Social Impact

Over twenty years ago, the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society’s Board of Directors set up a fund to support other cooperatives—the Hanover Cooperative Community Fund (HCCF). Over the years, HCCF has contributed over $500,000 toward an endowment, Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation, which assists cooperatives all over the country.

Funds are raised through product sales, member and vendor contributions, and events like our 2023 Annual Golf Tournament. Each year the interest earned on the fund is returned to the Co-op for local distribution. This was where the HCCF Community Project Grant and Gerstenberger Scholarship were born.

The HCCF Selection Committee, consisting of Co-op employees across locations, reviewed the 2023 applications carefully and made hard decisions on how to allocate this year’s interest of $10,000. Using new criteria to align with the Board’s recently stated values and a specific focus on climate action and/or local food systems, the following selections were made.

• Sustainable Lebanon: Mesh Bag Mamas Reusable Mesh Produce Bags – $1,000
• Hanover Conservancy: Protecting the Adams Farm – $1,500
• Hartford Norwich Holiday Basket Helpers: Food Gift Cards for Local Families
  & Seniors – $1,500
• Hanover Community Food Pantry: Local Access to Healthy Food – $1,000
• Claremont Soup Kitchen: Soup Kitchen & Food Pantry – $1,000
• NH Queer Farmer Network: Queer Farmer Winter Retreat – $1,000
• COVER Home Repair: Weatherization Projects – $1,000
• Kearsarge Food Hub: Market Gardener Masterclass at Sweet Beet Farm – $1,000

The Gerstenberger Scholarship Fund (GSF) offers scholarships to members and employees of cooperatives in the Upper Valley who seek to further the cooperative movement through education, training, and/or business development.

The Fund is named in honor of the Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society’s long-serving General Managers, Harry and Arthur Gerstenberger, and first Education Director, Sally Gerstenberger.

This years winner was Vital Communities – Leadership Upper Valley Program – $1,000

Congratulations to all of our recipients, and thank you to everyone who’s been a part of this process. From our local non-profits, our valued vendors and shoppers, and our own Co-op employees, we’ve had another successful year. Your contributions really do make a difference.

The late Allen and Nan King joined the Hanover Co-op in 1941 and were active Co-op members for more than 50 years, serving as Board members and presidents and bringing lively discussion and sage points of view to decades of annual meetings.

Both were avid believers in the cooperative model and both contributed to the local and wider community in many ways.

This award recognizes the achievements of an employee or volunteer who has shown a commitment to sustaining or enhancing the well-being of our community. An ideal embodied in the Cooperative Principle “Concern for Community.”

Past Award Winners