Brooklyn Food Co-Op Needs $25K To Stay In Business

PROSPECT-LEFFERTS GARDENS, BROOKLYN — The co-op needs cash to cope.

The Lefferts Community Food Co-op at 324 Empire Boulevard has one month to raise $25,000 or risk closing their doors forever, according to the store’s new crowdfunding campaign.

"You help is vital to our co-op's survival," organizers wrote. "Help Us Survive & Thrive!"

Organizers for the member-owned and operated grocery store said they need $10,000 to “shore up financials,” $13,000 to expand their inventory and $2,000 to spruce up the store.

The co-op — which began as a buyer’s club in 2010 and opened as a grocery store in 2014 — has been relying on a loan from the Park Slope Food Coop to stay afloat, organizers wrote.

They’ve since begun making improvements — such as painting their gate, revamping the newsletter, and starting a backyard garden — but more capital is needed to keep things growing, members wrote.

“If we raise this $25,000, we will be sending a powerful message to their loan committee that we have an active and engaged membership,” organizers wrote. “We are committed to our co-op!”

The group had raised $2,280 as of July 12, one month before its final deadline, and urged those unwilling to donate to consider joining the co-op as a member.

“It's about more than food,” the co-op organizers wrote. “We're coming together around food but we're ideally learning interdependence, too.”

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