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Community
Help build your community

The Co-op holds all kinds of charitable events throughout the year. Big or small, local or national, we feel it is important to support organizations that match values of community, health, sustainability, and the environment. 

 

Locally, we support smaller organizations that have a regional impact through our Wooden Nickels program. Shoppers receive a Wooden Nickel for every bag-able purchase when they bring their own bag to take it home in. They can then donate that Wooden Nickel to one of two nonprofits. These nonprofits are chosen quarterly from suggestions made by staff, customers, owners, and community members.

 

Note: Our program had a few changes during COVID. We discontinued the use of the wooden nickel temporarily, however the purpose remained the same. We started taking cash donations for organizations as well, and pass these along with our Wooden Nickel match directly to the nonprofit organizations.

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To apply for our Wooden Nickel program please fill out our Donation Request Form

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Other community donations: If you would like support for an event you have coming up, please let us know. Our resources are limited, but we will provide what we can.  Fill out our online Donation Request Form.
 

Our Donations Policy

Organizations must be a registered 501(c)3 Not-for-Profit; must be nonpartisan (not affiliated with or promoting any political issue, party, or candidate); cannot discriminate on the basis of race, creed, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, or physical disability; should benefit Southern Illinois communities and their citizens; are fundraising for programs that are not intended to advance a particular religious belief; and are fundraising for programs that meet all of the above criteria.

For any purchase requiring a bag, when you bring your own reusable bag, you will receive a wooden nickel per transaction to donate to one of two regional charities that change each quarter. You decide which organization to donate to. (Wooden Nickel donations are capped at $250 per organization. However, all cash donations will be given to the organization in addition to the Wooden Nickel contribution.)

3rd Quarter Recipients: July - September 2025

Wooden Nickels

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Church Women United - Hunger Sale

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Church Women United of Carbondale is a local unit of Church Women United, a racially, culturally and theologically inclusive women’s movement, celebrating unity in diversity and working for a world of peace and justice. Our local unit focus is, to raise funds to support the hungry. 


In 2024 we distributed $21,000.00 to southern Illinois local organizations which received the following: 89%: Good Samaritan Ministries, Senior Adult Services, Survivor Empowerment Center Inc., (Women's Center of Carbondale), Feed My Sheep Bethel AME Church, Carbondale For Kids Sake Intl., I Can Read (kids snacks), Victory Dream Center, Gaia House Interfaith Center, Marion Medical Mission (water wells), Murphysboro Food Pantry Inc, S.P.I.N./ Supporting People in Need, Carbondale Warming Center, Carterville Food Pantry, John Logan Student Food Pantry, & SIU Student Food Pantry.
International organizations received (10%): Church World Service, UNICEF USA, Heifer International.

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www.facebook.com/HungerSale

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Food Works Mobile Farmers Market

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We are the Food Works Mobile Farmers Market! Our mission is two-fold: to connect communities across Southern Illinois with locally grown, seasonal food, and to support our region's hard-working local farmers! Our traveling market brings food from over 25 farmers and producers in our area to customers in locations where fresh foods might not be plentiful, traveling to communities with no grocery stores.

 

2024 was our inaugural season with our brand new Mobile Farmers Market program, but Food Works has been around since 2009. Our mission is to strengthen the local food economy in southern Illinois, and we do so offering farmer training programs, as well as food access programs!

Some individuals who shop at our mobile market locations struggle with food security, and may not qualify for government assistance programs. The funds from the Wooden Nickel program would go to help offset the cost of groceries at specific site locations in these communities that lack grocery stores. We believe that everyone should have access to good, healthy food!

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https://fwsoil.org/mfm/

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