A Co-operative Appeal

1 Mar 2010

Co-operatives have always been able to rely on their fellow co-operators for help in times of crisis. This last few weeks however, has given rise to a number of calls for solidarity from the co-op community in response to crises that range from the humanitarian disaster in Haiti, to threats of violence and intimidation aimed at the members of a coffee growers co-op in Guatemala.

BCCA wishes to use this issue of The Co-op Perspective to raise awareness and mobilize the support of our co-op community in BC to respond to three issues that have galvanized the attention of co-ops the world over.

Haiti

At 4:53 on January 12, a catastrophic earthquake struck the impoverished nation of Haiti. By 24 January at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater on the Richter scale compounded the destruction. By February 12, an estimated three million people had been affected by the disaster with between 217,000 and 230,000 identified as dead. A further 300,000 have been injured and over 1 million rendered homeless.

Within days of the event, The Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada (CDF), working in partnership World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU),  was raising funds to offer relief to those affected by the disaster. In July 2009, WOCCU had already established a program to extend financial services to Haiti's rural poor with funding from the United States Agency for International Development.

The CDF has put out a call for support from Canada's co-op movement and is accepting donations to provide assistance to Haiti's 175 credit unions and the nearly half-million members that they serve. As in the 2005 tsunami when CDF worked with credit union and co-op partners in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and other devastated regions to help rebuild local communities, CDF and WOCCU are showing similar leadership in Haiti. We urge BCCA members, and the broader co-op community and its supporters to support CDF and WOCCU's efforts to help rebuild this shattered nation by contributing to the Haiti Disaster Relief Fund.

To support Haiti's credit unions and their members through the international credit union disaster relief fund, make payments via cheque, credit card or mail.  Donate online NOW or by mail at Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada, Suite 400, 275 Bank Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2L6. 

Please phone or e-mail sarah.richardson@coopscanada.coop, Sarah Richardson, CDF Fundraising Officer.

Phone: (613) 238-6711 ext. 217

Please indicate that your donation is designated for the Haiti Disaster Relief Fund

Category: Community