VAS working to tackle food poverty with Co-operation Town
Cooperation Town helps communities around the country to set up food co-ops, through which members self-organise and pool resources to access affordable food.
In essence a food co-op is like a combination of a food pantry run by its members and a supportive mutual aid network of old and new local friends and neighbours.
At the moment VAS are supporting the development of these food co-ops through the work of Mikee Whitson, Co-operation town’s Sheffield co-ordinator. VAS is involved in this project as it provides an alternative to the dependency model that a lot of food charity work is based on and aims to support the people involved to go on to be active members and leaders in their own communities who find solutions to their own issues.
Often food charities are finding it harder to access the low-cost surplus food that is essential for them to operate and groups are fighting between themselves over the crumbs of an ever-decreasing access to food and funding. So, it is important to find other models that can be more self-sustaining, co-ops achieve this by having low membership cost which provides the ability to buy what is wanted and a pro-active group focussed approach to finding a variety of food sources
The co-op model also decreases the need for volunteers and paid workers as the members do the work and get the benefits there is no middle management “looking after” or “managing the charity” the responsibility for the running and success of each co-op depends on its members and this responsibility can help grow confidence and may lead to other community led initiatives developing.
These could be seen as side dishes to the main course of tackling food poverty in the Verdon group one of the members is going to do a cake making course for the other members and in one of our Co-operation Town London co-ops a community laundrette and a community garden have grown out of individuals groups.
Co-ops are nothing new in almost every culture there are examples of communities pooling resources to help each other and now more than ever there is a need to work collectively to face the challenges of modern society.
HOW IT WORKS:
Each Co-op has around 20 people and needs 3 things to operate
- a) A group of people with a connection to a specific area or common theme
- b) A venue where to receive and distribute food
- c) A food supply which enables members to get food for cheaper than at the shops
Membership models:
Each Co-op has around 20 people and needs 3 things to operate
- a) A group of people with a connection to a specific area or common theme
- b) A venue where to receive and distribute food
- c) A food supply which enables members to get food for cheaper than at the shops
Live Co-ops
At present there are 3 active food co-ops in Sheffield we are working with:
Verdon Co-op 1 and 2 based out of Verdon street recreation centre working with Safiya Saeed and Reach up Youth supporting 40 families in Burngreave. Membership £2 a week
Dryden Co-op – based out of Southey WMC supporting 20 families and working in collaboration with the local foodbank. Working directly with Shalika from Southey Food bank and Lloyd Samuels from VAS.
Specific Co-ops
The co-op model can be used in many different ways we are currently looking into possibilities of setting up a food co-op in Gleadless, Manor, Firvale, Upperthorpe as well as in Wincobank and Attercliffe hoping to connect to local allotments.
We are currently researching co-ops that source only gluten free food or support those with diabetes, hybrid co-ops that work alongside foodbanks and bulk buying only co-ops that can support other co-ops.
Human elements
One of the most important aspects of the co-ops is that they humanise and empower communities faced with food poverty and enable them to access food that is appropriate for them eg. A lot of the food that is surplus is not Halal so was not culturally appropriate for some of our co-op members we have worked as a group with the food suppliers (Fareshare) to only receive food that is appropriate for this group and the group also have the power to choose when they do bulk buying from places like Costco.
The members of the group often come with their children and has been a privilege to get to know the families and see the connections between neighbours growing weekly. One of the most enjoyable moments of working with the co-ops was when a member who was already confident and used to doing an admin role had to leave and one of the quieter members has stepped up and embraced the challenge, showing how each of the members is a vital part of the whole.
Useful links
Read an article about our work at Now The Magazine here.
For more information about co-ops or how to set up your own please get in touch with Mikee at Michael.whitson@test.vas.org.uk or msg/call 07391 090096