What goes into the making of a Butterball turkey

Gail sent this out to all the Co-op members today!:

It's hard to read the kind of story you'll see below, but it's important that we all know what goes into the making of those assembly line turkeys many people consume over the holidays. I thought I'd seen it all, but the things mentioned below take the cake. Another reason to eat humanely raised birds from small, local farms:

Comedian host of Real Time with Bill Maher has a piece printed on the popular Huffington Post site headed " George Bush: Pardon All the Turkeys." As a nod to Maher's "New Rules" segment on his weekly show, the piece opens with:
"New Rule: The president can't pardon just one or two turkeys this Thanksgiving. He's got to let them all go."
Maher notes the "torture" of turkeys and writes:
"Take a look at this video, shot just last month at a typical American turkey slaughterhouse, and this one, shot undercover last year at a Butterball slaughterhouse by investigators from PETA, and you'll see that my use of the word is no exaggeration. Butterball employees, taking a page out of the Abu Ghraib handbook, laughed while they kicked, punched, stomped, and even sexually assaulted turkeys."




He writes, "I ask you to do what I'm going to do and pardon a turkey this Thanksgiving. It's not hard. Just eat something else. Not someone else, because it doesn't seem fair to spare a turkey and roast a hunk of pig or cow instead." He questions ethics that would let us "bow our heads in gratitude for our families, our friends and our big screen TVs, and then carve into a creature who lived a miserable life and died a horrible death...."

And he asks Al Gore, "to stop gazing at his Oscar and his Nobel Prize long enough to read the United Nations report that calls the meat industry 'one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at very scale from local to global.'"

You can find the full article online here.

Volunteering at the Co-op

During the last shopping round I was able to volunteer during the producer drop off day. Volunteering is a great way to meet the other people who belong to the co-op. The best part about volunteering is that you get to see all the food first hand!

Volunteers are needed every shopping cycle on drop-off and pick-up days. I had a lot of fun helping the producers unload their vehicles. It is a great way to meet the people who are making and delivering our food! After the food arrives, the volunteers go to work organizing all the food into the refrigerators and freezers. It is actually a lot of fun!!

The West Michigan Co-op could not exist without the help of volunteers! We are only needed 2 days a shopping cycle for only about 3 hours a shift! It is soooo easy!!!

On Producer Drop-off days volunteers are needed to help check in products from the producers and help to organize the products for the member pick-up day.

On Member Pick-up days volunteers are needed for a variety of tasks, including greeting members as they arrive, helping members find their correct orders, double check orders to help make sure everything is correct, and collect money at the check-out.


It is easy and fun!!! All you have to do to volunteer is contact Tara Simmons to sign up! See you there!!!

Ed. Note: As of today, if you log in and edit your Member Contact Info, you can now check the "I am available to volunteer" box. This will put you on a list to be contacted for volunteer opportunities. Thanks all!