Food Access Programs

To Our Cooperative Community,

The ongoing lapse in federal funding for SNAP benefits—resulting in delayed and drastically reduced payments for our most vulnerable neighbors as winter bears down—is, frankly, disgraceful. Co-ops were founded to fight for food justice, so this goes against everything food cooperatives stand for.

A core mission of our cooperative is food access—ensuring that healthy and nutritious food is available to everyone in our community, regardless of income. With that in mind, we are committed to leveraging every resource to help care for our neighbors. We have also been actively assisting other co-ops across the region with their contingency plans.

Here is how we’re responding:

We have increased the Food for All discount from 10% to 20%. This higher rate will automatically apply to accounts in November and December, or until SNAP benefits are restored to participants. The increase in the discount has already gone into effect and been updated on customers’ accounts. There will be no change in process for the customer. This change will help those on our Food for All program stretch their food budgets

We are self-funding Double Up Food Bucks. As you may have seen in the national news, funding levels have been cut from many USDA food assistance programs. This includes Double Up Food Bucks. We receive a set budget to help cover the Double Up Food Bucks discount, and unfortunately we will hit our budget limit by mid-November 2025. We will not receive additional funding until May 2026. We believe that these food access programs are too important to stop. So, the Co-op is stepping up to self-fund Double Up Food Bucks through November and December 2025. We’re also actively looking for ways to continue with self-funding until May 2026. For now, we are reducing the discount to 25% instead of 50%. By reducing this discount our hopes are that we can keep this program going until additional funding is available.

We have drastically reduced the price of milk. We have significantly reduced the price of our Co-op-branded local milk to $2.99 per gallon. This is not a sale; it’s our new, everyday price, reflecting a substantial commitment to keeping this staple accessible. We are taking a loss on this to invest in our region’s food security and to make an essential for many families far more affordable.

We are stepping up promotions for our food bank partners. When you shop, please consider rounding up for Pennies for Change and donating to our food bins. Remember, 80 percent of your donations to Pennies for Change are distributed to local food banks.

We are stepping up promotions for Car Connects. Offered in conjunction with our friends at LISTEN Community Services, this program helps struggling families pay for car repairs.

What are the Co-op’s Food Access programs? Here’s an overview: