and for tickets! 

Tickets at: www.effa.org.au