Merger of SHC and Rivendell

Bringing It All Together: The Merger of the MSU-SHC with Rivendell/the Shire!

In 1972, a group of SHC members started Rivendell Co-op in a small house on Grand River Drive. Four years later, the group pooled their resources and bought a house in Lansing, not far from the Capital. It was a long way from the university, but it had always been a largely non-student group, and the prices in Lansing were a lot lower.

Fast forward to 2011, when SHC staff member Mike McCurdy talked to Rivendell about a house for sale near his home in Meridian Township. What? That isn’t near Lansing or the university. But Rivendell was thriving, and they were ready for a new adventure. Why not buy a second house in the country? At least they could grow vegetables! A deal was struck, and The Shire was purchased. Rivendell became two houses.

In an odd twist, the SHC also jumped across the Grand River just a few years earlier, buying Harambee (originally called Bulmer) a little south of the capital and about a mile from Rivendell. In doing so SHC became a “community co-op,” providing affordable housing for non-students in a totally different part of town. Indeed, both groups expanded their visions and dreamed of new horizons, making bold leaps of faith.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise that both cooperatives soon had “new house problems.” That’s common, particularly when a concept, both geographically and conceptually, is different from the norm.

Harambee had high turnover and operational difficulties from the start. The Shire and Rivendell had communications,

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turnover and non-payment problems, soon infecting the original location as well as the new offshoot. To make matters worse, the City of Lansing tightened it license requirements; there were inter-personal problems; and soon a sense of morbid despair began to settle on both groups.

SHC tried, unsuccessfully, to sell Harambee, while Rivendell’s debts began to build. The mortgage loan used to buy The Shire would come due in December of 2016, and refinancing seemed impossible.

Then another miracle happened, and the two groups began to talk about working together to solve their problems. Miracles happen frequently with co-ops, and again we shouldn’t be surprised. The very existence of SHC is a miracle, as sheer persistence and incredible idealism brought together houses with vastly different cultures to form something totally new. Rivendell also was a miracle, with seven people buying a house and finding success for more than forty years far from other similar efforts. Maybe it was just time for one more miracle.

Rivendell approached SHC about purchasing their two houses in 2016. In October, a financial analysis was made; by November, the facilities were inspected and estimates made for the cost of repairs; in December SHC helped Rivendell to temporarily extend their loan. A feasibility study was conducted, and in the

Members of the original Rivendell Cooperative in 1973. Left to right: Jim Jones, Eva Kipper, Dave Juckett, Karen Burrell, and Mark Charles. The head below shall be forever nameless.

Wind Through the Pines

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spring members of both organizations voted to approve the proposal to merge.

Today, the world seems much brighter. A great deal of work has been done on the Rivendell houses, which they are full, and Harambee is dong well. Some Rivendell residents have taken leadership roles in the SHC, and ever stronger bonds are forming with the nearby Genesee Co-Housing group (see article on Genesee later in this issue).

Yes, miracles really do happen, but in our coops, they aren’t really magic at all. They are miracles of the will, brought to reality by determination and hard work.

How strange that we are surprised. -- Jim Jones

Clockwise from the top: Rivendell, the back yard at The Shire, and The Shire.

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Wind Through the Pines