Greer Grounds Goes Green and Whole Foods Loan Program

I love alliteration! Imagine my surprise when I went to visit my favorite afternoon ice cream spot up in Greer, Arizona, and found a local Queen of Green! For those of you not familiar with Greer, it is a beautiful piece of green heaven in the northeast part of Arizona and about a four and a half hour drive from Tucson. The elevation is about 8300 feet so for a cool getaway and relief from the summer heat, it's perfect.

But I digress. Greer Grounds, the delightful little coffee shop on the main street, has great ice cream, awesome coffee and other wonderful treats - perfect for a vacation comfort food stop. The owner, Kristi Spillman, is committed to sustainability and making Greer greener! I was thrilled to find 100% biodegradable cups from from corn as well as forks, spoons and dishes all made from biodegradable materials as well. Her website is www.ilovegreerarizona.com and I have to say it shows. If she can do it with the size of her shop, every restaurant in America should be able to and we should all be advocating for that every time we dine out.

On another "walk the talk" note - Whole Foods does it again. They have a local loan program that helps farmers to grow their business. The pilot program which can lend as much as $1,000 to $100,000 is called Local Producer Loan Program. The decentralized company is relying on employees who work with new and existing vendors to get the word out about the program. One person who has taken advantage of it received $50,000 to expand his certified-organic facility business which brews tea with sugar to create a fermented drink called kombucha.

I loved reading all the details of this article because Whole Food gets it. They emphasize carrying and marketing food and products from local businesses all over the country. This kind of program offers significant help to small growers and food artisans AND it makes our world a greener, healthier place. Kudos to Whole Foods for demonstrating outstanding leadership one more time.