Hand-in-hand with our Food Co-op
The Olympia Food-Co-op, its cashiers and shoppers are the powerful mainstay that has kept the Community Sustaining Fund (CSF) going for nearly 40 years! Originally called the Olympia Sustaining Fund, the CSF was formed in 1985-87 by activists who started the Olympia Food Co-op, as a way to support groups and individuals who were working to involve this community in challenging and correcting social, economic and political inequities.
This is one of the core missions of the Olympia Food Co-op – to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society and to assist in the development of local community resources. By the simple innovation of a “round-up” program facilitated by the Co-op’s cashiers, small change is collected into a stream that becomes the thousands of dollars that fosters progressive change in our community.
“ … thank you again for the funding which as a new organization is really critical”
– Restoring Earth Connection, 2023
Co-op shoppers who round-up for CSF have helped us provide well over $200,000 to more than 350 organizations and individuals. Awards have ranged from $100 to over $1500 to various worthy, deserving, and even sometimes “out-of-the-box” ideas. Applicants are selected on the basis of need and meeting the criteria established by the Fund to move to a more egalitarian community.
These groups and individuals have strengthened the fabric of people, communities, environments and habitats in Thurston County, from the Olympia Food Co-Op itself, to Oly Artspace Alliance, Puget Sound Estuarium, Olympia Eco Systems, Community Farm Land Trust, and Stonewall Youth (to name just a few).
thurstoncsf.org 