As you know, part of our mission as a cooperative – owned and supported by our community – is to give back and reinvest in that community, and our REAL CHANGE program is one of the foundational ways we implement this philosophy.
Every time you shop at Tidal Creek Co-op, you have the option of rounding up your purchase to the nearest dollar. Whether it’s $0.99 or a penny, that change adds up. Since we started the program in 2013, you’ve helped us raise $21,295.79 for local charitable organizations!
Since it’s YOUR change adding up, you get to choose which organizations you’d like us to partner with, based on those who have applied to be recipients for 2018. Information on each potential recipient is below, followed by the voting form. VOTING RUNS THROUGH DECEMBER 11TH.
Yoga Village
Yoga Village is a nonprofit organization in Wilmington, NC. Our mission is to bring yoga to underserved populations within our community. We are striving to bring our community TOGETHER one breath at a time. Yoga Village unites this yoga community with schools, health and human services providers, and other community partners to bring strength and resilience for all our neighbors in every neighborhood. We’re always looking for humans who care about other humans to help us meet our goals. It takes a Village, so we’re always looking for interested neighbors/yogis, community partners, and yoga teachers to join us!
Love Is Bald
After losing a friend to cancer, Payton Dergay, a group of friends got together to give back to the community where she lived. We hold various events through out the year to raise money for local Port City residents in their battle against cancer. Our events consist of a 5K, Scavenger Hunt, Golf Tournament, Volleyball Tournament, Chili Cook-Off, and a Fashion Show. With the money we have raised, we have been able to do a lot of things. Here are some of them: paid for mammograms for homeless women or just women who are under-insured. Paid bills, mowed lawns, cleaned houses for people going through treatment or provided transportation to people needing to go to Duke. Purchased Christmas presents for the children’s ward who are going through treatment. And we have started a college scholarship at Hoggard for students in remission or lost a parent to cancer. These are just a few of the things we have done and we hope to expand on this in the years to come. Four things we always focus on is to always honor Peyton (our motto is Pey It Forward and it’s because of her name), always give back, always celebrate life, and never take things for granted.
Diaper Bank of North Carolina
The Diaper Bank of North Carolina was founded on the simple belief that all children deserve clean diapers. This may seem obvious, but the heartbreaking truth is this: every day children go without the diapers they need to stay healthy and comfortable. Most of us do not spend a lot of time thinking about diapers. But if you are a parent, grandparent, or caregiver without enough of them, they can become a major source of stress, guilt, and desperation. Public safety net programs such as The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, previously known as Food Stamps) do not cover the purchase of diapers, often leaving families with a difficult decision between buying diapers and other necessities with their limited funds. For families in need, something as small as a diaper can have a significant impact. In our community, the Lower Cape Fear Branch of the Diaper Bank of North Carolina serves families in New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick counties. Both cloth and disposable diapers are available. In the past two years, we have distributed over 150,000 diapers to local children through partnerships in our community.
Pretty In Pink Foundation
Pretty In Pink Foundation provides medical financial assistance to North Carolinians undergoing cancer treatment. This fundraiser will allow us to serve more North Carolinians in breast cancer recovery with grants to cover their medical treatment.
Cape Fear Literacy Council
Cape Fear Literacy Council’s (CFLC) mission is: To provide personalized education so adults can transform their lives and contribute to a stronger community. For more than 30 years, CFLC has been helping adults become more self-sufficient through the power of education. Adult learners participate in our Adult Literacy and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs to improve their reading, writing, English communication, math, test-taking, and computer skills. These learners have goals related to: increasing independence and confidence, improving skills for work (gaining employment or doing better in their current job), being able to support their children or grandchildren’s education, increasing life skills (e.g., understanding bills and other paperwork, reading the Bible, passing a test for a driver’s license, etc.), earning a GED or transitioning to post-secondary education, and many other personal aspirations. All funds raised through the Real Change Program would directly support our two adult education programs; Adult Literacy and English as a Second Language (ESL). Through free and confidential 1-on-1 tutoring and small group instruction, CFLC provides individualized educational opportunities to adults who are working to improve their reading, writing, English language skills, math, and computer literacy skills.
Good Shepherd Center
Good Shepherd’s mission is to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and foster transition to housing. Breakfast and lunch are served every weekday to anyone who comes through our doors. Dinner is provided every night of the year to men, women, and families with children residing in our shelter. Our Second Helpings program salvages over 400 tons of produce and other healthy foods – that would otherwise be thrown away – and redistributes it to Good Shepherd’s Soup Kitchen and 16 other community programs serving the hungry. The funds from the Real Change Program would be used to support our food programs including our Soup Kitchen that served over 88,000 hot, nutritious meals last year to our hungry neighbors. In addition, we provide weekly food boxes to our recently rehoused guests with special needs who are working hard to maintain their newfound housing. We also provide food give-aways to our residents at SECU Lakeside Reserve (affordable housing for chronically homeless adults with a disability) and those coming to Good Shepherd for lunch. Funding allows us to continue to provide a variety of healthy choices for our hungry neighbors and bring us closer to ending hunger in our community.
Parents Community Preschool
Wilmington’s only diverse, non-profit, parent-run preschool for three to five year olds offering a unique experiential, hands-on, play-based educational program for all. The funds raised through the Real Change program will be used to replace tables and chairs and or playground equipment or art supplies.
A Safe Place
A Safe Place is an empowerment organization focusing on prevention, advocacy, and restoration to assist victims of commercial exploitation and domestic sex trafficking. Our vision is to create a world free from exploitation and human trafficking through community partnerships, empowerment, and opportunity. We serve New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender, and Onslow Counties and hope to expand. We have five distinct programs. Our 24-hour toll free anonymous hotline for victims and tipsters, a transitional house for our members, an Outreach Center with direct support services for any victim, case management and we are planning to open an emergency shelter next month (December 2017). The emergency shelter will be the first of its kind on the East coast. It will have eight beds and we will be able to take victims in 24/7/365. We need to staff this shelter and still have many needs to furnish and decorate the house.
Feast Down East
Feast Down East works to grow the local food system of Southeastern NC by helping small family farms to market, sell, and distribute their products. We also educate consumers about the importance of supporting local agriculture and provide underserved communities with access to local produce. We sell (at cost) local produce in public housing neighborhoods in Wilmington, which are located in food desert areas. This fundraiser program would provide “double bucks” to match purchases made with SNAP (food stamps) benefits, helping to increase consumption of fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables. We are creating a mobile produce market that will allow us to expand our program to all eight Wilmington Housing Authority neighborhoods.
Walking Tall Wilmington
We exist to build interpersonal relationships with individuals experiencing poverty, so that they may experience and redevelop self-worth, self-respect, and dignity. We believe that housing isn’t the answer to end extreme poverty. We believe it’s community. We will use these funds to assist in creating a community garden, for food justice is close to our hearts. We will develop this garden as a mean to show radical hospitality, but also the importance of whole and healthy foods. Also, we will share the food with neighboring communities. Secondly, we are engaging individuals experiencing poverty through art. We plan on providing a space for people to create pottery and hopefully sell it.
La Leche League of Wilmington
Our mission is to help mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, information, and education, and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and mother. This fundraiser will help us raise money to get new leaders accredited in our community, to be able to give out supplies to new breastfeeding families, and to spread the breastfeeding word.
Athenian Press & Workshops
Athenian aims to cultivate a creative, inclusive space for marginalized voices, to provide tools and resources for women and femme-identified writers, and to transform the world of publishing by disrupting oppressive constructs of femininity, sexuality, and race. We are raising $30,000 to open Southeastern NC’s first bookstore, resource center, and event space catered to women and femme writers.