Rally for Change

Anytime you check-out at City Market, you can choose to "round up" your total to the nearest dollar. At the end of the month, we donate 50% of those funds to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, 40% to an organization that aligns with our Global Ends, and 10% to a local non-profit.

In February, you collectively donated $18,467.51! 

  • $9,233.76 for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf
  • $7,387.00 for the NOFA-Vermont
  • $1,846.75 for the Winooski Natural Resources Conservation District

March's 50% Partner: 

Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf

The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf is the largest direct service anti-hunger organization in Vermont. The Food Shelf provides critical nutrition assistance to more than 11,000 Chittenden County residents who struggle with food insecurity and hunger every year. Food Shelf programs provide groceries, hot meals, job training and support for thousands of our neighbors.

The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf received a total of $9,904.40 through January’s Rally for Change register round-ups. These funds will help provide more than 17,825 meals for our neighbors who are experiencing hunger or food insecurity. These contributions also help sustain programs including the Good Food Truck and Good Food Trailer Program. The Good Food Truck is designed to use the power of nutritious, local food to nourish people who are hungry, create internship opportunities for people completing our culinary job training program, and provide outreach services to underserved neighborhoods throughout Chittenden County.

March's 40% Partner:

Spectrum Youth and Family Services

Spectrum Youth and Family Services is a nationally recognized leader in helping youth ages 12-26 and their families turn their lives around. Each year, Spectrum serves 1,500 teenagers, young adults, and their family members. Spectrum’s programs for youth are centered in Burlington and St. Albans and include: Basic Needs and Supportive Housing: Spectrum provides necessities like a warm place to get a meal or do laundry, along with an emergency shelter and longer term transitional housing for homeless or at-risk youth and those in or aging out of foster care.

Skills Programs: Spectrum offers coaching and mentoring for young people on basic life and survival skills, such as getting an education, finding and keeping a job, finding a place to live, or getting a driver’s license so that they can transition successfully to adulthood.

Prevention and Intervention: Through counseling, Spectrum helps young people address substance use, mental health issues, patterns of violence, and other critical issues that stand in the way of a happy, thriving adulthood. A mentoring program helps build the self-esteem of youth.

Spectrum’s 8th Annual Sleep Out is on Thursday, March 21. For more information or to register, visit www.spectrumsleepout.org. 

March's 10% Partner:

Chittenden County 4-H

The 4-H program is a positive youth development program in which youth age 5 -19 learn life skills through experiential learning while exploring topics of interest. The 4-H slogan is “learning by doing” and youth may participate in 4-H as members of clubs or by taking part in 4-H short-term special interest programs.   

4-H special interest programs generally facilitated through the efforts of volunteers and volunteers oversee 4-H clubs and club project work. UVM Extension staff train volunteers, support their efforts, and put on educational programs and competitions for youth.   

The mission mandates of 4-H include increasing knowledge, skills and habits associated with healthy living, STEM, and civic engagement. As volunteers facilitate programs, they focus on “BIG M” essential elements of positive youth development: belonging, independence, generosity, and mastery. 

The 4-H program has been part of Land Grant Universities’ extension programs for over 100 years. It was originally rooted in bringing university knowledge (primarily related to agriculture and foods) to youth with the hopes that they might adopt new practices (and teach their parents). Today the focus is broader and while agriculture (animal husbandry in particular) is still a large part of 4-H the range of topics has expanded greatly and includes  science, technology, and engineering topics, business and practical skills (ranging from sewing to  communication), healthy lifestyles, food and nutrition, diversity, environmental  and outdoor education topics and more.  

Funds raised for during the March 2019 rally for change that are designated for  the Chittenden County 4-H Program will be used to offset costs associated with educational programs and/or to provide scholarships for 4-Hers to take part in educational programs. 

The four Hs stand for Head, Heart, Hands, and Health. The 4-H pledge is: I pledge my HEAD to clearer thinking, My HEART to greater loyalty, My HANDS to larger service, And my HEALTH to better living for my club, my community,  and my world.

A portion of your contribution will benefit Chittenden County youth. 

For more information about area 4-H clubs or to learn about the rewarding experience of starting a club contact rosemarie.garritano@uvm.edu. 

About Rally for Change

In October 2014, City Market updated its program for collecting donations at the register! Previously, we selected a different non-profit each month and donated 5 cents for each bag our customers reused (our "Change for Local Non-Profits" program). Every register also included tear off coupons so customers could donate to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. In addition, each year in February we sold $1 Hearts for the Intervale Center and in September $1 Lunch Trays for Hunger Free Vermont, with all donations going to each respective organization. We've consolidated all of these programs into our new "Rally for Change" program which allows customers to "round up" their order at each register, each time they check-out at the Co-op.

In the name of education, opportunity, and streamlining how we do things here at the Co-op, we created a Rally for Change program! This program allows customers to “round up” their payment at the register (e.g., a $25.42 checkout could be rounded up to $26 for a $0.58 donation). The Co-op will then donate this “round up” change to a variety of local non-profits each month (so, not just one!) that are doing amazing work in our community. Want to round up to the nearest five or ten dollars? You can do that too! Each month, we’ll share who will be receiving the donations (in our newsletter, with store signage and through staff education).

With more than 4,000 transactions each day through our registers, we all have the opportunity to share what we think of as “small change” to rally for bigger community-wide change. This new Rally program will take the place of the “tear off” coupons we have at the registers and will also take the place of our Change for Local Non-Profits (or bag refunds) program.

Not to worry, a large percentage of each month’s donation will go to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf and we anticipate that this program will actually increase their donations. Through this new program, we will also continue to offer donations to local non-profits that are on the waiting list for our previous "Change for Local Non-Profits" bag refund program (and any new ones that we add to the list!). Here’s how the donation percentages will work out each month:

  • 50% to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, every month

  • 40% to an organization that aligns with the Co-op’s Global Ends 

  • 10% to a local non-profit that may not directly align so closely with our Global Ends, but still works to make our community a better place (much like the Change for Local Non-Profits Program)

This new program gives our cashiers and staff an opportunity to engage with our customers and together we’ll both support and learn more about the organizations that make our community a better place to live. We’re excited to give it a try and are interested to hear what you think!

Past Recipients

Do you run a local non-profit that aligns with our Global Ends?

Your organization can apply to become a Rally for Change 10% Partner. We are currently filling slots 4 years out (it's a popular program and our community has many amazing non-profits!). Visit our donations page to learn how to apply.