Create Positive Change
Each time you shop at the co-op, you have a chance to directly support local community partners by donating your 10-cent reusable bag credits and rounding up your purchases to the nearest dollar. It may only be a few cents or spare change, but your generosity makes a huge impact — to the tune of over $10,000 each month for our Positive Change recipients!
REACH Together
January’s Positive Change recipient is REACH Together, an organization that improves lives through education, advocacy, and collaboration. Located in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood near our East 7th store, they work primarily in local neighborhoods with concentrated refugee and immigrant populations that have limited English language and literacy skills. Their main client base consists mainly of refugees from Burma/Myanmar, but they also assist Hmong, Somali, and Latino families who live nearby. REACH does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, gender expression, age, or national origin.
Co-founded by five women from diverse backgrounds, four of whom are refugees themselves, REACH offers representative leadership guided by their unique experiences and perspectives. REACH was started to bring access to food distribution and English learning programs to communities on the East Side of Saint Paul without personal transportation. They serve as a community resource that aligns its focus and programming to address the needs of its neighbors.
January Positive Change funds will support REACH’s Nutrition Education Program and Basic Needs Program, which provide their clients with access to fresh food distribution and healthful recipes. Donations will be used to bring more nutritious, culturally relevant, more substantial meals into the classroom for community building and brain power while learning.