Oklahoma Food Cooperative

Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House, Oklahoma City, OK

Daily contact with small, struggling farmers, combined with commitment to the social justice teachings of the Catholic Church, led members of the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House in Oklahoma City to begin thinking of ways to re-create the local food system. Local residents desired fresh, healthy foods and farmers needed a way to sell their goods directly to the public. Connecting local producers and consumers was a way to promote local sustainability, provide economic assistance to small farmers, and encourage proper stewardship of creation as well. As a first step, they decided to create and publicize a website offering free space for farmers to list their products for sale.

In an effort to promote environmental stewardship, the Oklahoma Food Co-op adopted a policy that meat, eggs, or poultry products that originate in Confined Animal Feeding Operations would not be allowed to be sold through the Cooperative. Additionally, no genetically modified products are allowed, and no products from animals that have been given bovine growth hormones.

The Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House, founded by Robert Waldrop, has also helped develop a complete online Local Food Cooperative Management System which includes “shopping cart” software, automatic invoices for customers and producers, databases of over 700 products, members and other information. This product is available free of charge to other local food groups from the Cooperative via a General Public License.

The website of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative contains articles about the importance of buying local foods and a blog, “Gettin’ the Right Eats,” that chronicles the ongoing development of the Cooperative. Robert Waldrop, who maintains the blog, is the founder of the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House and now serves as the president of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative.

Contact:

Oklahoma Food Cooperative

Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House

405-613-4688

rmjw@soonernet.com