Life, Light, and Hope for Ukraine With the resurgence of tulip time tourists, the Mount Vernon Downtown Association invited downtown businesses to participate in a spring window contest—a colorful, creative way to welcome spring and visitors back to the Valley in the month of April. The Co-op used the opportunity to showcase local art and support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. Co-op Graphic Designer Megan Feichtinger and Jessica Salazar of Vida + Luz collaborated to create a display of Life, Light, & Hope for Ukraine. It was a very Skagit scene: April showers, paper flowers, ice cream clouds, and sun catchers from Vida + Luz. Vida + Luz sun catchers are made by local women artisans using hand cut and hand textured brass and vintage faceted crystals. They scatter
light to cast a dazzling dance of tiny rainbows on every surface they touch—glimmers of hope. By refracting and spreading light, the idea was that people could purchase sun catchers as a meaningful way to send life, light, and hope to Ukrainians in their quest for freedom and peace. The Co-op and Vida + Luz donated $10 for every sun catcher sold to COOP Ukraine. In the end, we sold 28 sun catchers for a donation total of $280. And while $280 is not a huge number, it does make a difference and is just one more example of how shopping at the Co-op supports local art and makers while also making a drop in the bucket contribution to important causes in our community and beyond.
NCG & Food Co-ops Raise More Than $100,000 for Ukraine Saint Paul, MN – National Co+op Grocers and its member co-ops have helped raise more than $107,361 for Ukraine’s cooperative businesses and its members. In an act of cooperation with and concern for Ukrainian co-ops, National Co+op Grocers (NCG) partnered with the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) and NCBA CLUSA to launch a fundraising drive to support the Ukrainian cooperative community’s immediate and ongoing needs. As part of the drive and to speed action, NCG pledged a 100% match for donations made by the retail food co-op system by March 10. Through that date, the cooperative community donated $53,680, which NCG matched to reach the $107,361 total. Skagit Valley Food Co-op donated $1,000. COOP Ukraine, which includes 15,000 enterprises, 3,000 restaurants, seven hotels, 300 manufacturing businesses and shops, and 300 markets throughout Ukraine, is working to maintain operations so member-owners can continue to rely on co-op goods and services. “Ukraine’s consumer cooperatives are suffering enormous losses,” said Illia Gorokhovskyi, chair of COOP Ukraine’s Board of Directors. “But we are determined to overcome everything and build a peaceful, happy Ukraine.” “Our sixth co-op principle is ‘cooperation among cooperatives,’ and we hope this drive can help some of the Ukrainian community’s coops maintain essential services to the people of Ukraine,” said C.E. Pugh, CEO of NCG.
“We greatly appreciate members of the U.S. cooperative community coming together so quickly to make these contributions, and we are honored and humbled to match them.” 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. In the last four years, the Disaster Recovery Fund has provided nearly $500,000 in grants to cooperatives, families and communities affected by disasters in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Uganda.
skagit valley food co-op
• the natural enquirer • july–september 2022 5
