The Special Cooperative

Arun and Sylvania founded the Special Cooperative to support their sons and other disabled young people in Kentish Town, to build independence and help families access more affordable food.

The food cooperative (co-op) aims to break down the social isolation many disabled young people experience, and to empower them to learn new skills, form friendships, and help the community during the cost of living crisis. 

We spoke to Sylvania and Arun to find out more.

What inspired you to start the Special Cooperative?

Arun: “There aren’t many activities for disabled young people once they turn 25, and prices are hitting families like ours hard so we wanted to do something productive.”

Sylvania: “I was concerned about young people my son’s age, 29, because they are just stuck at home with energy that could be turned into something meaningful.”

Arun: “Our children have prospects – we are ambitious for them and want them to do well in life. So this project responds to two needs in the community and supports young people to work on good causes in society too.”

How does the co-op work?

Sylvania: “We work with Cooperation Town, a movement of food co-ops in the community. Every Tuesday, they send us a price list of fruits and vegetables and all 11 co-op members vote for which ones they want. Then, each member pays £5 to cover the costs of the fruit and veg. Cooperation Town has partnerships with local high street supermarkets so they donate surplus food such as meats, snacks and drinks.”

What difference is the co-op making?

Arun: “It reduces families’ food bills and gives them an opportunity to eat things they wouldn’t normally because they might be too expensive to buy.”

Sylvania: “We’re reducing food waste too. Supermarkets would be throwing these items away, so they’re also benefitting from helping families.”

Arun: “It’s also helping us. We were both bankers, but when we became carers we had to step back from our careers so we felt like we’d lost our identities. The co-op is helping us to rebuild them and helping our children to build their identities too.”

What’s next for the co-op?

Arun: “This is a pilot stage but in the next phase, we want to get more young people involved. We want to train the young people to run it themselves, to gain life skills that will help them to work and contribute to their communities.”

Sylvania: “Once they’re trained, we’d like to scale up the co-op and offer a delivery service to members of the community for a small charge, which will directly pay the young people for delivering the food.”

What are your highlights from running the co-op?

Sylvania: “It’s been very fulfilling to see families enjoy being involved, and they’re really hopeful that their children can be trained to run it themselves.”

Arun: “The response from families who want to be involved has been phenomenal. We want our children to have options in the community, in employment and to be connected socially. And this initiative is making that happen!”