Welcome to Brown and Cole Stores

For the third year, all Food Pavilion, Cost Cutter and Everson Red Apple stores will participate in Whatcom County's Annual Denim Day. Our team members will be wearing jeans, and informational materials in the store will explain why.

Why: in 1999, the Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction because the victim was wearing jeans. The judges decided that removing jeans is impossible if a victim is struggling with all her might, the victim must have assisted in removing her jeans, which implied, to them, consent.

Denim Day began as a heated response to this verdict. It has since evolved into an internationally celebrated day to show support for ending sexual violence, honoring survivors and raising awareness of the issue. In Whatcom County, the Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services is sponsoring the awareness-raising event. We are proud to participate.

BROWN & COLE JOINS TOWARD ZERO WASTE CAMPAIGN

We are a founding member of Sustainable Connections' Toward Zero Waste campaign, launched this month. We are committed to reducing waste by 50% this year.

Take part in Toward Zero Waste Week (April 13-19) by making an effort to reduce the amount of waste you send to landfills. If you can't avoid the waste, try to reuse it, whether it be making art from trash or reusing a plastic bag to clean up after your dog. And if you have a stockpile of plastic bags at home, bring them down to any of our stores and we'd be happy to recycle them for you.

Don't use plastic bags? Great! Bring your reuseable grocery bag and we'll credit you a nickel each time. You also have the option to donate that nickel to a local nonprofit organization working to improve the environment in your community. (see article below) To learn more about Toward Zero Waste, visit: www.sconnect.org/zerowaste and be sure to check out the waste sorting stations at places like the Bellingham Farmers Market on April 19th.

ANACORTES FOOD PAVILION HOSTS FREE EVENTS AND CLASSES

Come join us and get more from your grocery store with these free events at Anacortes Food Pavilion!

On May 3, we have A Day for Asparagus Lovers, featuring Silk Road Spices
Looking for new ideas on how to enjoy the new California crop of asparagus, which has the most tender, pencil-thin and flavorful spears? We'll have sampling from noon to 4 p.m. in both our Produce Department as well as our Silk Road Spices and Tea Shop (located near the Meat Department).

Other May events include:

Gluten-Free Walk and Talk, May 10, 10 to 11 a.m.

Are you or someone in your family on a gluten-free diet? Join us as we walk and talk about the gluten-free diet, product location throughout our store, aisle by aisle gluten-free product list, gluten-free cooking ideas and recipes...not to mention many samples of gluten-free products! Sign up at the checkstands or our Customer Service Center.

Organic and Low Sulfite Wines, May 10, 2 to 3 p.m.

Are you interested in organic wines or wines made from organic grapes? What is the difference? Are there sulfites in organic wines? Come learn the answer to these questions and others at our talk on organic and low sulfite wines.

Matcha BBQ? May 17, 1 to 3 p.m.

What does Matcha Green Tea and Barbecuing have to do with each other? Come find out as we experiment with...we mean sample! a few simple recipes.

Organics on a Budget, May 24, 10 to 11 a.m.

With rising concerns about pesticides, herbicides and GMOs, it's no wonder many of us are starting to think about organically grown produce. However, with higher gas and food prices, we are also concerned about our pocketbooks. There is a middle ground, and today we will discuss how to feed your family organically without breaking your grocery budget.

Lobstermania Weekend, May 30-31, ALL DAY

Lobstermania is herer again! With fresh Maine lobsters flown in the night before, we have live lobsters, cooked lobsters, salmon fillets, oysters, clams and mussels for your seafood feasting. Come visit the Lobstermania tents out front and stop in to Silk Road Spice Co. for a package of our Gulf Coast Boil, the perfect spice blend for any of your favorite crustaceans.

LaBrea Bread Baking, May 31, 2 to 4 p.m.

In 1988, Chef Nancy Silverton created a sourdough starter that would ultimately become the trademark ingredient in every loaf of LaBrea Bakery Bread. With over 15 varieties of bread to choose from, LaBrea offers fresh, delicious breads made with no preservatives, cholesterol or transfat. Come in this afternoon...why not try them all?

