Double Dollars is Back!
The Double Dollars program returned to the Co-op on October 24th. Thanks to our ongoing partnership with the City of Madison, Community Action Coalition of South Central Wisconsin, and Public Health Madison and Dane County we’re able to help those using FoodShare/QUEST purchase more fresh fruits and vegetables by giving out Double Dollars Coupons to eligible shoppers every Tuesday until March 13th. For every $5 you spend on Double Dollars Tuesdays using your FoodShare/QUEST card for any FoodShare/QUEST eligible items, the Co-op will give you one $5 Double Dollar Coupon, up to $20, good for any Produce Department purchases.
Did you know that you are one of Double Dollars’ largest supporters? Thanks to you, the Co-op has already contributed $37,517 since April 3rd to make Double Dollars possible at the Co-op and participating farmers’ markets. Supporting Double Dollars is easy: you may either donate cash by selecting a scan card at the registers; or you may reuse bags and we’ll send 10¢ for every reusable bag and $0.05 for every disposable bag reused to the Double Dollars Fund at no cost to you.
The program at present levels costs about $80,000 annually to operate at both the Co-op and participating farmers’ markets, and so we appreciate the contributions provided by you and other private funders such as the Madison Area Chef’s Network and Healthy Dane. Thank you for your continued support!
Support POP When You Use Double Dollars Fund Cards This Holiday Season
The holiday season is in swing and this year we wish to continue our tradition of helping the six neighborhood food pantries in our Pantries of Plenty (POP) program purchase fresh items from the Co-op this winter. You can help! When you make a cash donation to Double Dollars using the scan cards at the register lanes, your Co-op will match your cash donation and give the match to our POP pantries. Thanks to our charitable fund supported by abandoned Owner equity, we’re matching up to $10,000 of your Double Dollars Fund cash donations through the end of the year. POP supports Bread of Life Food Pantry, Goodman Community Center Fritz Food Pantry,Lussier Community Education Center, Middleton Outreach Ministry, The River Food Pantry, and Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center. After the matching donation drive is over, we will split our match evenly among the six pantries and they will receive Co-op gift cards to help them purchase fresh foods that are sometimes harder for pantries to come by during the winter season.
POP Pantries Are Also Supported By Our Donation Shelves In-Store
You can also support our POP pantries by dropping off food and other items at one of the shelves at our retail locations year-round. Last year, we published a summary of items that our POP pantries seek and here is an updated list of commercially packaged, unopened products they need:
- Applesauce (no sugar added)
- Baby formula
- Baking mixes or supplies
- Barley
- Beans (low-sodium canned or dried)
- Beverages (non-dairy, non-alcoholic)
- Broth or stock (lower sodium welcome)
- Cake and muffin mix
- Canned fruits (preferably in 100% juice)
- Canned pasta meals with meat
- Canned proteins (meat, tuna, salmon, sardines, chicken)
- Canned sauces (low sugar or gluten-free welcome)
- Canned tomatoes
- Canned vegetables
- Cereal (high-fiber, low sugar, or whole grain)
- Chili (canned or dried mix)
- Chips
- Cleaning supplies
- Coffee beans (ground, whole, or instant)
- Condiments
- Convenience meals (mac & cheese, pasta or rice packages, dinner mixes)
- Cooking oil (olive, canola, sunflower)
- Cotton balls
- Diapers
- Dried fruit
- Feminine products
- Flour
- Gluten-free items and grains
- Granola bars (whole-grain welcome)
- Grits
- Jam or jelly
- Juices
- Ketchup
- Laundry detergent
- Lotion (hand or body)
- Mayonnaise
- Milk (shelf-stable or powdered)
- Oatmeal
- Nut butter (peanut or almond)
- Nuts (low- or no-salt-added)
- Pancake mix
- Pasta (whole-grain welcome)
- Quinoa
- Ramen (low sodium welcome)
- Rice (brown or wild welcome)
- Salt and pepper
- Sanitizer wipes
- Salad dressing
- Seasonings
- Seeds (low- or no-salt-added)
- Shampoo
- Shaving supplies
- Soap
- Soup (canned or dried mix, low-sodium welcome)
- Sugar
- Toilet paper
- Toothbrushes
- Toothpaste
- Vegan items
- Vitamins
The Willy East donation shelf supports Goodman Community Center Fritz Food Pantry, and Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center; Willy North supports Bread of Life Food Pantry, and The River Food Pantry; and Willy West supports Lussier Community Education Center, and Middleton Outreach Ministry. When we have surplus food to donate from our stores, we contact Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin to make sure our surplus gets to the pantry that could use it most. In Fiscal Year 2017, which ended this past June, we donated 11,814 pounds of food to our neighborhood pantries and Second Harvest thanks to your support.
Your Support These Past Few Months Have Gone A Long Way At Home and Abroad!
Last month we held an Equity Drive, encouraging both new owners and those Owners who decided to make annual payments to invest equity in the Co-op to make an early equity payment or invest their equity in-full. Our Owners’ equity guides Co-op decisions and helps us achieve what we are trying to do together. Equity, what you invest to become a Co-op Owner, positions your Co-op to better leverage capital projects that allow us to provide better services for you, such as remodeling East, opening North, and expanding West. When more Owners invest more of their equity, it allows your Co-op to finance more expenditures from internal resources than borrowing more from others. We had a goal to raise $50,000 in Owner Equity during the October drive, and when this Reader went to press, we had already raised $36,259 to meet that goal. Thank you for helping your Co-op continue to be prepared for the future!
You also set a recent record for the Co-op, having raised $65,266 for disaster relief. Your donations helped Central Texas Food Bank and GlobalGiving support relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Katia, Hurricane Maria, and the two earthquakes impacting the U.S., Mexico, and Caribbean islands. Your generosity is simply amazing, we are very grateful.
Thanksgiving
As we take moments this month to consider the things we are most grateful for, your Co-op continues to be thankful to you for the kind gifts you consistently provide to your community through Community CHIP, the Double Dollars Fund, POP, your investment in your cooperative, and disaster relief campaigns. When you are supporting your Co-op, community nonprofits, your fellow shoppers or simply those who are in need, you are truly making a cooperative difference together. Thank you!
