Saint Paul, MN – National Co+op Grocers and its member co-ops have helped raise $22,652 to help meet the needs of cooperatives in hurricane-impacted areas, including Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Florida.
In honor of the sixth principle, cooperation among cooperatives, National Co+op Grocers (NCG) partnered with the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) and NCBA CLUSA to launch a fundraising drive to support co-ops facing losses from some of the worst hurricanes in recorded history.
NCG pledged a 100% match for donations made by the retail food co-op system. Together, $22,652 was raised. CDF will use funds to help cooperatives deal with impacts such as forced temporary closures, loss of crops and animal inventory, loss of perishable food inventory, equipment losses, and cancellation of contracts.
“We greatly appreciate members of the U.S. cooperative community coming together so quickly to make these contributions, and we are honored to match them,” said C.E. Pugh, CEO of NCG.
Although the window for NCG’s matching funds has closed, donations are still welcome. Donations can be made online or by sending a check to CDF at 1775 I St. NW, 8th floor, Washington, DC 20006 indicating Disaster Recovery Fund in the memo line.
About CDF’s Disaster Recovery Fund
The Disaster Recovery Fund helps cooperatives and cooperators get back on their feet after disasters or other emergency hardship situations. 100% of money donated to the Disaster Recovery Fund will go to support cooperatives. CDF does not charge an administrative fee for management of the Fund. Since 2018, the Disaster Recovery Fund has provided nearly $750,000 in grants to cooperatives, families and communities affected by disasters in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Uganda and Ukraine.
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 food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere. Our 151 member and associate co-ops operate more than 200 stores in 38 states with combined annual sales of $2.4 billion. NCG is a winner of the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence and a Certified B Corporation. See a map of NCG member co-ops. To learn more about co-ops, visit grocery.coop.
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Media inquiries may be directed to Eric Davis, edavis@curiousplot.agency, 612-202-9407.