Call for Applications

8^th Annual Cooperative Community Fund Grants

Applications due by 10 pm, Sunday, June 16, 2013.

Weaver Street Market’s Cooperative Community Fund (CCF) was established in 2001 as an endowment fund whose interest is given annually to local nonprofit groups working on projects with one or more of these focuses:

Each spring, a committee comprised of consumer and worker owner evaluates the grant applications and selects the recipients. Since its first grant award in 2006, the CCF has presented grants to 21 local nonprofit organizations for a total of $11,500, paid from the interest accrued on the endowment fund. Last year the committee received seven grant proposals and awarded $1,800 in three grants in equal amounts.

This year the CCF committee has a total of $1,955 to disperse in one or more grants. Recipients are featured in Weaver Street Market’s Annual Report and receive their grant checks at the Annual Meeting in September. Click here for an application. 

Owners Can Participate in the Selection Process

We need a group of four to six owners to serve on the CCF Grant Committee and help us evaluate and select this year’s grant recipients. The application form (see link above) includes the requirements and criteria used to assess the applications. We ask committee members to commit to two evening meetings scheduled on Tuesday, June 18 and Tuesday, July 2, 2013. Owners affiliated with an organization submitting a grant application cannot participate on the committee.

If you’re interested in serving on the CCF Grant Committee, please email Brenda Camp, Owner Services Coordinator, at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Our Owners Give Back Locally through the CCF

Your contributions to the Cooperative Community Fund make a difference to the work undertaken in your communities by local nonprofit organizations. This past year Weaver Street Market owners and customers contributed more than $17,000 to the CCF, bringing the endowment fund to more than $96,000. With the phenomenal growth in our fund, we anticipate having steadily increasing funds to distribute in the coming years. Thank you, co-op owners and customers!

How Your Contributions Helped the Work of Local Nonprofit Organizations

We want our owners and customers to know about the important work their contributions have funded in our local communities. We’ve included below a list of the CCF recipients and their projects. CCF recipients, if you have photos and comments on your projects, please send them to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . We’d like to post some of those on the website!

2012 Recipients

At Chestnut Ridge Camp, community members, service groups, as well as campers participate in the Community Farm. The farm uses organic and sustainable practices. Part of the produce from the farm is shared with the community through low-cost garden memberships and donations to food pantries. The organization requested funds to implement a holistic ecological approach to pest management called “farmscaping.” The farmscaping plan will be implemented through a community workshop.

Farmer Foodshare hosts Donation Stations at 11 farmers’ markets. At the stations, the organization collects cash and food donations from shoppers and farmers, which they distribute to people at risk for hunger in the Triangle area. Through this program, farmers and shoppers have donated over 100,000 pounds of fresh food, and the organization has purchased more than $24,000 of food from local farmers. Farmer Foodshare requested funds for chalkboard easels to display information at their Donation Stations.

Last year Chapel Hill-Carrboro Meals on Wheels provided 20,000 nutritious hot meals and home visits for the elderly and disabled in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and the surrounding areas. The organization requested funds for its “Meals for the Homebound” program, which provides a hot meal to 115 recipients daily. The funds were requested to help offset the staggering rise in food costs and the large increase in requests for help (25 percent for two consecutive years)

2011 Recipients

Carrboro Parks Project is a public charity organization that works with local citizens and other organizations on fundraising projects to improve Carrboro’s parks and greenways. Grant funds were used to help purchase a water catchment and storage solution for the community garden at Baldwin Park.

Community Nutrition Partnership collaborates with schools, community organizations, and other non-profits to increase access to healthy, local, and organic foods among lower-income communities. The organization used its funds to support a special pilot program—a Veggie Van that brings affordable high-quality produce to low-income families in Orange County.

Orange County Partnership for Young Children and Carrboro Community Garden Coalition both maintain community gardens at the future site of MLK Jr Park in Carrboro.  The two groups, working in collaboration, used their grant money to improve their shared watering system with the purchase of a solar battery charger and battery for the pump system as well as the installation of additional gutters and rain barrels.

Sewage Sludge Action Network works to educate the public about the application of toxic sewage sludge as a substitute for fertilizer and the risks of this practice to public health and the environment. The organization used its grant money to help purchase a projector that allows them to host screenings of their documentary film in a wider range of venues.

2010 Recipients

Sustainable Alamance assists ex-offenders in becoming successful members of society by providing resources and skills needed to find meaningful work in the community. Sustainable Alamance purchased equipment for their community urban farm project, through which ex-offenders learn farming skills and grow produce that is made available locally.

TABLE is a hunger relief organization comprised of college students and community volunteers committed to feeding hungry children in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. TABLE used its grant toward funding its TABLE for Two Mentoring program in which local food-insecure children and college students prepare healthy snacks together from fresh in-season ingredients.

The Community Lunch provides food assistance to the unemployed, culturally marginalized, and physically and mentally disabled in Chatham County. With its grant, the organization purchased a new refrigerator for storing larger quantities of food and ultimately providing service to an increasing number of guests.

2009 Recipients

The Chapel Hill Cooperative Preschool provides a welcoming learning environment for students in Orange and Chatham counties. With its grant, the preschool developed its Healthy Children’s School Garden, which allows children to learn about sustainable agriculture and cook and share food with the greater community in need.

Sewage Sludge Action Network works to educate the public about the application of toxic sewage sludge as a substitute for fertilizer and the risks of this practice to public health and the environment.  The organization use its grant to support an informational campaign that publicized its messages to farmers and the general public through a variety of publications and a direct mail campaign.

Student Action with Farmworkers seeks to bring students and farmworkers together to share resources and skills, improve conditions for farmworkers, and build diverse coalitions working for social change. SAF used its funds to support its “From the Ground Up” program, which attempts to build community and engage local supporters in fair food efforts.

2008 Recipients

Neighbor House is a collaborative effort among churches and civic groups with the goal of lessening hunger and malnutrition in Hillsborough and northern Orange County. The organization used its grant funds for its Food for All program, which provides hot, nutritious meals to anyone in need.

TABLE is a hunger relief organization comprised of college students and community volunteers committed to feeding hungry children in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Its grant funds were used to support its Weekend Backpack Program, which provides nutritious food for elementary school children at risk for hunger on weekends when federally funded public school breakfasts and lunches are unavailable.

Toxic Free North Carolina has been fighting pesticide pollution in North Carolina for over twenty years. It used its grant funds to support two projects: Just & Sustainable Agriculture, which works to increase access to locally grown organic food, and Toxic Free Kids, which seeks to reduce or eliminate pesticide use in public schools.

2007 Recipients

Chestnut Ridge Camp
NC Rural Communities Assistance Project
Haw River Assembly

2006 Recipients

Orange Community Housing and Land Trust
Anathoth Community Garden
Pa’lante