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November 2015 - In This Issue:
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Upcoming Events
November 28 . All Day!
Small Business Saturday
Shop Small, Shop Local!
Everywhere!
December 2 . 11am-3pm
Checkout Bag Vendor Fair
@ The Middle East
December 3 . 6pm-8pm
Fair Food Boot Camp Pitch Competition
@ Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
December 3 . 6pm-8pm
JP Local First Directory Launch
@ City Feed & Supply
December 10 . 7-10pm
SBN's 14th Annual Winter Gala
@ Arts at the Armory
March 8 . 8:30am-1:30pm
Local Specialty Crop & Local Food Trade Shows
@ Northeastern University
Registration Opening Soon
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Dear Members and Friends,
The Board and staff feel incredibly grateful to be a part of the wider SBN community! Not only are we changing the world with our work every day, but we experience great joy in building our sustainable economy movement. The recent Local Craft BrewFest was an excellent example of how SBN throws a better party while supporting the growth and development of locally owned and independent businesses! Over 600 people thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were overwhelmed with the variety and taste of so many delightfully different types of local brews and spirits!
We hope that you will join us in celebrating a terrific year of building an economy that is local, green, and fair. Our Winter Gala on December 10 will be memorable and I hope you all take the time to be with like-minded folks who value community and work to build a vibrant local community.
As we approach the giving season please remember to Shift Your Shopping toward locally owned and independent businesses! A small change in shopping behavior can make a big difference to a local business and to our local economy!
I am honored to have my business be chosen as the first winner of the Massachusetts Sustainable Business of the Year Award! I hope that this Award will acknowledge and celebrate for many years to come the good works of many businesses throughout our state and work to raise the bar for what is expected from businesses.
With Gratitude,
Laury Hammel
Executive Director
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Celebrate with SBN at the 14th Annual Winter Gala!
On Thursday, December 10, SBN will host our annual Winter Gala and fundraiser at
Arts at the Armory in Somerville. The evening will be a casual, festive affair to celebrate the accomplishments of SBN and our members and partners in 2015.
What to expect:
* Enjoy Local Music & Dancing
* Unveiling of the First Annual Sustainable Business Award
* Silent & Live Auctions with Robin Young featuring items from the Red Sox, Bruins and more!
Purchase your tickets for an evening filled with all things good and local!
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Left to right, John Harper, Cedar Energy; Alex Kealy, Solect; Willie Osborn, Cedar Energy; Laury Hammel and Myke Farricker
of Longfellow; at ribbon cutting major solar installation in Wayland.
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The Longfellow Clubs to Receive the First Sustainable Business of the Year Award!
The Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts was founded in 1988 and was the first association of businesses committed to changing the world and to building a sustainable economy that is local, green, and fair.
For the first time, SBN has established an award that honors one or more Massachusetts businesses that has made extraordinary contributions to our community and to our local economy. This allows SBN to recognize and publicize the good works of sustainable Massachusetts businesses.
The first winner of this award will be The Longfellow Clubs, located in Wayland, Sudbury, Natick, and Franklin, MA and Salt Lake City, Utah. Laury Hammel, his partner Myke Farricker, and The Longfellow Clubs have been leaders in sustainability since its inception 43 years ago. Below is a list of some of the major actions they have taken in the community and in their companies during nearly 50 years of doing business:
SBN was founded by Longfellow president, Laury Hammel, on September 29, at the Longfellow Sports Club in Natick.
* SBN was founded by Longfellow President, Laury Hammel, on September 29, at the Longfellow Sports Club in Natick.
* Laury also co-founded and led two influential national organizations--Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) and the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).
* Longfellow was the first graduate of the Sustainable Business Leader Program (SBLP) an SBN green certification program.
* Longfellow is known as the `greenest health club' in the US and has incorporated several innovative green business practices.
Please join us in celebrating innovative entrepreneurship and sustainable job creation of one of Massachusetts most influential businesses! |
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6th Annual Local Craft Brewfest Rocked the Boat at Cruiseport Boston!
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On Friday, November 20th, SBN hosted our 6th Annual Local Craft Brewfest. Over 600 fans of local brews traveled to Cruiseport Boston to taste the best of what New England brewers have to offer. This year the Local Craft Brewfest fe
atu
red
more distilleries and spirits than ever. Attendees could sample over 120 products while listening to live music from Coastal Flux, enjoying local food, and learn
ing new tricks at the cocktail demos. Click here for pictures!
