Holistic

Our holistic approach is what makes Sprouts unique; the Coop aims to offer much more than just healthy, sustainable food.

Diverse

Diverse and connected communities that recognize, practice, and advocate healthy life choices.

Healthy

We understand that the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health of someone are all intertwined.

Our Mission

A multi-stakeholder co-op that empowers communities with diverse diets by providing holistic and equitable food and health options, education, and meaningful employment.

Our Vision

Diverse and connected communities that recognize, practice, and advocate healthy life choices.

Our Story

The Coop began with Helen Poon who has been working for decades in the not-for-profit sector, promoting wellness and education to diverse communities. Her drive brought forward numerous friends that wanted to share her passion. Gradually, a group formed, gathering like-minded professionals that initially wanted to contribute to the betterment of our communities, advocating a form of social justice that improved access to health and food choices.

Collectively, all of us wanted to affect positive change. We wanted ideas of food, health, wellness, equity, equality, diversity, inclusivity, community, and so much more, but were unclear about the direction, unsure what exactly to plant or even where to plant our thoughts.

Eventually, Sally Miller was hired as a consultant to provide the grounding or soil for our ideas, helping us conceptualize our thoughts into something tangible. The early stage of understanding ourselves from our mission and vision was our seed. Then, a steering committee was established to help water and nurture our first board. The first round of bond investment is on-going, providing continuous sunlight to feed our seedling. And quickly, signs of life broke the surface, and Sprouts was born.

Our holistic approach is what makes Sprouts unique; the Coop aims to offer much more than just healthy, sustainable food, but also educational health and wellness workshops that build the capacity of individuals and their families, while providing meaningful employment to the community. We understand that the physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health of someone are all intertwined; individuals,

caregivers, families, community leaders, and stakeholders need to work together to encourage health and wellness.

Although Sprouts is just starting, with nurture and care, we know Sprouts will grow and blossom into a resilient and vibrant hub that enables community members to access healthy food, education, health services, and employment designed to empower everyone to contribute to a stronger community for all.

Which membership is right for you?

Learn more about the various membership types available to the community. You can sign up at any of our events.

Consumer Member

all community members who wish to participate as consumers and make use of the diverse services and products that the Co-op will offer. The majority of our membership are consumer members who support the Co-op by consuming local, organic/ecologically responsible products, healthy food, education and cooking classes as well as health-related products and services

Community Partner Member

all community partners who wish to participate as consumers or producers. Community partners (Producers) are organizations and individuals who produce and sell their products and services in the Co-op. The community partners can be individual or corporate producers, local farmers, social service agencies, private businesses and corporations, or any community organizations.

Health-Practitioner Member

health practitioners in the regulated health professions who wish to participate as providers of services, consultation and education. As health-practitioner members, they are also entitled to all the benefits of the Consumer Members. There will be a Health Practitioner Agreement for Health-Practitioner Members to sign off before they start to provide services and consultation.

Why a Food & Health Co-op?

Cooperative grocers play an important role in communities across the country as purveyors of local, organic and sustainable foods.

Food co-ops spend 3x more on locally-sourced products, give 3x more to charity, sell far more organics, and pay significantly better local wages & benefits.

On average, they support over 150 local farms and other producers. For every dollar spent at a food co-op, 1.6x more money is generated in the local economy!