The Blog

On Wednesday, June 5, 2013, the Growing Working Group held their regularly scheduled meeting. The key focuses of this meeting were:

• Special presentation on WNYEA Advocacy Process by Micaela Shapiro-Shellaby
• Review the Growing Group’s 2014 Action Agenda goals & discuss next steps
• View Ron Finley’s TedTalk on YouTube about guerilla gardening and discuss

Micaela Shapiro Shellaby shared about the WNYEA advocacy process and referred to resources on the GrowWNY website at http://www.growwny.org/organizations/process-groups/908.

She recommended that when formulating our Action Agenda/Advocacy Goals, she recommends we consider whether items address PRIMO points:

• P = Precise
• R = Realistic
• I = Inspiring
• M = Measurable
• O = Outcome-oriented

Regarding the Growing Group’s 2014 Action Agenda Goals, the group determine that all Growing Group members are asked to review the 2014 action agenda and rate topics/issues that we, as a group, would like to raise up to the WNYEA Board using the PRIMO method.  This will be discussed in greater detail at the next meeting, so members are encouraged to come to the next meeting prepared with ideas.

To equip the group with content to write a blog article for the GrowWNY website in June, the group watched a ten-minute TedTalk by Ron Finley, a “guerilla gardener” in South Central Los Angeles.  The talk can be found on YouTube at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzZzZ_qpZ4w.

Members are asked to watch the video, answer the following questions for their agency or organization (in a sentence or two), and send their answers to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by end of business on Monday, June 10^th.  Rebekah will format the group’s answers in to a blog article.

• How do the issues Ron Finley brings up about food deserts, gardening, land use/access, or health relate to the work you or your organization does?

• Finley is very passionate about guerilla gardening.  What are you passionate about regarding these issues?  Why is this work important to WNY?

As an Environmental Studies student at the University at Buffalo, I am constantly looking for new ways to reduce my impact. One thing that really drives me nuts is how wasteful plastic sandwich bags are, but this girl needs to eat! Tupperware containers are a sustainable alternative, but they can be rather bulky, and I hate to have to cut down on healthy snacks to save space. The solution? Reusable fabric sandwich bags! I found two simple templates for large and small size bags on the Better Homes and Gardens website, and in honor of National Sewing Machine Day I decided to give it a whirl. Check out the steps below to make your own and stop throwing out plastic sandwich bags!

What you need:

• Outer fabric, 14-1/2 inch square (100% cotton works best, but any fabric will do—you can even reuse some old fabric you might have lying around)
• Liner fabric, 12-1/2 inch square
  • My mom had an old polyester laundry basket that she was ready to get rid of, so I used that for my liner – it was a canvas bag with a waterproof lining, perfect for these bags!
  • Better Homes and Gardens recommended ripstop nylon or polyurethane laminate for a liner, but neither of those materials were in my home
• Ruler
• Bobby pins, safety pins, or sewing pins
• Iron
• Sharpie
• A button (or you could use a strip of Velcro)

Some optional, extra supplies:

• Your favorite cup of tea – I was feeling chamomile
• Some relaxing music – If you’re like me, you haven’t touched a sewing machine since you were 11 years old and in 6^th grade Home and Careers class; I chose Iron & Wine

Some tips before you start:

• If your fabric is wrinkly (like mine was), be sure to iron it before you start. It makes measuring and cutting much easier.
• When I was a kid my dad used to always say, “measure twice, cut once” and for probably the first time in my life, those words were relevant to this project. So do it!

Here’s what you do:

1. Start with your 14.5” square of fabric (outer fabric) with the side that will go on the inside facing up, and fold in a 1/2" seam on one side and press with a warm iron for about 5 seconds. Fold in a 1/2" seam again in the same direction and press so you have a finished seam on all three remaining sides.

• For this part, I used a manila folder as a guide for the half inch line and bobby pinned the fabric around it. Don’t fret; you won’t light your folder on fire when you iron over it. But I wouldn’t leave the iron on too long to try and find out.

2. Secure the corners either by simply folding or sewing (I just pressed them a little longer)

3. Place outer fabric right side down on table so the folded seems are facing up.

4. Place liner fabric, right side up (the shiny, water resistant side), on top. Tuck liner under the un-sewn seams of the outer fabric and secure with bobby pins. This takes a little adjusting, so it helps to bobby pin one side and adjust the rest accordingly. If needed, trim liner so it fits flat.

5. Now you’re ready to sew! Using a 1/8" seam allowance, sew down inner edge of folded seam. This is where 6^th grade Home and Careers evaded me; I forgot to backstitch when I started, so I’m reminding you to do this when you make these!

6. And for the finishing touches, I sewed a loop of thicker thread to one corner, and a button to the opposite corner. A couple of things to note here:

• You’ll want to measure the loop of thread to your button; seems common sense, but I almost didn’t do this
• You’ll also want to practice folding up your sandwich wrap to your typical sandwich size so you can see where the best place to sew your button is

Now you can pat yourself on the back – you’ve made your first reusable sandwich bag! If we’re being honest, this project was pretty high up on my list of “really proud moments.” I managed to successfully sew a square without putting a needle through my finger or breaking anything. And now you can rest easy, because Mother Earth thanks you for saving all of those silly little plastic sandwich bags from ending up in the trash.

Grow or Die?

The BALLE (Business Alliance for a Local  Living Economy) Conference got off to a big start in Buffalo last night, June 11, as Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center hosted an evening with Judy Wicks, co-founder of BALLE. Wicks spent the evening discussing her new book Good Morning Beautiful Business, as a part of the Get the Rust Out Speaker Series.

BALLE is about developing local economies and Wicks story is both archetypical and inspiring for the aspiring entrepreneur and localism activist.  In 1970, after a stint as VISTA volunteers Wicks and her then husband Richard Hayne, both 23, took their combined $3,000 of VISTA pay-out and started a small store in a declining Philadelphia neighborhood. It was called the Free People’s Store. “What we thought at the time” Wicks told the 75 or so people at Hallwalls, “was that you buy something at a certain cost, and sell it for a little more.”  They sold products associated with the under 30 crowd including new and used clothing, candles, houseplants, and “hip housewares.” That first year was full of challenges. It wasn’t as simple as buy low sell high.  She told the story about how at one point she wanted to buy 12 pairs of satin bell-bottomed jeans that were the most expensive products they had purchased.  She bought 6, sold a few pairs, and bought some more. “One day a group of high-school kids from the neighborhood came in, distracted me, and ran out of the store with one of them wearing a new pair of my satin bell-bottoms. I ran out the door, locked up the shop and chased her down, tackled her, and took the jeans off, leaving her in the middle of the street in her underwear.  I got the jeans back, that’s what mattered to me.”

The two lived in a small apartment behind the store “which helped keep the costs down” said Wicks. But within a year the couple divorced.  Hayne changed the name of the store to “Urban Outfitters” and today remains CEO and President of the well-known chain that today has a net worth of almost $2 billion. He is one of the richest people in the world.  A few years later, Wicks started a restaurant called the White Dog Café, which catered to a healthy foods, localist clientele. “We believed in humanely treated food resources such as free range animals, local farms,  and fair trade coffee, chocolate, and tea.” Wicks told the crowd. The restaurant, located on Sansom Street in Philadelphia was in a building originally slated for demolition for a new mall.  Wicks rallied the neighbors and the restaurant became a hotbed for progressive activism and localism.  Speakers including Amy Goodman, Lester Brown, Helen Caldicott, and others helped focus the community on issues ranging from local engagement, health, environment, and the evils of corporate globalization.  “These view differed significantly from her former husband,” she told us.

The restaurant became a huge success, and the neighborhood was saved from the mall developer. She was able to buy her building and invest in the neighborhood, expand, and move into other entrepreneurial businesses. She was asked to join the Social Venture Network by Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.  SVN expanded into international support for localist and self-reliant businesses in Chiapas Mexico, Cuba, and Vietnam among other places.   One thing that bothered her was that even the socially responsible businesses relied on the old model of economics, which promoted growth as the predominant paradigm. Grow or Die, she told the audience, that was the model. “I was more interested in social value beyond the dollar bottom line.”  Soon Ben and Jerry’s, Odwalla Juices, Stoneyfield Farms, and Toms of Maine,  SVN leaders and icons of the social venture movement were bought out by multi-national corporations.Eventually she helped to co-found BALLE and has inspired countless people to consider business as a vehicle for social change.  Buy her book, available today at local bookstores for more details.

The question and answer session provided several enlightening exchanges. One woman asked if her success in the Sanson Street neighborhood created an opportunity for “gentrification.”  It was hard to dodge that question, and Wicks did not. “If you invest in a neighborhood, make it more livable, property values will increase.” Wicks declared.How did you avoid “Grow or die” asked another woman in the audience.  “I decided not to franchise, and instead invested in or started other business’s” she said.  Today I am retired and living mostly off rental income from the Philadelphia properties. Another question: “Can you identify one secret to your success?”  Wicks responded quickly- “I lived upstairs from the store, and then the restaurant, I lived and worked in the same neighborhood, grew my kids there, and that saved a lot of time because I didn’t have to commute.” Indeed.

Last night, Tuesday July 11^th, I attended Judy Wicks’ discussion of her novel, “Good Morning, Beautiful Business” as part of the Get the Rust Out Speaker Series through Buffalo First!. In a brief introduction, three honorable characteristics of the author were noted:

1. She has been present since the beginning, searching for alternatives to capitalism;
2. She has shown great perseverance, sticking with her work
3. Instead of monopolizing on her exceptional business practices, she has devoted herself to teaching and promoting the importance of supporting local business owners.

Wicks spent the evening providing us with a charismatic retelling of her journey to becoming a leader in sustainable business. She detailed an entertaining variety of anecdotes including her time in Alaska as a VISTA volunteer, the founding of her trademark restaurant, White Dog Café, and all of the community improvements she initiated while living in Philadelphia which included a mentoring program for high school kids interested in business, table talks on various public issues and her favorite, the Liberty and Justice for All Ball on Independence Day.

Some important messages that Wicks highlighted relate back to lessons from grade school: the value of sharing, perseverance and compassion. She described to us how she separated herself from standard business lessons and kept her home rules in her business life by treating her workers the way she wanted to be treated. Wicks commented that, “the longest journey we have to take is from the head to the heart,” but how important it is to make that journey. In showing compassion for her employees and the environment, her small take out café was able to flourish into a 200 seat, financially viable restaurant providing the community with a cruelty-free menu.

What struck me about Wicks is that instead of widening her reach she decided to look at where she lived and ask the question, “What does the community need?” She found much greater satisfaction in growing her roots deeper into her community than in expanding a chain of restaurants.  I found Wicks’ story to be an inspirational reminder to how necessary it is to support local industry. As a college student, it can be difficult to afford local products. However, Wicks reminded me that it is important to make every effort possible in order to shift industry from large corporations to locally produced goods.