For more information on any of these events, please call us at (360) 588-8181.

RE-USE YOUR BAG, GET A REBATE, MAKE A DONATION

It's simple fact: plastic bags clog up landfills and have infinite half-lives. But you can break the cycle by re-using your bags for your groceries, and there's a small reward in doing so.

In 1979, we were the first grocery store in the country to offer customers a two-cent rebate if they re-used their grocery bags. Today, we're offering a nickel per bag. If you bring your own bag, we'll rebate you a nickel at any of our stores.

But if you'd like to pay it forward, we will turn around and donate your nickel to a local environmental group. Bring your own bag, and we will donate your five cents to either Skagitonians to Preserve Farmlands (Skagit stores: Food Pavilions in Mt. Vernon, Sedro Woolley, Anacortes, and Burlington Cost Cutter) or ReSources (Whatcom stores: Cost Cutter in Bellingham, Ferndale and Blaine, Everson Red Apple, Lynden and Southside Food Pavilion). In Snohomish County, it's the Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force (Arlington Food Pavilion, Everett Cost Cutter). All three are committed to preserving our environment. For our Yakima, Wapato and Prosser customers, we have added Yakima Area Arboretum as the recipient of donated nickels. This Arboretum is a living museum that serves as an educational hub about the environment in the Yakima Valley.

Our Moses Lake Food Pavilion pharmacist, Lateef Olaniyan, is headed to Nigeria in April to bring free medical care and health supplies to that country's needy citizens.

Lateef, a native of Nigeria, has made several visits home, most recently last summer to register as a pharmacist in that country. He worked with government officials at the federal level to put together a team of medical professionals to help out this spring. Several physicians from the Columbia Basin area, as well as nurses and a speech pathologist, will participate.

Our Moses Lake store team is collecting items for the team, and will hold a fundraiser to purchase additional products. What is needed are many basics: tylenol, ibuprofen, aspirin, neosporin, lotrimin, hydrocortisone 1% cream, multivitamins for children and adults, gauze bandages, alcohol swabs and much more. Visit the store to see the entire list, or contact Lateef at the store if you'd like to donate.

He noted that many people in Nigeria have no resources available for medical care, and have never seen a doctor before, because they cannot afford it. He hopes there will be future trips for the same purpose.

We are proud of Moses Lake's "awesome pharmacist" and his commitment to helping those in need.

WE'RE PROUD OF OUR PEOPLE!

Southside Food Pavilion's Wine Steward Tracy Olney has added another skill...and in true Tracy fashion, she is excelling at it! Tracy recently completed a two-week course in auctioneering from the Western College of Auctioneering in Billings, Montana. Not only did she graduate, but her fellow students voted her the ABC of Auctioneering Award, for Attitude, Bid Calling and Conduct. Tracy plans to focus on charity auctions, and has a couple of engagements already lined up! Way to go, Tracy!

Southside Food Pavilion, by popular demand, has launched its Wine of the Month Cub. Customers can sign up at three levels: $30, $40 or $50 to receive two fine wines each month. Customization is encouraged: for example, a $30 level membership might choose to receive two $15 bottles of wine, or one $10 and one $20 bottle, or maybe all whites, or all reds, all imports, all domestics, six month membership, or twelve month. To sign up and make it easy to enjoy the world of wine, send an email to tracyolney@brownandcole.com or call us at (360) 715-8565. It's a great gift idea or nice way for our seasonal visitors to take advantage of our vast wine selection at great prices.

SKAGIT WOMEN BUILD RAISES ROOFS AND HOPES

Skagit Women Build's checkstand fundraiser at our Skagit County Food Pavilion and Cost Cutter stores in February wrapped up, raising over $3,200 in just three short weeks! is Customers generously donated a $1 or more to this new group, affiliated with the renowed Habitat for Humanity. This all-women group is raising $100,000 to build a home in Skagit County, with groundbreaking set for this spring.

