AMBLER, PA, March 15, 2018 — We survived two nor'easters. We survived the opening of the Whole Foods up the Pike. We're still serving $4 Friday Dinners and Ambler and vicinity is still lining up for them.
News directors and news editors: If you're looking for some St. Paddy's counter-programming — though this week's menu does feature corned beef and cabbage, and that vegan favorite, tofu Irish stew — or a contrast to the Amazonian hoopla earlier this week in Spring House, where Whole Foods opened Wednesday, you should consider this community-oriented event at Weavers Way Co-op's newest store.
We kicked off the weekly dinners in January with about 240 guests the first night — not too shabby — and by Feb. 23, we counted 450 diners between 4 and 8 p.m.
Then, on Friday, March 2, the lights went out — and people stayed to dine by candlelight anyway. The store secured a generator and it was business as usual on Saturday — but not for most of Ambler, which was without power for several days following that first nor'easter. As a result, The Café at Weavers Way became an unofficial warming station, and the Co-op handed out discount coupons to help customers replenish their pantries when the lights finally went back on.
The following week, we shrugged off the second nor'easter, and so did more than 400 $4 Friday Dinner fans, who returned to the Co-op for linguine marinara with meatballs (vegan meatballs for some). Will we hit 500 tomorrow?
The menu for tomorrow, Friday, March 16, St. Patrick's Day Eve, is Braised Corned Beef or Vegan Irish Stew (Tofu), Cabbage with Onions and Caraway, and Roasted Potatoes. A salad is available for an extra buck, and participants are welcome to BYO. (A bottle of Harp, perhaps? Ambler Beverage Exchange is right next door.) Takeout is available, but many guests just take it easy in The Café or at tables set up around the store. There's live music and sampling by favorite local vendors. This week, it will be Objective Perspective and Zsa'sIce Cream.
For more information, contact Communications Manager Mary Sweeten at msweeten@weaversway.coop or 215-843-2350, ext. 135. Or just show up between 4 and 8 p.m. — $4 Friday Dinners at Weavers Way Ambler, 217 E. Butler Ave., are open to all, just like Weavers Way.
AMBLER, PA, March 15, 2018 — We survived two nor'easters. We survived the opening of the Whole Foods up the Pike. We're still serving $4 Friday Dinners and Ambler and vicinity is still lining up for them.
News directors and news editors: If you're looking for some St. Paddy's counter-programming — though this week's menu does feature corned beef and cabbage, and that vegan favorite, tofu Irish stew — or a contrast to the Amazonian hoopla earlier this week in Spring House, where Whole Foods opened Wednesday, you should consider this community-oriented event at Weavers Way Co-op's newest store.
We kicked off the weekly dinners in January with about 240 guests the first night — not too shabby — and by Feb. 23, we counted 450 diners between 4 and 8 p.m.
Then, on Friday, March 2, the lights went out — and people stayed to dine by candlelight anyway. The store secured a generator and it was business as usual on Saturday — but not for most of Ambler, which was without power for several days following that first nor'easter. As a result, The Café at Weavers Way became an unofficial warming station, and the Co-op handed out discount coupons to help customers replenish their pantries when the lights finally went back on.
The following week, we shrugged off the second nor'easter, and so did more than 400 $4 Friday Dinner fans, who returned to the Co-op for linguine marinara with meatballs (vegan meatballs for some). Will we hit 500 tomorrow?
The menu for tomorrow, Friday, March 16, St. Patrick's Day Eve, is Braised Corned Beef or Vegan Irish Stew (Tofu), Cabbage with Onions and Caraway, and Roasted Potatoes. A salad is available for an extra buck, and participants are welcome to BYO. (A bottle of Harp, perhaps? Ambler Beverage Exchange is right next door.) Takeout is available, but many guests just take it easy in The Café or at tables set up around the store. There's live music and sampling by favorite local vendors. This week, it will be Objective Perspective and Zsa'sIce Cream.
For more information, contact Communications Manager Mary Sweeten at msweeten@weaversway.coop or 215-843-2350, ext. 135. Or just show up between 4 and 8 p.m. — $4 Friday Dinners at Weavers Way Ambler, 217 E. Butler Ave., are open to all, just like Weavers Way.
The Weavers Way Food Justice Committee envisions a world in which healthy food is readily accessible and affordable to all. The committee aims to achieve this goal by initiating and supporting projects addressing short- and long-term solutions to food insecurity.
Hunger 101
Do you want to learn more about some of the issues affecting our community? Here are a few helpful links to get started.
Food For All is a discount program for member-owners receiving public assistance including SNAP, Medicaid, SSDI, SSI, Military Disability, TANF-cash assistance and/or WIC. We believe that healthy food and products must be accessible to all, and this initiative is part of a wider movement across the country among co-ops as they promote food justice. Another helpful aspect of the program is that equity payments are reduced to $5 per year for eligible applicants. They will also receive a 10% discount at the register on most Co-op items. More information is available here.
We hope you will support our committee's work in spreading the word!
Calendar of Events
Here you’ll find dates, times and locations for upcoming FJC meetings, as well as future events and programming.
There are no events scheduled right now. Check back soon!
2018 Summer Food Drive
June 22-24, all Weavers Way locations
Our second annual “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation” food drive eclipsed our first year’s collection total! By the end of the weekend, we gathered nearly 3,300 pounds of potatoes, onions and shelf-stable food for the Holy Cross Food Pantry in Mt. Airy, the Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard in Ambler, St. Luke’s Germantown Nutritional Ministries and the Germantown Seventh Day Adventist Church pantry.
Many thanks to our dozens of volunteers, who spent anywhere from a couple of hours to more than 24 collecting, transporting and sorting donations under the scorching sun, cloudy skies and even an occasional rain shower. In the end, the amount of food collected was roughly 65% over the total from our inaugural summer food drive in 2017.
The Greater Philadelphia region has many incredible, dedicated organizations working day in and day out to alleviate hunger and support food justice in the area. The goal of the Weavers Way Food Justice Committee is both to initiate its own projects and to support projects of these other organizations. In that collaborative spirit, the Food Justice Committee has created a database we call Philly Foodscape as a way for us to become informed about, support and collaborate with several of these organizations. More information on this program is coming soon.
FJC Minutes
Missed a meeting or just curious what we discuss? Take a look at the minutes from our last few monthly meetings.
Want to learn more about the Food Justice Committee? We are open to all Weavers Way Co-op members and look forward to your questions, participation, and ideas.
The Weavers Way Food Justice Committee envisions a world in which healthy food is readily accessible and affordable to all. The committee aims to achieve this goal by initiating and supporting projects addressing short- and long-term solutions to food insecurity.
Hunger 101
Do you want to learn more about some of the issues affecting our community? Here are a few helpful links to get started.
Food For All is a discount program for member-owners receiving public assistance including SNAP, Medicaid, SSDI, SSI, Military Disability, TANF-cash assistance and/or WIC. We believe that healthy food and products must be accessible to all, and this initiative is part of a wider movement across the country among co-ops as they promote food justice. Another helpful aspect of the program is that equity payments are reduced to $5 per year for eligible applicants. They will also receive a 10% discount at the register on most Co-op items. More information is available here.
We hope you will support our committee's work in spreading the word!
Calendar of Events
Here you’ll find dates, times and locations for upcoming FJC meetings, as well as future events and programming.
There are no events scheduled right now. Check back soon!
2018 Summer Food Drive
June 22-24, all Weavers Way locations
Our second annual “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation” food drive eclipsed our first year’s collection total! By the end of the weekend, we gathered nearly 3,300 pounds of potatoes, onions and shelf-stable food for the Holy Cross Food Pantry in Mt. Airy, the Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard in Ambler, St. Luke’s Germantown Nutritional Ministries and the Germantown Seventh Day Adventist Church pantry.
