Our annual Hope for the Holidays campaign last month raised $10,060.36! Thank you to everyone who supported the campaign by purchasing gift packs, PEACEstachios, stollen, and other holiday treats.
The money will be used for grants to local nonprofits for community projects that focus on “Access to Healthy Food.” The grants are awarded through our Cooperative Community Fund (CCF). This fund began in 2001 and currently contains $140,000; the grants, which we’ve been awarding since 2006, are paid from the annual interest accrued on the fund. The interest has been about $3000 per year in recent years.
Each spring, we put out a call for CCF applications. A committee of consumer-owners and worker-owners evaluates the grant applications and selects the recipients. The recipients in 2015 were PORCH, who used the money for an education program on healthy eating and cooking skills for the families who receive food, and TABLE, who used the money for a field trip for underserved children to Maple View Farm.