Missed the Brewfest? You can still purchase a Drink Local bottle opener or t-shirt here!
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SBN to Host Checkout Bag Vendor Fair with
City of Cambridge
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What:
Checkout Bag Vendor Fair
When:
Wednesday, December 2, 11am - 3pm
Where:
The Middle East Downstairs
480 Massachusetts Avenue, Central Square
Vendors and city employees will be on site to answer questions about the ordinance and compliant bags.
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Shift Your Shopping this Holiday Season!
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 On November 14 the 5th annual Shift Your Shopping holiday campaign launches the 2015 season, encouraging individuals and businesses to "shift" more of their visits for holiday shopping, entertaining and dining to local independent businesses. More than 180 local business organizations across the U.S. and Canada, collectively representing more than 38,000 locally owned and independent businesses, are participating in this collaborative campaign. The campaign continues through December.
Shift Your Shopping was created five years ago by Cambridge Local First and Somerville Local First and its mission is to "build a tradition that strengthens local economies, expands local employment, nurtures a sense of community, and provides a more relaxed, fun, and rewarding holiday shopping experience."
Grassroots groups like Monadnock Buy Local, the Louisville Independent Business Alliance and others will execute campaigns with their own local flair, using Shift Your Shopping templates as well as incorporating campaigns like Plaid Friday and Cider Monday (pro-local antidotes to the chain-centered Black Friday and "Cyber Monday").
The campaign also encourages people to employ the energy and resources of Small Business Saturday as part of season-long outreach.
When event marketers whose business is promoting Black Friday report that 79% of their website users don't like to shop on the day, you know the times are changing! Jen Risley, Executive Director of Monadnock Buy Local, a New Hampshire advocacy group notes that "Shift Your Shopping promotes the community-centered alternative to the consumer frenzy that descends upon us each November."
The ShiftYourShopping.org website provides a gateway to resources from many community campaigns and includes easy-to-use graphics and activities that allow participants to spread the critical message easily where they live. Read More
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Boot Camp Pitch Competition |
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Fair Food Network is excited to invite you to the 3rd annual Fair Food Business Boot Camp pitch competition featuring:
- Humble Pie A maker of delicious pies using whole ingredients sourced from local farms and producers.
- Kriemhild Dairy Farms A maker of meadow butter and creme fraiche from grass fed cows milk from upstate New York
- SecondsFirst A food processing business creating a low-cost source of vegetables and sustainable protein for food insecure communities by freezing, preparing, and packaging imperfect vegetables from local farms, and processing the areas' under-appreciated fish into delicious fish cakes.
- ThirtyAcre Farm A family farm that produces and sells lacto fermented sauerkrauts, kimchis, and pickles made from vegetables grown on theirs and neighboring farms.
- Vermont Chevon, LLC Supporting Vermont's dairy goat farms by converting surplus livestock into a premium meat source.
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Three days of intensive training will culminate December 3 at 5:30pm at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care in Wellesley, MA! All participating entrepreneurs are helping grow vibrant local food systems, but only one will win the prize of $10,000 in Fair Food consulting services.
Also featuring opening remarks by Oran B. Hesterman, President and CEO of Fair Food Network. |
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Welcome to the Newest Members of our Growing Network!
Experience Farm.Field.Sea for a deep and lasting understanding of, and appreciation for, the local bounty that graces your plate. Join them to discover local people, places, and sustainable processes that drive your personal farm, sea, and table adventure. Cultivate a warm, personal understanding of individuals and families growing and catching local food sources and gain a unique insight into sustainable practices on the Island. Create a culinary celebration with experts and fellow explorers, and take great pleasure in enjoying the fantastic dishes you help make/ Celebrate with your new friends around a communal table on an amazing, local-as-it-gets feast. Pick the excursion that's best for you!
Focused Sustainability Consulting Group, LLC is a consulting firm specializing in developing environmental programs designed to significantly reduce costs for waste disposal, recycling, food waste/organics, cooking oil, grease trap pumping, bio-medical/red-bag & sharps waste while increasing revenue and promoting sound sustainability practices.
