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Guelph Campus Co-op at 99: Concern for community a guiding principle
January 26, 2012
By students, for students –as relevant today as it was almost 100 years ago when seven Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) students created the OAC Students’ Co-operative in 1913. Now known as the Guelph Campus Co-op, the business marks its 99th year in 2012, which has been declared the International Year of Co-operatives (IYC) by the United Nations General Assembly.
“It’s a truly remarkable story that those first seven students pooled their own equity to start that business for the benefit of all students,” says Tina Sorbara, human resources and finance manager, Guelph Campus Co-operative.
Today the Guelph Campus Co-op Bookstore and housing offer students cost-effective and convenient alternatives, serving more than 5,000 members every year and providing 120 with lodging in shared houses and apartments at below market rates.
From 1913 to 1989, the Campus Co-op was the major retailer on campus providing books, housing, as well as pharmacy and food services. The Massey Coffeeshop, dug out of the basement of Massey Hall in only three evenings by OAC, OVC and Macdonald College students, was a popular gathering place for students until its closure in 1998.
“While we experienced some lean years in the 1990s, students have been at the core of rejuvenating the Co-op and giving it back its real identity,” says Tom Klein Beernink, manager of housing and member relations, Guelph Campus Co-operative. “Loyalty is a big factor. When they see their interests are put to the fore and that we serve their vision, there is a great deal of trust created.”
From redevelopment projects and environmental initiatives to contests and giveaways, the Campus Co-op, and its Board of Directors of mostly students, “has its finger on the pulse”, according to Sorbara. In 2007, the Guelph Campus Co-op partnered with the Central Students’ Association Affordable Housing Initiative to redevelop 7 College Avenue West as a safe and affordable housing co-op for individuals facing accessibility issues. The building features state-of-the-art green technologies – harvesting rainwater, solar panels for domestic hot water collection, and a green living roof.
“As the International Year of Co-operatives dovetails into our 100th anniversary, we have begun contacting alumni and are in the early planning stages of events both on campus and in the community as part of the Guelph Co-op Network,” says Klein Beernink.
Currently running is the Co-op Bookstore’s Bring Your Own Bag event - each time students use a reusable bag, 10 cents is donated to environmental initiatives of their choice. Last year, $4,300 was raised for local and U of G organizations, including the Guelph Centre for Urban Organic Farming and the Arboretum Endowment Fund.
Partnering with the OAC Dean’s Office, the Co-op Bookstore is also collecting used agriculture textbooks to send to Grenada to resource the campus library at the T.A. Marryshow Community College.
To commemorate the IYC, the Ontario Co-operative Association is sponsoring a Create-a-Co-op Video Challenge.
“Students can go on Facebook, post a two-minute video they’ve created about their co-operative business idea and potentially win a cash prize,” says Sorbara.
“It is a very broad net of people we attract. The co-op model is such an intriguing one. Around the world, it is a huge way for people to do business,” says Klein Beernink.
Across Canada, more than 9,000 co-operatives provide products and services to 18 million members.