The all-female crew will do the entire job, from site-clearing to plumbing and everything in between, with the end result a lovely new home for a homeless family in Skagit County. Your support for this worthy project is very much appreciated!

Health...wellness...nutrition...how to make informed choices about our food is a question many of us are pondering daily. With a wealth of information available through countless sources, we think there's room for simple, concise information that you can use in your product purchases.

Watch for Good For You! information in our stores over the next several months. We hope to distill some of the volumes of information into guidelines on topics that we know challenge our customers: ratings systems for foods based on nutritional values, food allergies, gluten-free diets, childhood obesity, the difference between natural, organic and health foods, all about trans-fats, healthy portions, and so on.

We will be reproducing My Pyramid, a brochure on the new food pyramid guidelines, in its entirety on our website, as a first step to good health. Stay tuned for more information on Good For You! choices.

FOOD FOR ALL: ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YEAR

We think our customers are the most giving, most generous people in Washington...and our ninth annual Food For All campaign again demonstrated that open-hearted spirit, with over $14,000 raised to combat hunger in our communities.

Over 8,000 supermarkets nationwide participated in Food For All duirng the holidays. This is our ninth year of joining in, and we have raised over $150,000 for anti-hunger organizations.

On behalf of the following organizations our stores have chosen to receive the donations, we thank you.

This year's Food For All recipients in our communities include:

Our very own Harvey Unruh won the state competition for the Best Grocery Bagger, beating out several other baggers from around Washington state. In a timed contest, Harvey deftly bagged everything from canned goods to vegetables with great skill and finesse, keeping the bags evenly balanced and easy to carry, just like he does at Sunset Cost Cutter.

Harvey works at our Sunset Cost Cutter store, where we hope our customers will congratulate him for his victory. He won $500 and a trip for two to Las Vegas in February, where he competed with agility and class for the national title. No national crown, but kudos to you, Harvey! We're proud to have you securing our customers' groceries so ably! (see Harvey's photo on the left side of our home page.)

stores have signed on, along with 25 other grocery retailers across the country, to the new Be

Food Safe campaign.

The campaign is an aggressive food safety education effort to help reduce the incidence of foodborne illnesses. Although the overall rate of foodborne illnesses is declining, studies have

shown one in four Americans suffer from a foodborne illness each year.

Sponsored by the Partnership for Food Safety Education, a collaboration between the US Department of Agriculture, US Food and Drug Administration, US Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, grocery and professional associations plus consumer nonprofit groups, this is the latest step in getting the message out clearly and concisely.

There are four key components: clean, separate, cook and chill. Keeping these four steps in

mind will help keep you and your family safe...in fact, foodsafe!

Here's some more information about each component and why it matters.

Clean: bacteria can spread throughout the kitchen and get on hands, cutting boards, knives and counters. Frequent cleaning will help keep that from happening.

Separate: cross-contamination is the way bacteria spreads. Make sure that raw meat, poultry, and seafood and their juices are kept away from food that is ready to eat. You'll want to make certain cooked food doesn't rest on a plate that previously held raw foods.

Cook: if you don't heat and prepare food to the right safe temperature, bacteria can survive. That means using a food thermometer for meat, seafood and egg dishes.

Chill: bacteria spreads quickest at temperatures between 40 degrees F. and l40 degrees F., so make sure you have chilled food properly. One of the "do not dos" is to defrost food at room temperature.

More information is available at www.befoodsafe.org

FOOD AND DRINK FOR RUNNERS WATERFRONT 15K

This fall, we had the opportunity to provide fruits and breads for over 700 runners, walkers, volu

nteers and cheerers-on at the third annual Fairhaven Runners Waterfront 15K. It was great fun and great weather for what is fast becoming a local classic in northwest Washington and a wonderful rite of early fall. (Pictures of the food spread and the crowd, shown here) We're always pleased to support our community, especially in such great healthy ways as fun runs!

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF SMALL POTATOES!

