How to join one of our cooperatives.

Overview  To buy produce you need to join one of CSFVC's 12 Cooperative groups; you need to pay a week in advance and collect your produce on the following Wednesday.

Joining a cooperative.  Each Cooperative has slightly different rules but basically, to belong to a cooperative you need to talk with the coordinator about how you will order and pay, where and when you will collect your produce, and how you will help with the activities of your cooperative or the wider organisation of CSFVC cooperatives. 

This is for everyone -  NOT "just low-income families". 
This is a cheaper way of getting good fruit and veges than at supermarkets which have high overhead costs.  We want people to get good local produce as cheaply as possible - we don't want to compete with local greengrocers and farmers' markets.
 
The fruit and vegetables we distribute, along with all the costs of getting them packed and distributed are covered by the fact that you pay a week in advance of receiving your order.  We do not pay anyone for the work at the Packing Centre or in our Cooperative Hubs.  This is why we expect you to help in some way, either by working at the Packing Centre on a Wednesday morning, or helping out at your distribution hub, or by supporting our community in some other way.

This is for everyone - NOT "just those who can help on Wednesdays"
We work together to help each other - we expect everyone to help out somewhere if they can. If someone can't help at the Packing Centre or in their local Co-op Hub then perhaps they can help by delivering produce, or helping with administration or marketing, finance or record keeping, working online or welcoming new members, helping lonely or isolated people who find a pack too big to share the cost of a pack with others, or offering to join our tiny team of "fix-it" people who can paint a wall or help at a working bee at the Packing Centre.  We work together to help others in our communities. 

This is for everyone - NOT "just people who want to buy produce"
We welcome supporters who do not want to buy produce.  CSFVC(Inc) sees itself as a cooperative not-for-profit social enterprise that fosters collective decision making.  We need members who are interested in organisational management, cooperative leadership and strengthening communities.  We provide opportunities for people from all sorts of different backgrounds to work together in collegial ways for social good. The weekly routines around fruit and vege provide a wonderful playground for safe learning. We help each other by working together.  We learn from each other by working together. We make friends by working together. We need skilled like-minded people to help us grow.  If you are interested in being a supporter of this organisation, please email us at [email protected]
If you would like to join us then either

(1) figure out who to contact from the list of Cooperating Hubs and contact the coordinator directly.

OR

(2) email us at [email protected] and ask for our advice.  Include some information about where you live and your phone number and we will make contact with you.  If you are using this option, it would help if you let us know whether you are able to use internet banking.