October Change for Good Partner: AFC Gives Community Fund
October's Change for Good Partner is
AFC Gives Community Fund
The Ashland Food Co-op has been providing support to nonprofits for over two decades. The AFC Gives Community Fund helps us support grassroots programs, respond to emergencies, and fund local projects along with Community Grants. Through the cumulative register donations over the course of this month, shoppers will help support this work in 2023 and beyond.
In 2020, we helped support our community following the devastation of the Almeda Fires.
With funds raised from the Change for Good months, we were able to contribute to these organizations:
MRG Foundation, Rogue Action Center, My Valley, SOEQUITY, UNETE, Jackson County School District #4, SOESD, Maslow Project, Family Nurturing Center, La Clinca, Our Family Farms, Ashland Schools Foundation, Rogue Food Unites, Remake Talent - Holiday Relief Event, Cascade Builders Association, and Rogue Valley Farm to School
In 2022, Ashland Food Co-op made a donation from the Community Fund, along with other co-ops across the nation, to a Disaster Recovery Fund organized by National Co+op Grocers (NCG) Cooperation, Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) and National Co-op Business Association of the United States (NCBA CLUSA) to Co-op Ukraine to support cooperatives impacted by the war in Ukraine.
Here's a look at what projects the 2021 Community Grants supported:
Bee Girl used Community Grant funds to support thousands of local bees by planting flowers in pastures to feed honey bees, native bees, and local livestock.
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Happy Smiles helps students receive free dental health education, dental screenings, and preventive dental services at a local elementary school.
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Bellview Elementary School students building a Hugelkultur to retain water and offer nutrients to the berries that will be planted there later this month.
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“A very nice man with a host of health issues is living in his vehicle. He was out of gas and waiting for his monthly check. He asked our volunteer for a gas card, and when she also offered a Co-op gift card, he broke out in tears and hugged her.” -from St. Vincent De Paul
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Karen Taylor from Rogue Community College facilitates building water swales to divert and maximize rain water and Grange gutter water to plants in the Emerging Futures Network Food Forest.
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Rogue Action Center used Community Grant funds to open a resource and navigation center in Talent where fire recovery staff is meeting with survivors to fill out housing applicants, Oregon rental assistance applications and connecting them to other housing and financial assistance resources.
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‘Hope for the Holidays’ provided ten families, who were survivors of the Almeda Fire, with holiday meals. The wish behind the program was to provide a few comforts of “home” during the cold winter months for families who lost their homes and are still in temporary housing. -from Heart Rising
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Oftentimes, students come to the Asante Ashland Community Hospital School Nurse Program with physical ailments such as headaches, stomach aches, and fatigue requesting medication to alleviate their symptoms, when their symptoms are actually caused by a lack of food or hydration. Having gift cards from the Co-op has given students access to healthy snacks and reduced the need for unnecessary over-the-counter medication administration, while providing an opportunity to educate students regarding the direct relationship between food/nutrition and how they feel.
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Josephine County Food Bank made their first purchase of biodegradable containers. They are “so excited to accomplish their primary goal of feeding people and at the same time relieved that [they] are not contributing plastic to the landfill.”
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Be the Change Rogue used these funds to promote Rogue To Go. Marketing the program has been helpful in reaching a wide audience, both eaters (customers) and eateries (participating restaurants), to help expand Rogue To Go across the Rogue Valley and reduce single use waste for to-go meals.
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Any of Walker Elementary's 225 students who find themselves without a snack at school are able to have a good one, thanks in part to these funds! Walker PTO particularly appreciates the nut-free and gluten free snack options the Co-op stocks, to enable them to feed all Walker students regardless of dietary restrictions.
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Pollinator Project Rogue Valley utilized the funds to put in a 27’ x 18’ seeding area at the Ashland Emergency Food Bank to grow native pollinator plants to share with the community. Assuming success, the plants, and later their seeds, will be shared through plant sales and also garden contributions through their ‘From Fire to Flowers’ program.
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In 2022, AFC Gives has awarded $25,150 to 17 organizations!
Congratulations to these local nonprofit organizations who are receiving funding for their projects:
St Vincent De Paul
La Clinica
Walker PTO
Siskiyou School
Ashland Emergency Food Bank
Consumer Credit Counseling of Southern Oregon
Armadillo Technical Institute
Cascade Girl
Ashland Schools Foundation
Emerging Futures at Bellview Grange
Jackson County Library Foundation
Tish McFadden at Multicultural Association of S.O.
Folk Soul Farm
Ashland Parks Foundation
White Oak Farm & Education Center
Cave Junction Farmers Market
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If you are a local nonprofit interested in future funding from AFC Gives, visit ashlandfood.coop/afcgives to learn more and sign up to receive e-mail notifications when applications open.
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The Community Fund helps AFC Gives support grassroots programs, respond to emergencies, and fund local projects.
What is Change for Good?
