National Co+op Grocers (NCG) is celebrating the completion of 10,356 acts of kindness in one year, a total that exceeds their pledge for the national #Coops4Kindness campaign, coordinated by Cooperatives for a Better World.
Launched in October of 2017 in honor of National Co-op Month, #Coops4Kindness challenged co-ops from diverse industries and communities to work together to complete 1 million acts of kindness by October 2018, a goal participants easily surpassed to reach an inspiring 1,418,059 acts. The campaign showcased how cooperatives demonstrate concern for their communities as part of their operating principles.
“We were able to pass our goal of 8,000 acts of kindness thanks in part to the generosity and dedication of our staff, many of whom donated time, money or resources in their communities through a variety of inspiring ways,” said C.E. Pugh, Interim Chief Executive Officer, NCG. “We are incredibly proud of how our staff showed up for this challenge.”
NCG staff activities ranged from shoveling snow from a neighbor’s walk to leaving 100% tips at restaurants, to donations of time and money to an array of non-profits. One staff member bought out a local bookstore’s selection of his favorite books for young readers, then donated the books to little free libraries in his area. “These books were formative for me,” the donor said. “I’m hoping some young person enjoys them as much as I did at their age.”
NCG also tallied its acts of kindness conducted on a national and international scale, including: coordinating a panel discussion on diversity, equity and inclusion in the natural foods industry at 2018 Natural Products Expo West; honoring companies in their supply chain that are showing bold leadership on climate change with the National Co+op Grocers Climate Collaborative Awards; planting thousands of trees to offset their carbon emissions; and, empowering fair trade and smallholder farmers in Peru, Argentina, India, Indonesia, East Timor and the Philippines. The co-op also donated $150,000 to help other co-ops rebuild in Puerto Rico.
NCG food co-ops also participated in #Coops4Kindess. Among them, Pittsburgh’s East End Food Co-op earned headlines for achieving an incredible 100,000 acts of kindness.
“National Co+op Grocers is a fine example of our vision for #Coops4Kindness,” said Howard Brodsky, chairman of Cooperatives for a Better World. “Cooperatives are having an enormous influence on the building of a more equitable, humane and kind society. We are grateful for NCG’s and its members’ participation, and proud of their accomplishments.”
Visit #Coops4Kindness on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to learn how other cooperatives around the country made their communities just a little more kind throughout the year.
About NCG
National Co+op Grocers (NCG), founded in 1999, is a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCG helps unify food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power and ultimately offer more value to natural food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Our 145 member and associate co-ops operate more than 200 storefronts in 37 states with combined annual sales of nearly $2.1 billion. NCG is a winner of the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence and a certified B Corp. Find a map of NCG member and associate co-ops. To learn more about co-ops, visit www.strongertogether.coop.
About Cooperatives for a Better World
Cooperatives for a Better World is a not-for-profit organization with the mission to spread the benefits of the contemporary cooperative, credit union and mutual business models through educational and inspirational storytelling. The organization operates as a platform to explore the local, national and global cooperative story and connect the wide variety of sectors, sizes and countries in which cooperatives, credit unions and mutuals exist and the contributions they make to the economies and communities in which they are tied.
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Media inquiries may be directed to Eric Davis (eric@harvest-pr.com; 612-424-7545.)