Many thanks to our dozens of volunteers, who spent anywhere from a couple of hours to more than 24 collecting, transporting and sorting donations under the scorching sun, cloudy skies and even an occasional rain shower. In the end, the amount of food collected was roughly 65% over the total from our inaugural summer food drive in 2017.
The Greater Philadelphia region has many incredible, dedicated organizations working day in and day out to alleviate hunger and support food justice in the area. The goal of the Weavers Way Food Justice Committee is both to initiate its own projects and to support projects of these other organizations. In that collaborative spirit, the Food Justice Committee has created a database we call Philly Foodscape as a way for us to become informed about, support and collaborate with several of these organizations. More information on this program is coming soon.
FJC Minutes
Missed a meeting or just curious what we discuss? Take a look at the minutes from our last few monthly meetings.
Want to learn more about the Food Justice Committee? We are open to all Weavers Way Co-op members and look forward to your questions, participation, and ideas.
Philadelphia, PA, Oct. 31, 2017— Weavers Way, the Mt. Airy-based cooperative grocery with three stores in Philadelphia and Montgomery County, announced today that Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney will be the guest speaker at the organization's fall membership meeting Friday, Nov. 3.
The Mayor's Office says Kenney will focus on the city's sustainability initiatives, including support for urban agriculture and land reclamation and efforts to reduce food waste, as well as talking about the importance of local business. The meeting, at the Waldorf School of Philadelphia, 6000 Wayne Ave., starts at 5 p.m., with Kenney scheduled to take the mic about 6.
Kenney also intends to field questions from what is likely to be a large and friendly crowd. Weavers Way's seven-principle "Ends" statement includes protection of the environment and development of the local economy as core purposes.
Weavers Way recently opened a third store in Ambler, Montgomery County, its first outside the city. Alluding to this, Co-op General Manager Jon Roesser said, "Weavers Way's role in Northwest Philadelphia, and our mission of promoting cooperative ownership, healthful and sustainably produced products and fair treatment of people and the environment remain essential to our identity."
"We're honored and delighted to have Mayor Kenney come out to our meeting," Roesser said, "not just because he's the mayor — although that's a pretty big deal — but because his administration is working on so many of the same things we are."
As with virtually all official Weavers Way events, the general membership meeting is Zero Waste, so attendees are asked to bring their own plate and cutlery to enjoy a free buffet dinner and dessert, another feature of most Weavers Way functions. Dishes will be available to rent from the Co-op's Environment Committee.
Philadelphia, PA, Oct. 31, 2017— Weavers Way, the Mt. Airy-based cooperative grocery with three stores in Philadelphia and Montgomery County, announced today that Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney will be the guest speaker at the organization's fall membership meeting Friday, Nov. 3.
The Mayor's Office says Kenney will focus on the city's sustainability initiatives, including support for urban agriculture and land reclamation and efforts to reduce food waste, as well as talking about the importance of local business. The meeting, at the Waldorf School of Philadelphia, 6000 Wayne Ave., starts at 5 p.m., with Kenney scheduled to take the mic about 6.
Kenney also intends to field questions from what is likely to be a large and friendly crowd. Weavers Way's seven-principle "Ends" statement includes protection of the environment and development of the local economy as core purposes.
Weavers Way recently opened a third store in Ambler, Montgomery County, its first outside the city. Alluding to this, Co-op General Manager Jon Roesser said, "Weavers Way's role in Northwest Philadelphia, and our mission of promoting cooperative ownership, healthful and sustainably produced products and fair treatment of people and the environment remain essential to our identity."
"We're honored and delighted to have Mayor Kenney come out to our meeting," Roesser said, "not just because he's the mayor — although that's a pretty big deal — but because his administration is working on so many of the same things we are."
As with virtually all official Weavers Way events, the general membership meeting is Zero Waste, so attendees are asked to bring their own plate and cutlery to enjoy a free buffet dinner and dessert, another feature of most Weavers Way functions. Dishes will be available to rent from the Co-op's Environment Committee.
