GREENFIELD — About 15 years ago, eight socially conscious women met in the Second Congregational Church parking lot to start a book group, hoping to research and explore. While they continue to enjoy each other’s company — even though it has had to be virtual for nearly a year — they’ve recently expanded their community involvement through a $1,600 donation to The Compost Cooperative.
Becca King and Mary Clare Powell, two of the members, said the book group decided to open a savings account and have each member deposit $25 each month.
“The idea was to donate the money after a year and benefit the wider community, the greater good,” King said.
“We were all very active people, even after retirement, but we hadn’t really acted together, except to join the book group,” Powell added.
Although the group is down to six members — all in their late 70s to early 90s — they are as committed as ever, Powell and King agreed. The other members are Joan VanderVliet, Dotty Janke, Sue Bowman and Cindy Pomeroy.
Having launched in 2018, The Compost Cooperative offers composting services to residents, businesses and institutions in downtown Greenfield while building cooperative business ownership among people who have been incarcerated. Its mission is driven by racial and environmental justice, and worker-owners haul food scraps for residential and commercial customers in Greenfield and Whately to turn into soil-enriching compost.
Cooperative member Trenda Loftin said the cooperative recently bought a multi-family home in Greenfield to house worker-owners who are released from jail and then find it difficult to find affordable and secure housing.
“We’ve worked with 10 formerly incarcerated people, and nine of them ended up homeless or housing insecure,” Loftin said. “We realized we wanted to do something about that, so it will be a housing cooperative for our member-owners.”
While King said the book group loves what The Compost Cooperative does, group members also loved its focus on housing.
“It’s such an important issue,” King said. “We’re also very interested in racism and incarceration, so this was the perfect recipient.”
Loftin said the book group’s donation was an “incredible surprise.”
“It continues to move and motivate us to see the ways the community is uplifting this effort,” she said. “To have a group commit their funds to this cooperative endeavor is exactly what will make this successful. Collaborative, cooperative and community-centered is absolutely the way, we believe, tangible, impactful and lasting change is made.
Loftin said the cooperative is very grateful to the book group, as well as to others who have supported The Compost Cooperative.
“We truly couldn’t do it without them,” she said.
Powell said the group will continue to deposit money every month and will, after another year, choose a cause.
“We do a lot of research and will donate to an organization that touches all of our hearts,” she said.
The women believe it’s not a good idea to rely on the state government to solve local problems, and said they are tired of waiting for laws and zoning to get passed. So, they decided to take matters into their own hands.
“We would love to see other groups like ours do the same thing,” King said. “We’ll keep doing this as long as we are alive. We’ll always invest in our community, because it’s so satisfying.”
Powell said the book group provides an example of ordinary citizens making a difference.
“No matter how small the effort, everyone can make a difference,” she said. “When you do something in and for your community, everyone benefits.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.