In addition to waste consulting services, they also offer complete LED retrofits with zero out of pocket expense - they will secure all available rebates for you and make sure you qualify for IRS Sec 179D tax incentives. The project pays for itself through the savings generated and in most cases you will be cash flow positive upon project completion.
 At
Noble Expos,You Matter. They know your company and your clients matter to you, and you and your clients matter to us. They bring you exceptional learning and growth experiences from beginning to end. At their core, we believe in honesty, integrity, hard work and fun. Noble Expos strives to bring you expos and conferences that hit hard at the hub of what you need to know, learn, see & do. They position you for networking and sales opportunities that bring you face to face with your clients and peers.
Learn more here.
Renewing Members
Dirty Dick's Hot Sauce produces the 'World's Greatest Hot Sauce.' It's an outstanding exotic blend of habanero peppers, tropical fruits and sweetness plus freshly ground spaces from around the world. The sauce is delicious for cooking and dipping and can be purchased by the bottle or by the case!
Visit their website and order yours today!
Seaview Farm sits at the northern-most tip of Cape Ann and 37 miles from Boston in the seaside village of Rockport. Seaview Farm offers a farmstand as well as a beef and veggie CSA featuring grass fed beef and is the supplier of many farm to table restaurants. Visit them on your next visit to Rockport or find them at some of SBN's events!
Taza Chocolate makes stone ground chocolate. Cacao is so complex in flavor that Taza lets it shout loud and proud. They do less to bring you more by stone grinding organic cacao beans into perfectly unrefined, minimally processed chocolate with bold flavor and texture, unlike anything you have ever tasted. Taza is a pioneer in ethical cacao sourcing and was the first US chocolate maker to establish a third-party certified Direct Trade Cacao Certification program. By maintaining direct relationships with cacao farmers and paying a premium above fair trade price, Taza has proven their respect for the rights of workers and the environment. Learn more by taking a tour of their Somerville facility!
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The 5th annual Local Economy Week!
Back row: Craig Kelley, Dennis Carlone, Josh Gerber, Jessica Manganello, Amy Witherbee, Pardis Saffari, Gene Kalaw, Frank Kramer, Nadeem Mazen, Lee Joseph, and Charlie Marquardt.
Front row: Michael Kanter, Chris Durkin, Carrissa Blackburn, Rachael Solem, Lesley Kraemer, and Lisa Hemmerle.
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CLF Celebrates 10 Years
On Tuesday, November 10, Cambridge Local First celebrated their 10th Anniversary at the Sinclair. The founding members were there to celebrate the accomplishments of the organization during their first decade.
New Economy Week
The City of Cambridge and Cambridge Local First once again celebrated Local Economy Week! Established in 2010, the week recognizes the hundreds of diverse, locally owned businesses in Cambridge.
Harvard Square Cash Mob
A Cash Mob will be crowding the Harvard Square on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015. Cambridge Local First (CLF) will ask Cash Mob shoppers to pledge to spend a minimum of $10 at local businesses that day.
CLF will be in Brattle Square Plaza between 10:00 am-2:00 pm, to hand out maps to let people know where they can shop and eat locally. This map will feature local business' deals and sales. The first 200 shoppers will receive a complimentary Cash Mob tote bag. The shoppers supporting the most local businesses that day will be able to enter a raffle giveaway for a $100 gift card to Cardullos Gourmet Food Shoppe.
The Cambridge Community Chorus
will be performing at 11 am. This event is graciously sponsored by CLF member, nift.
Cambridge Local First invites the Cambridge community to do their holiday shopping by supporting local business. CLF encourages everyone to shop locally and remember that, when you chose a local business, nearly every dollar you spend in your city, stays in your city.
Directory Launch Celebration . 12.3.15 . City Feed & Supply . 6-8pm . RSVP
Pick up a free 2016 directory of locally owned, sustainable businesses in JP as you sample specialty foods and drinks and chat with JP Local First members, including those who do not have storefronts-such as massage therapists, photographers, consultants, and landscapers.
Waltham Celebrates Two Years!
We're happy to announce that Waltham Local First celebrated two years with their Directory Launch Party! We look forward to seeing the organization continue to grow!
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Have a Green Thanksgiving!
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Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts
