July 2014 Vol

The Shuttle July 2014 Vol. 42 No. 7 Community-Owned Food Markets Open to Everyone Board Corner Integrating Mt. Airy: President’s fresh&local A New History of Spring Report all summer long An Eff ort Worth Focuses on Weavers Way Community Programs Farmstand Remembering 3-6 p.m. Tuesdays at Weavers Way Chestnut Hill by Laura Morris Siena, Weavers Way Board of Directors Co-op Growth Farm to City Farmer’s Market Margaret Lenzi will be stepping down 3-7 p.m. Thursdays at Weavers Way Mt. Airy BBY PERKISS BEGAN HER LIFE IN MT. after two years as president of the Weav- Weavers Way Farms AAiry and makes her home here now. A his- ers Way Board of Directors. Here is the tory professor at Kean University, she has put message she delivered at the General at Headhouse Farmers’ Market 2nd and Lombard streets, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays the neighborhood at the center of her fi rst book, Membership Meeting on May 18, 2014. “Making Good Neighbors: Civil Rights, Liber- HIS PAST YEAR MARKED THE 40TH Weavers Way Farmstand at Saul alism, and Integration in Postwar Philadelphia” Tanniversary of our co-op, and we Across from Saul High School, 7100 Henry Ave., (Cornell University Press). celebrated with a grand event at Clive- 2-7 p.m. Tuesdays and 2-6 p.m. Fridays INSIDE A history of Mt. Airy’s intentional racial in- den, remembering the long journey that tegration movement, it’s a great story and well got us to this point. Weavers Way Farms Produce Fresh & Local Delivered to Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill Fair Pictures, worth reading, whether you grew up here or are But I’m here to report at the 2014 on Wednesdays and Fridays Next Page new to the neighborhood. Spring General Membership Meeting Mt. Airy is among a handful of communi- that the state of the Weavers Way Co- ties across the country that fought back against op is good and that we are looking for- wholesale neighborhood racial change in the ’50s ward to continued growth and develop- and ’60s, seeking instead to create racially inte- ment in the coming years. grated communities. In fact, Mt. Airy pioneered Where are we now? many of the techniques practiced by other com- Here’s the big picture: munities — notably Shaker Heights and Cleve- We are now an $18 million local land Heights, Ohio, and Oak Park, Ill. — several business, and projections are that we years later. Perkiss writes: might tip $20 million in revenue this Here, organizers worked to understand fi scal year, which ends June 30. Sales and put into practice the ideals of an inte- growth is up 10 percent over last year. grated society. Beginning with a coordinat- We have four stores — the Mt. ed pledge in the mid-1950s, homeowners Airy and Chestnut Hill food stores as the large number of local vendors and Our communications department, fea- in Mt. Airy waged a community-wide battle well as the two health and wellness producers we use. In 2013, local and re- turing the Shuttle, the website, elec- toward intentional integration. Through in- stores, Across the Way in Mt. Airy and gional products were $5.8 million or 33 tronic newsletter and social media, is novative real-estate efforts, creative market- Next Door in Chestnut Hill that opened percent of sales. In 2014, we estimate reaching more and more people. ing techniques, religious activism and insti- last fall. And let us not forget the dis- there will be a 10 percent increase in lo- So we do have a lot going on, and tutional partnerships, residents worked to tinction of being the only co-op in the cal product, to $6.4 million. I’m pleased to report that the state of preserve the viability of their community. country that has two farms. This is a Yet we still stay strong to the val- the Weavers Way Co-op is good. Sales That coordinated pledge, “This We Believe complex operation to run, but we are ues and principles of a cooperative that are strong, membership is growing and About Our Neighborhood,” promulgated by the always working to maintain and im- make us strong, such as voluntary and we are engaged in our community. The newly formed Church Community Relations prove our infrastructure so we can con- open membership, democratic mem- Ends Report for 2013, which is avail- Council, was signed in 1953 — before Brown v. tinue to be successful. ber/owner control, member economic able in its entirety on the Weavers Way Board of Education, before Freedom Summer, We have 153 employees — 102 participation, cooperation among co- website, has many more accomplish- before the March on Washington. Here’s what full-time and 51 part-time — and pro- operatives and concern for community. ments. But our success is due to our it said, in part: vide wages and benefi ts above the av- And we continue to be involved in loyal and inspiring membership that “Those that are moving into our neigh- erage food retail level. So we try to do our community through the many part- keeps moving us along. borhood show every evidence of being good the right thing by our staff. nerships with such groups as Awbury Where are we going? neighbors . However, because of the myths We are 5,300-plus member house- Arboretum, the Food Trust, Cliveden, Here’s the next picture: and legends of race, the history of segrega- tion and some of the traditional practices of holds and many others who shop at our Germantown Hunger Network and the Last year, Weavers Way adopted a the real-estate market, a spirit of fear and stores on a regular basis. Membership Schuylkill Center, just to name a few. Five Year Strategic Plan for 2013-2018 panic often seeps into the hearts and minds continues to grow, and we are up 4.5 that identifi ed four focus areas: growth We sponsor workshops and fi lm of many people, causing them to list their percent compared to last year this time. and expansion, internal operations, series. Our farms provide a rich educa- houses for sale and to run away . People We have a huge impact on our lo- tional resource, and the Weavers Way member and community engagement who love good homes, gracious living, a cul- cal economy. A higher percentage of our Community Programs Marketplace and the Weavers Way Farms. Although tural atmosphere, should be encouraged to dollars remain in our community due to program partners with local schools. (Continued on Page 11) (Continued on Page 8) INSIDE What’s in Store. 3 Suggestions . 15 Weavers Way Community Programs . .4-5 Environment Committee. 16 General Manager’s Corner . 6 Weavers Way Farms . 20 Letters. 7 Weavers Way Calendar . 20 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED REQUESTED SERVICE CHANGE Chicken Legalization . 10 Chef’s Corner . 21 www.weaversway.coop www.weaversway.coop Weavers Way Ends Report . 12-13 Dinner and a Movie . 22 559 Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19119 PA Philadelphia, Lane, Carpenter 559 Summer Wildlife. 14 Sta Celebrity Spotlight . 23 Weavers Way Cooperative Association Cooperative Way Weavers The Passionate Gardener. 15 Co-op Specials . 24 2 THE SHUTTLE July 2014 Editor’s Note fresh & local by Mary Sweeten, Editor, Weavers Way Shuttle Y NOW, MOST EVERYONE WHO Bcares has heard about our problem with the guy who used to run the Co-op’s fi nance department helping himself to some Weavers Way cash. Glenn fi rst dis- closed it in May at the General Member- ship Meeting, and then we covered it in the June Shuttle. (Of course, some of you didn’t notice until the Inquirer and Chest- nut Hill Local ran the story . tut, tut.) As you can see in Glenn’s column this month, there’s not much more to say: We Nathea Lee/ PhotoBravura got our insurance and we’re waiting on Hailey Hayman and Elizabeth Ughetta from Susty Party the police. It’s not like the fi nancial cri- bookend Weavers Way staff ers Kentu Malik, Dean Stefano sis in 2002-2003, to which this incident and Nick Rosica. (There’s a cup joke in here somewhere, is being understandably but awkward- but we’re not going there.) The Susty folks also brought ly compared. Back then, we had no fi - Dean Stefano photo their renewable party activities (above). nance department. We had no oversight. It turned out we had no money, either. What we have now is a $19 million business with best practices intended to pre- vent fraud, or at least catch it. Which brings me to my hero, Susan Beetle. Susan’s title is Finance Manag- er. She’s been at Weavers Way for sev- en years. I don’t pretend to understand bookkeeping — I called her the other day to ask if I was doing an arithmetic problem right, and she was very reassuring — but she is the person all the stories allude to, who got suspicious about some credit-card receipts, which prompted her to check some more receipts and conclude Nathea Lee/ PhotoBravura that we was robbed. Vijay Gupta off ers tastes of his Jyoti Indian cuisine products. Specifi cally, she noticed a couple of unlikely $500 gift-card purchases in the course of going through Restaurant De- pot credit-card expenditures to see if they Nathea Lee/ PhotoBravura were pre- or post-inventory. Soom Food’s Amy Zitelman shows off some of her all-in-the- family tahini. That’s the kind of thing she does. And sometimes, in the process, she fi nds things and thinks, “This can’t be right.” Then she bugs people until they fi x them, which means folks around here sometimes wince when it’s Susan on the phone.

Load more