The community is invited to celebrate Community Cooperative’s 40th anniversary around a plate of food at The Forest Country Club.

“We are so thankful for all of the support we have received over the last 40 years so we can provide services,” Director of Development Jade Bird said. “We are looking forward to continuing that, but we need some help.”

The luncheon will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18, at The Forest Country Club, 6100 Club Blvd. Tickets are $84. A table of eight is $1,500. The deadline to purchase tickets is Monday, Sept. 16. Tickets can be purchased at www.CommunityCooperative.com/40thAnniversary, or email Bird at Jade@CommunityCooperative.com.

The revenue collected from ticket sales will go towards paying for the event, with any proceeds going directly into food costs, so they can feed more people.

“A big part of our day-to-day here is fundraising. We are privately funded through foundations, organizations, individuals. We need more money, so we can provide more services because more people need our services,” Bird said.

The luncheon is a time to spend with past board members, current board members, county officials, staff from Community Cooperative, volunteers, community supporters and financial donors.

“It’s taking a quick look back at 40 years, but mostly looking forward to the next,” Bird said. “We don’t have events where we can come together with major constituents. There’s no huge program, or activity. It’s about being with each other over a plate of food.”

She said when talking about how to celebrate their 40th anniversary, it only made sense to get together and eat, because that is what Community Cooperative does.

The keynote speaker for the event is Volunteer Florida CEO Josefina “Josie” Tamaya

Bird said Tamaya will give information to guests about volunteerism.

“This is the highlight of the event, keynote speaker. We work with Volunteer Florida a lot. They support us and support them. We couldn’t do it without our volunteers,” she said.

There are 250 to 300 volunteers that work with Community Cooperative all of the time among a database of 3,000 volunteers that give when they can.

“Our volunteer base is what keeps us moving,” Bird said.

In 2023, Community Cooperative served:

• 113,000 meals to homebound elderly, disabled and ill clients through Meals on Wheels

• 54,000 people helped through various programs

• 265,000 meals cooked and served in Sam’s Community Café & Kitchen

• 22 million pounds of emergency food distributed to local community

• 41,000 hours given by more than 2,000 active volunteers

Bird said some of Community Cooperative’s new initiatives include the On Demand Community Market, which allows individuals to make an appointment to have a private one-on-one shopping experience.

“It’s necessary because so many people are struggling for the first time with the way the economy is going,” she said. “Some people don’t know how to get help, or receive the help. They can come in and get accustomed to what it is like. We can do an intake on them and see what other services they need. They can shop privately. They can plan when they come shopping, rather than getting here and we are tapped out for the day.”

Individuals can book an appointment online, or call Community Cooperative.

Another new initiative is taking hot food to the mobile pantry.

Bird said with 40 years of service in the community through many different projects, programs and initiatives, the number of people that need services continues to grow every single day. She said it’s bittersweet – great they can do it, but awful that they need to.

During the month of August, Meals on Wheels hit more than 10,000 meals delivered.

“That is not including the market, mobile, or soup kitchen. I think there is obviously a growth in the need. We are seeing people come to us that have never had to receive help before because times are tough,” Bird said.

Community Cooperative’s kitchen staff arrives at 4 in the morning, so they can start cooking for Meals on Wheels, schools they support, and then the Soup Kitchen, which can serve up to 150 meals.

“We have family meal on campus,” Bird said.

The meal is served to staff, volunteers, donors that may have stopped by, anyone on a tour.

“It’s anybody that is on campus, they can have a family meal,” “she said. “It’s a beautiful thing to come together over food.”

With that said, Community Cooperative is in dire need of the community to hold food drives.

“We are having to be really creative on how we are able to get our food,” Bird said, as the cost is going up from their food suppliers.

Community Cooperative is at 3429 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, in Fort Myers. For more information visit www.communitycooperative.com.