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Shopping Savvy: Generous Helpings
By Adele Woodyard, January & February 2007
Build community and get a break on food bills
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Groceries can be yours for 30 to 50 percent off supermarket prices—if you can spend two hours a month lending a neighbor a hand. That doubly humane deal comes courtesy of SHARE, a loosely knit chain of nonprofit groups that distribute quality groceries in 33 states.
Occupying the niche between food bank and full-time cooperative, SHARE (for Self-Help and Resource Exchange) is as much about building community as giving folks a break on their food bills, says Anna Wingate, president of SHARE Northwest. “America is one of the loneliest places on earth,” she says. “The idea is to get people participating. It doesn’t have to be at SHARE. It can be mowing a neighbor’s lawn or helping at a school.”
In return, you can place a food order monthly for pickup at a community center, a church, or a neighbor’s place. A recent order with SHARE Florida came to $24: $18 for more than four pounds of frozen pork chops, chicken breasts, and beef, plus $6 for a box of fresh produce. A comparable market basket cost $37 at a nearby Wal-Mart the same week.
Founded in San Diego in 1983, SHARE serves as many as 150,000 households. Two or three neighbors are all it takes to set up a distribution point. Says Wingate: “You could do it from your garage.”
Directory of SHARE Affiliates
New England
Serve New England
145 Bodwell St.
Avon, MA 02322
888-742-7363
Serves Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont
Northeast and Mid-Atlantic
SHARE Pennsylvania
2901 West Hunting Park Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19129
215-223-2220; 800-595-3663
Serves Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland's Eastern Shore, New Jersey, New York City and its suburbs
SHARE-DC Metro
5170 Lawrence Pl.
Hyattsville, MD 20781
301-864-3115; 800-217-4273
Serves Washington (D.C.), Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania
Southeast
SHARE Florida
1405 E. 2nd Ave.
Tampa, FL 33605
813-248-3379; 800-536-3379
Serves Florida and Georgia
SHARE Peninsula
9912 Hosier St.
Newport News, VA 23601
757-596-7188
Serves Virginia
SHARE Virginia
644 West Main St.
Radford, VA 24141
540-633-2850
Serves Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee
Midwest
Heartland SHARE
215 S.E. Quincy St.
Topeka, KS 66603
785-234-6208; 800-742-7307
Serves Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma
SHARE Food of Central Illinois
(No website)
1825 N.E. Adams St.
Peoria, IL 61603
309-637-0282
Serves Illinois
SHARE Iowa
1102 S. 7th St.
Oskaloosa, IA 52577
641-673-4000; 800-344-1107
Serves Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota
SHARE Wisconsin
13111 W. Silver Spring Dr.
Butler, WI 53007
262-783-2500; 800-548-2124
Serves Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan
West
Community Food Co-op of Utah
347 S. 400 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
801-364-7765
Serves Utah
Golden SHARE Foods
1280 N. Johnson Ave., Suite 101
El Cajon, CA 92020
619-590-1692
Serves California, Nevada
SHARE Colorado
9360 Federal Blvd.
Denver, CO 80260
303-428-0400; 800-933-7427
Serves Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska
SHARE Northwest
4020 S. 56th St., Suite 100
Tacoma, WA 98409
253-473-7669
Serves Washington
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