October is National Co-op Month

Do you remember why you chose membership with your local cooperative? It may be among many reasons shared by 130 million people who have also chosen cooperatives, but it most likely has something to do with the common philosophy of people helping people.

Cooperatives have a rich and diverse history in the United States and around the world. Ben Franklin is credited with bringing the cooperative enterprise to America in 1752 when he and fellow Philadelphians founded the first mutual insurance company in the country.

Cooperatives operate across all sectors and include agriculture, food distribution and retailing, childcare, credit unions, purchasing, worker-owned, housing, health care, energy and telecommunications cooperatives.

Despite their diversity, co-ops are guided by shared values and principles including democracy, self-help and social responsibility. They exist to serve their members, and that level of service remains high even during even the toughest times. Instead of issuing stock or paying dividends to outside shareholders, co-ops provide value to their members through their level of customer service and membership checks at the end of each year.

According to the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), there are nearly 30,000 co-ops in the U.S., serving more than one in every four Americans. Around the world, an estimated 1 billion people are members of co-ops.

"Every day, MKC works to demonstrate cooperative enterprises build a better world," states Dave Christiansen, MKC’s President and CEO. "Not only do we provide product and services to help our members succeed, but we believe we are helping to strengthen our communities through our people, jobs, services and community involvement."

As part of the month-long celebration, MKC hosted a coloring contest for kindergarten through 4th grade students. Fifty-six schools received a packet from MKC containing a supply of coloring sheets and information on the cooperative system to use as education tools in their classrooms .
Prizes will be awarded to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in each age group. Winning entries will be posted on www.mkcoop.com and featured on MKC's social media sites throughout the month.