La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

The Skagit Valley Food Co-op opened in a Presbyterian church basement in Mount Vernon in 1973. When newly transplanted University of Michigan graduate Todd Wood arrived in 1975 the store was at Second and Pine. He was soon volunteering. In 1978 he became one of three part-time staff members. For most of his 40 years at the co-op he has been its general manager. This co-op, and Wood, embody “Cooperatives – the Future,” this year’s international co-op month’s theme.

Under Wood’s stewardship, the co-op leased 5,000 square feet on the north side of the closed JC Penny’s building at Division...