Rally for Change

Anytime you check-out at City Market, you can choose to "round up" your total to the nearest dollar. Each month, that spare change is donated to three great non-profits that align with the Co-op's mission. 

50% Partner (every month):

Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf

www.feedingchittenden.org

May's 40% Partner:

The Intervale Center

The Intervale Center recognizes that in order to have a vibrant local food system, they must work to engage everyone in the community. They believe that all Vermonters should have access to—and be able to afford and enjoy—fresh, locally-grown food.

The Intervale Gleaning & Food Rescue Program gleans and rescues fresh vegetables from Intervale farms and farms in Chittenden County. Their Fair Share Program then distributes this food, every week from July - October, at no cost to households and social service agencies in the community. They provide community members and organizations access to fresh, local food from farms they know. The Fair Share Program also provides nutrition education, cooking skills, and resources for participants to connect them with nourishing food all year long.

In the past two years, the Intervale Center have distributed 70,000 pounds of fresh food to people in Chittenden County. This year, we will glean and rescue 50,000 pounds of food and provide it for free to 175 families and 20 social service agencies. This program would not be possible without the support and engagement of our community – local farmers, organizations like City Market, volunteers and people like you! 

https://www.intervale.org/

May's 10% Partner:

Lund

In 2015 Lund celebrated 125 years of helping the most vulnerable women, children and families in Vermont.  Lund is the state’s oldest and largest nationally acclaimed adoption agency and coordinates all of the state's adoptions of children from foster care through a partnership with the Vermont Department for Children and Families called “Project Family”.  Lund also coordinates private adoptions and offers lifelong support for adoptive families.  

Lund's residential treatment center is the only place in Vermont where women can receive treatment for substance use and mental health disorders without being separated from their children which research has proven leads to better outcomes for the children. The community based substance abuse treatment programs expanded over in recent years and Lund is now a spoke in the state’s Hub and Spoke system of care for opiate dependence.  A recently expanded statewide partnership with the Department for Children and Families provides screening and assessment for substance abuse in families where child welfare is a concern resulting in timely access to treatment and improved outcomes for children.     

Lund operates an accredited school offering high school, life skills and college prep for pregnant and parenting students.  Lund is one of Vermont's 15 designated Parent Child Centers delivering easily accessed support services such as home visiting, high quality early childhood education, job training, reach up case management and a program inside the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility working with incarcerated moms and their families in the community to reduce the traumatic impact of parental incarceration on children.

Building strong families is at the heart of Lund.  All that they do - facilitating adoption, caring for children while parents work, treating women for substance use disorder and mental health issues, counseling pregnant women, teaching parenting, providing access to job training and education and a host of other services - helps children thrive and promotes strong families.

Through their comprehensive programming, and with dedicated and skilled employees, strong collaborative partners and a supportive community, Lund provides the opportunity for a brighter future to approximately 4800 clients each year. 

Don’t forget to join them on Mother’s Day (5/14) for their 9th Annual Mother’s Day Ride and Walk for Children presented by NorthCountry Federal Credit Union.  Register at www.bike.lundvt.org.

https://lundvt.org/

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 2 years out (it's a popular program and our community has many amazing non-profits!). Visit our donations page to learn how to apply.