We are grateful and pleased with the overwhelming support shown by our customers and employees in our first checkstand donation program to benefit Small Potatoes Gleaning Project, here in Whatcom County. Over $2,000 was raised in just a few weeks!

Ever wonder what happens to all the fruits and vegetables that are not used? Small Potatoes Gleaning Project

has been hard at work, harvesting fresh produce from local farms, orchards and even gardens that would otherwise be wasted. Their volunteers then deliver the produce to area agencies that provide food to people in need.

We joined the effort with Harvest for the Hungry, September 14 through October 7 at our Whatcom County stores. Customers learned more about Small Potatoes and kindly donated $1 or more to their grocery bills to help in this effort. The volunteers of Small Potatoes not only deliver food where it's needed, but also work in a community garden to grown additional food for a local soup kitchen and food bank. They raise awareness about the root causes of hunger and solutions to help end it.

At a time when we are conscious of reducing our footprint on this earth, and making the most of our limited resources, Harvest for the Hungry is an answer that is local, effective and making a difference. Thanks for joining us at our Bellingham, Blaine and Ferndale CostCutter stores, as well as our Lynden and Bellingham Food Pavilions and Everson Red Apple, during this important inaugural campaign. We're pleased to partner with Small Potatoes...last year, they "rescued" over 42 tons of nutritious produce and delivered it to hungry neighbors in our communities.

BROWN & COLE WINS ENVIRONMENTAL HERO AWARD

Brown & Cole Stores has been lauded by RESources as one of its Environmental Heroes in the business partner category.

RESources, a WhatcomCounty nonprofit focused on sustainable living, cited Brown & Cole for its long history of care and concern for the environment.

Brown & Cole was the first business in the entire United States --- almost 30 years ago --- to offer rebates for customers who reused their grocery bags. The company has led in a number of areas, including:

Sorting white paper from colored for recycling
Purchasing remanufactured toner cartridges and refilled ink jet cartridges
Creating spill management plans at our stores
Recycling spent fluorescent lights ,old computers and monitors
Labeling of storm drains
Routine inspection and maintenance of catch basins
Preferred packaging guidelines for vendors
Bike racks to encourage alternate transportation
Hosting RESources compost bin sales for several years

Many of these initial recycling efforts have just become second nature to us, the way we now do business. With attention rightfully focused on the larger issue of global warming, it is more important than ever that businesses large and small continue to manage their resources in the most efficient, earth-friendly way possible. Our work is not done, and our commitment to this one earth we all share will continue.

We are proud of this award, and want to thank our hardworking team members who lead the way.

WATERSHED-FRIENDLY CAR WASH SITE AT FOOD PAVILION!

A fundraising car wash is a youth fundraising ritual in the Pacific Northwest. We're all happy to help out clubs and schools raise money for uniforms, instruments, trips and the like by getting our weather-weary cars washed at local businesses.

However, harmful runoff from the cleaning solutions used can cause problems for our streams and watersheds. That's why only a few locations have Watershed Friendly Car Wash designations...and our Southside Food Pavilion in Bellingham is one of them.

Food Pavilion has a car wash kit that diverts this runoff from the storm drains into the sewer system, where the water can be properly treated. This protects the health of our urban streams. (Similarly, if you're washing your car at home, make sure it's on the lawn or a gravel driveway, so the soils can absorb most of the water.)

If you're interested in scheduling a Watershed Friendly Car Wash, just call us at 715-8565 and we'll get you set up for an afternoon of sun and fundraising, done the environmentally-safe way!

For schools and nonprofit organizations, fundraising is easier than ever with our scrip program, which uses a convenient, wallet-sized gift card

Scrip offers your school, church or nonprofit organization a simple way to raise money. Your group’s members purc

hase a minimum of $1,000 in gift cards (or scrip, as we call it), and we discount your order 5%. That means you pay $950 for the cards, and retain $50 for your group. You can order the cards in any dollar amount, and pre-sell them to your group’s members. Use the cards for regular grocery shopping (with no expiration date), give them as gifts --- it’s a simple way for your supporters to make a donation to your group with something they would be doing anyway --- shopping for food --- and it’s a lot easier than organizing a special fundraiser!

