2017Issue2_Alabama_v6

CHAIRMAN' S MESSAGE

Do no t s q uand e r t i me

PETER GREGERSON, JR. GREGERSON'S FOODS AGA CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

new members to visit you and talk about how they can help your companies. The Association Office has also gone through some changes. We were excited to welcome our newest administrative assistant, Cheryl Lusk, she comes to us after retiring from Regions Bank. Cheryl is married to Keith Lusk, they have 2 children and 4 grandchildren. We are happy to welcome her to the AGA family and look forward to working with her. As always, your President, Ellie Taylor, continues to work tirelessly with regulatory agencies, our members and other elected officials to do positive work on behalf of our members. This is no more evident than in the Tasting Regulations she has been diligently working on with the Alabama ABC Board. I am truly looking forward to our next big event, the AGEF Golf Outing on April 6 at Inverness Country Club in Birmingham. The money from this tournament go to fund scholarships for children in college and provide educational seminars for our members. If you have not signed up, you need to either call the AGA Event Coordinator, Jessica Brown at the Association Office at 205-823-5498, visit the website at www. alabamagrocers.org or email her directly at jbrown@alabamagrocers.org.

this year has already been very busy for both the association and its members.

The Membership Committee has been very busy. Mr. David Bullard, Membership Chairman has done a great job at motivating not only the committee, but also his warehouse to recruit new members for AGA. From January to March 1 this year we already have 14 new AGA member companies. Be sure when you see a new member company representative to make them feel welcomed into AGA. The Benefits, Services and Education Committee have had their hands full as well. This Committee led by Jay Mitchell of Mitchell Grocery Corporation has successfully administered the Scholarship Program for 2017. As I write this, the application process has ended and all the information has been transferred to Dr. Glenn Richey of Auburn University for judging. We expect by the end of the month to be ready to call and verify employment for each potential scholarship recipient. AGA has also secured a new member benefit, partnering with Federated Insurance. Retailers should expect these

This year has already been very busy for both the Association and its members. I am reminded of a quote from one of our Founding Fathers, Mr. Benjamin Franklin, “Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.” We have been using our time wisely and staying very busy so far this year. In February I was proud to be appointed to serve as the Alabama Grocers Association grocery industry representative on the Governor’s Grocery Tax Task Force. In the Governor’s inaugural address, he mentioned his desire to remove the state’s 4% sales tax from grocery items. AGA supports this endeavor assuming the state follows the same items we currently adhere to for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This task force will review the potential financial impacts to the state budgets and other direct and indirect economic impacts to the state’s economy and we will then offer recommendations on how to effectively repeal the sales tax on grocery. Our findings and recommendations will be due to the Governor and the Legislature by June 1.

| ALABAMA GROCER 6