When Gillian Allen decided early last year to go through with her idea of forming a food cooperative in Jersey City, she wasn’t sure if other people would share her interest. She was “pleasantly surprised” to find she was wrong.
“I encountered many people who said, ‘I was thinking the same thing,’” said Allen, a resident of the city’s Bergen-Lafayette section.
The idea soon evolved into public meetings. That in turn has led to the first fundraiser for The Jersey City Food Coop Initiative on June 11 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church on Ocean Avenue, where Allen is a parishioner.
“People are looking for reasonably grown and organic food without traveling a long distance to get it.” –Gillian Allen
________
Just what is a food cooperative? It is a grocery store that is operated by members working together rather than a corporation with shareholders. Stores of this nature usually sell organic, freshly grown food by networking with local farmers to provide produce for sale.
Allen is proposing a food cooperative for Jersey City by the summer of 2012. So far, Allen has over 400 people on a mailing list with commitments from at least 40 people to help run the cooperative when it opens. And she has set a target of 150 persons for the upcoming fundraiser.
Looking back, she is not completely shocked by the growing interest in the Jersey City Food Coop Initiative.
“People are looking for reasonably grown and organic food without traveling a long distance to get it,” Allen said.
Bringing the farm to the city
For a short time Allen, a Brooklyn native, was a member of the Park Slope Co-op, one of the premier cooperatives in the country, before she moved with her family to Jersey City in 2000. She also was a member of a church as a child where they emphasized healthy eating.
Those experiences coupled with seeing her Jersey City church growing their own fruits and vegetables to stock their food pantry has made Allen acutely aware of the need for a local entity to supply healthy food to a population hungering for it.
“Fresh produce is better for the body, for healing of chronic conditions,” Allen said. “Also, farming develops a strong work ethic, as my son has found out as part of the Urban Farm Youth Project at our church.”
The project began on a neglected lot near the Our Lady of Sorrows Church where residents for a $25 fee sponsor and tend plots where they grow flowers and vegetables.
What also has encouraged Allen and her supporters in their endeavor is the success of various farmers markets that have operated for years across the city as well as Downtown Harvest, an initiative started in 2004 by members of Our Lady of Czestochowa Catholic Church on Sussex Street in downtown Jersey City. Downtown Harvest members purchase a portion of a farmer’s harvest before it is even planted. Then the farmer will come to the church once a week, during harvest season, to bring the produce for pickup.
Allen is looking forward to the day when the cooperative finally opens to the public.
“I love this community, and I want to see them have access to healthy eating,” Allen said.
The fundraiser will be an evening of wine tasting and education with Downtown Jersey City-based Lighthorse Tavern’s acclaimed sommelier, Roland Arnold on Friday, June 11, from 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. at the church, 654 Ocean Ave. Guests will enjoy a local, international and organic selection of wines, while learning about the grapes, countries of origin, wine makers and pairings that make each unique. A light menu will be paired with the wines by local caterer Eric Threatt.
Tickets are priced at $30 or $50 per couple, and are available at jcfoodcoop.com and Buy Rite Liquors on 575 Manila Ave., Jersey City. Non-perishable food donations are gladly accepted at the event for the Food Pantry.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.