Today, we have a guest post by Erica Dreisbach, who visited our store last May from Social Venture Network in California.<\/p>\n
Here it is:<\/p>\n
\nWalking into Open Produce is like giving yourself a present. From the great
\nlighting, to the friendly staff, to the shelves stacked high with ethnic and
\norganic stock, the experience is pure pleasure. You can find all sorts of
\namazing treasures here for your home-cooked Mexican feast, fresh salad, or
\nsugary study break.<\/p>\nBut Open Produce is also about giving the community and the Earth a
\npresent. And the present is delicious.<\/p>\nI came to this Hyde Park gem the week after organizing and attending Social
\nVenture Network’s Annual Member Gathering (http:\/\/www.svn.org\/<\/a>),
\nwhere we convened more than 200 socially- and environmentally-minded business
\nleaders. These innovators value both profit and<\/b> mission, ensuring that
\nthey’ll be in business for a long time to do work for the public benefit. It
\nalso means that most profiteers think they’re crazy (for aligning business
\ndecisions with the common good), and most do-gooders think they’re crazy
\n(for trying to make money).<\/p>\n“You two would have fit right in at the conference I was just at!” I told
\nSteven.<\/p>\nI was delighted to spot a number of brands on the shelf whose leaders I’ve
\nmet through work, like Annie’s Mac & Cheese, Stonyfield Farm, and Seventh
\nGeneration. But not only does Open Produce stock nationally-known organic
\nand sustainable brands led by cool people, they also support small local
\ncompanies that sell ethnic food not available anywhere else in the area,
\nincluding products from all over the world. They invest in the local
\ncommunity, whether it’s when Steven and Andrew are chatting with the truck
\ndrivers, or on the phone with Nancy from Nancy’s Organic Yogurt, or
\ngossiping with their regulars or the guys at the dollar store one door down.
\nAnd their low prices mean they can bring affordable, whole, fresh food to
\ntheir neighbors.<\/p>\n“This is it, this is the real deal,” I thought. This is about a commitment
\nto building local, sustainable communities. This is about people and
\ncompanies working together to build a new kind of capitalism, one that puts
\nenergy back into the planet, and brings whole and delicious things to our
\nlives and our dinner plates.<\/p>\nSo give yourself a present, Hyde Park, and stop by Open Produce today!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Erica Dreisbach was, at the time of her visit, an art and techmancer for Social Venture Network, a national network of nearly 500 socially responsible business leaders who are working for a just and sustainable economy. Read more at www.socialventurenetwork.wordpress.com<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today, we have a guest post by Erica Dreisbach, who visited our store last May from Social Venture Network in California.<\/p>\n
Here it is:<\/p>\n
\nWalking into Open Produce is like giving yourself a present. From the great
\nlighting, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openproduce.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openproduce.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openproduce.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openproduce.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openproduce.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/openproduce.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openproduce.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openproduce.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openproduce.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}