A Fuquay-Varina woman who is spearheading an effort to get a food co-op started in Fuquay-Varina, outlined plans for the project before the town board last week.

Tammie Quick, who has worked with a fair trade project and a community gardening project at the Fuquay-Varina United Methodist Church, said the proposed grocery cooperative would emphasize locally and organically-grown produce. She envisions a full grocery store, not selling produce only but most anything a traditional grocery store would stock.

It would be a for-profit store, Ms. Quick said, owned by the cooperative’s members. Memberships are currently being sold at $100 for a family. So far, the project has l21 members. About 300 total memberships are needed for the project to move forward, she said. She expects it to take a year to a year and a half to get a store open.

Ms. Quick said the group recently received a $6,500 grant from the Food Cooperative Initiative, a non-profit the group has been working with, to assist with planning and a legal review.

Seven food cooperatives are operating in North Carolina, Ms. Quick said. But none are in Wake County. She said quite a few local residents shop at co-ops in Carrboro and in Pittsboro but would like to have a store here so they wouldn’t have to make those trips.

Ms. Quick appeared before the town board to make commissioners aware of the project and its goals.