If you’re interested, contact us at (360) 714-7740; send an email to darlenechurch@brownandcole.com or a letter, stating your interest in participating. Confirm the following information in your letter or email:

Once we receive this, we will get you set up. The minimum order is $1,000, and we offer significant discounts for larger orders. Orders are filled within a few days, and can be picked up at the nearest Brown & Cole store. It’s convenient, easy and makes your group some extra money.

CANCER RELAY FOR LIFE: THE FUND (OR FUN!) RAISING BEGINS NOW

The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life fundraisers have been completed for this year in our communities, but our hardworking team members already have begun fundraising for the 2008 Relays.

This year, we will be one of the Relay sponsors for the following: Skagit Relay, Whatcom County, Lynden, Wenatchee and Moses Lake. Our Moses Lake store is planning a huge golf tournament and auction for April 21 at the local country club. It sounds awesome! Fundraising and planning continues at our stores for this important signature event.

At our Lynden Food Pavilion, our energetic team will be Pushing for a Cure, holding bake sales, lemonade stand, pink water bottle sales and glow gear at the Relay itself. Lots of good and positive energy are hallmarks of the Lynden team.

Our stores have been supporting the Relay for Life for over 20 years, and we're proud to go forward, knowing that with our customers'help, we are making a difference in the fight against cancer.

Next month, we'll begin selling the sun and moon cards, to recognize those people fighting cancer, cured of cancer, or have passed away from cancer. Once again, your support means so much. Thank you.

WHERE THE LOCALS GO COUPON BOOK OFFERS DISCOUNTS

When you purchase Where The Locals Go, a $10 coupon book full of over $6,400 in savings, you can also take advantage of three coupons good at any of our stores. This coupon book is a product of Sustainable Connections (see related article) and features more than 200 Whatcom and Skagit County locally-owned businesses, such as ours.

Take $5 off any $25 purchase at our stores with coupon in hand.

Thanks for shopping with us! (You can purchase the book at many local businesses in northwest Washington or contact Sustainable Connections at 360.647.7093 for locations.)

ABOUT SUSTAINABLE CONNECTIONS

In Whatcom and Skagit Counties, a nonprofit business network has been established with a simple goal: to transform and model a local, living economy built on sustainable business practices.

Sustainable Connections, with over 500 business and community members, works to establish sustainable business practices that lead to a greener environment, meaningful employment, strong communities and a commitment to buying local first.

As a sponsor of Sustainable Connections, we aim to bring our customers the best in local products, supporting our friends and neighbors who grow and produce food right here. A powerful local living economy benefits all of us.

Why is local so important? When you buy from an independent business, it boosts the economic well-being of all local businesses, including the local suppliers to those businesses and the other local businesses where the owners and employees spend their money. By increasing the number of economic transactions within northwest Washington (and eventually the entire state), import-replacing development expands jobs, wealth, tax receipts to pay for clean water, local schools and parks.

Think Local, Buy Local, Be a Local. To learn more about why over 500 local businesses and community leaders think sustainability matters, go to www.SustainableConnections.org You can also learn more about their programs, including Green Building, Sustainable Business Practices & Green Power, Think Local First, Food & Farming and Business Connections & Events.

WE SUPPORT SKAGITONIANS TO PRESERVE FARMLAND

Did you know that Skagit Valley is a major producer of cabbage, cable beet and spinach seed for the world? Or that it grows about half of the world's beet, Brussels sprout, Chinese cabbage, Chinese kale and Chinese mustard seed? How about the fact that it is home to one of the highest concentrations of raptors in North America? Or that it produces more tulip, daffodil and iris bulbs than anywhere else in our country?

One of our key values as a business is to support the good works of our neighbors, focusing on nonprofit organizations that impact families, the environment, cultural diversity and community activities.

Here's a brief list of some of the groups and events we've contributed to recently, through our time donated, in-kind food donations or gift cards.