Cast Your Vote for the council
Elected council members have a unique opportunity and responsibility to represent the needs of our members and the broader community as we strengthen and grow our cooperative. Our council is responsible for ensuring the success and health of the cooperative, as well as its long term vitality. There is current one open elected seat.
Learn more about this year’s council candidate, Aileah Kvashay, who is running for a single open council seat for a 3 year term. Members will be voting to confirm Aileah's election to the Council for a three-year term beginning in 2026.
Ballot Opens: Friday, June 5
Ballot Closes: Friday, June 19
Meet Aileah Kvashay
Aileah Kvashay is a founding member of the Kingston Food Co-op and owner of Clove Valley Community Farm. Aileah brings more than 16 years of experience operating a community farm, building partnerships with local organizations, and exploring cooperative ownership models. In her candidate statement, she shared her commitment to strengthening community access to healthy food, supporting cooperative development, and helping advance the Co-op's long-term vision.
Aileah's Council Statement:
Why are cooperatives, specifically the Kingston Food Co-op, important to you?
Everyone in this world has certain needs in common, particularly food and housing and community relationships. As we all know, the capitalist structure we are born into makes it difficult to meet all these needs… leading to excess isolation and overwork and hardship which could be avoided if we work and live more closely together. Cooperatives are a hopeful solution to this, which I’ve been working on in the form of running a community farm for the past 16 years. I’ll be moving to Kingston this summer and intending to get more involved in the community. Also, I am working moving into a phase of transitioning the farm to more of a shared ownership and working part-time off the farm, so when I heard about this council-member opportunity I got excited and decided to apply! Also I was a founding member of the Kingston co-op and would love to be a part of helping with its development. Helping the community be well-fed and connected in these uncertain times is work I feel called to do. Thank you for considering me!
What volunteer or professional experiences have you had with other cooperatives, businesses, organizations, or movements?
My main experience has been running a farm business Clove Valley Community Farm for the past 16-17 years. This endeavor has been all-encompassing and multi-faceted, including a huge variety of collaborations and partnerships with other farms and organizations over the years. Too many to list here! For one I’m also a member of the High Falls Co-op and have been selling plants there and have hosted educational farm-tours with them. Happy to share more about all my various community collaborations over the years. In 2019 I concurrently worked part-time with Poughkeepsie Farm Project as a garden educator which involved organizing with the education team and teaching in schools. When Covid happened the work pivoted to distributing food throughout the community at various housing projects and schools.
How will your experience, skills, or unique perspectives strengthen the Co-op Council?
I believe these many years of running a community farm and partnering with other farms etc will be useful. I have many years of experience working with a huge variety of people in a leadership role, and have developed the skill of delegating and empowering people to take on roles appropriate to their skill set and interests. The farm team for the past 5 years has been having weekly organizational meeting in which we take turns facilitating and addressing our issues. I’ve found it to be very effective at preventing issues from arising too! I’m very interested in exploring a deeper level of cooperative ownership with the farm and have been studying various other farms and organizations to learn about what works, and would love to apply this as a council-member.
What do you perceive to be the long- and short-term challenges facing the Kingston Food Co-op and how would you address them?
The obvious challenge seems to be the need for a permanent location to open and grow a store. I understand the Co-op with be partnering with Tildas, but it seems like it would be more ideal to have a store as I imagine the members including me hope for someday. So making this vision a reality, as well as meeting community needs for affordable & healthy food and engagement in the meantime seem to be a major goal. I also understand the co-op will have a garden at the South Pine Street farm, which I would absolutely love to help with.
We encourage all members to participate in this year's Council election. Voting is one of the most important ways members shape the future of our cooperative, and every vote matters.