From March-April 2010
Putting It Together
Over ten years ago now, the infamous “Co-op Quilt” was auctioned off for the first time as a fundraiser for the Howard Bowers Fund. The quilt was the brainchild of Ann Hoyt, director of the Urban Cooperative Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She created it in 1999 out of 54 food co-op t-shirts from around the country.
The impetus for doing it, she said, was that she felt fundraising methods for the Howard Bowers Fund were getting stale. The quilt, now three quilts, is truly a legacy and gift to the food co-op movement, and has raised significant funds over the years.
I think about it now as food co-ops look for ways to freshen and refine their approach to financing their expansion projects. Not that everyone needs to make a quilt now, but it was such a simple and inspired move. Through her simple act of showing—look at all these special co-ops and their strong history—she created a vehicle for getting people to envision even more and to invest in cooperation.
Our co-op’s owners are the key to providing critical momentum in food co-op growth. As we slog through an economy that’s given everyone pause, it’s time to look at new ways of engaging the power of our collective imagination and show everyone how we go about achieving the future we want.
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