The AFC Gives committee focuses on ways that the Co-op community can support local organizations and groups doing important work in the Rogue Valley.
2020 was the first year of Change for Good, a register round-up program to benefit a slate of ten organizations, voted on by Co-op owners, through the cumulative donations of shoppers choosing to round-up their shopping total to the nearest dollar.
From one cent to 99 cents, it all adds up to feeling good about supporting the community.
More Co-op News
5 Reasons to Love Co-ops
By Laura Pfister, Media Coordinator
October is National Co-op Month, so what’s the big deal? Being a co-op is special. Yes, we know we are biased, but being a cooperative enterprise means we do business differently. We don’t have a single owner living on their private island drinking margaritas all day without a care in the world. We are owned and governed by you, our 10,000 members. We share the burden in hard times and share the benefits in the good times. We put people, the planet and our principles before profit.
From the General Manager's Desk
By Emile Armarotico
This spring, National Co-op Grocers recognized Ashland Food Co-op as a Co+efficient Sustainability Star for our excellent sustainability efforts.
Our Sustainability Vision aims at being carbon neutral by 2030. We’ve taken a great stride toward this by installing a 39 kilowatt solar electric system on our rooftop with the capacity to generate approximately 7% of our electricity usage. The cost was partially offset by a $27,000 REAP (Rural Energy for America Program) Grant.
Local Starts at the Co-op
When we say local, we mean local. We source our local goods from within 200 miles of the store. By purchasing goods from local producers, we aim to create and maintain a healthy local economy and support family farms. What could be better than helping your community by buying local goods?
With all the local products that we offer, it’s hard to pick a favorite. But that’s exactly what we asked our staff to do. Here are some of their go-to local eats.
Your Fruit. Your Cider.
How often can you browse the shelf at your neighborhood grocery store, see a bottle of hand crafted, local cider and say, “Hey, I help make that!” Well, at the Co-op you can.
Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me
By Laura Pfister, Media Coordinator
Many of us wait all year for this moment. We spend the winter months dreaming of a certain fuzzy stone fruit, its sweet juices dripping from our face and the buttery golden pie crust those yellow-orange slices will inhabit.
Good news! The wait is over. That local, sweet orb of sunshine has finally arrived. That’s right. Rolling Hills peaches are here!
2017 Board Election Results
We're Sustainability Stars!
Deep in our hearts we've always known we were sustainability stars, but now we have an award to prove it.
We recently received a Co+efficient Sustainability Star award from National Co-op Grocers (NCG) recognizing our positive environmental and community impacts.
Co+efficient, NCG’s sustainability program, measures social, environmental and local economic impacts from participating food co-ops across the country.
Give Where You Live
It’s the most wonderful time of year! Yes, we know that phrase is generally reserved for the holiday season. But for us, this truly is the most wonderful time of the year. It’s OUR season of giving.
Dine In and Bike Your Way to Savings
Did you know that approximately half of our landfill waste stream is composed of Deli trash? A significant part of that is “to-go” containers, which are sometimes used for dining in and don’t end up “going” very far at all.
Sustainability matters in everyday actions and we want you, our customers, to help us reduce unnecessary waste and make the most ecologically sound choices possible.
Participate in YOUR Co-op!
Spring Picks
The sun is (mostly) out and the weather is finally getting warmer. That must mean summer is right around the corner, right? We sure hope so. We’re ready to grill, soak up some sun and enjoy the many fruits and vegetables that are in season. Our Floral Coordinator, Rachel Chastain, shares some of her favorites.
Be the Sustainable Change
By Laura Pfister, Media Coordinator
Sustainability is not a new concept at the Co-op. It has always been part of our DNA. We’ve been using sustainable business practices before it was the “cool”, “responsible” thing to do. In fact, the Co-op was founded 45 years ago largely on the principles of sustainable, local organic food production as an alternative to modern industrial agriculture.
A New Look
By Laura Pfister, Media Coordinator
For 45 years we’ve been loving local and fostering community. Throughout our almost half a century history, our identity and logo has gone through many iterations.
Some of you might remember the logo above from our newsletter in the early 1980s.
As we’ve done multiple times throughout our history, it’s time to refresh our brand and launch a beautiful, new logo to take us into the next decade.
Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili
Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili is one of my favorite Co+op Basics recipes. It is full of flavor, color and shatters the myth that a healthy meal has to cost a fortune and take all day to prepare. This recipe is also a clever way to use sweet potatoes, which are not only tasty but high in fiber and vitamin A.
Looking to Save Money at the Co-op?
By Laura Pfister, Media Coordinator
We hear from time to time that people feel the Co-op is higher priced than other stores. In the past, we may have earned this perception. But not anymore. We took a long, hard look at ourselves and we talked with other Co-ops across the country. Together, we are pooling our resources to bring you organic, household staples at everyday competitive, low prices. Welcome to Co+op Basics.