OK, while admittedly this news might be considered a tad off the Homegrown Cookbook's storyline, the fact is that the homegrown work force and ingredients and the joy of seeing two social enterprises coming together to improve their communities is, in fact, spot on to my passion for all things local, homegrown and good makes this a rather ideal and perfect story line for the blog.
I hope you agree.
My husband and I were privileged to attend the Greyston benefit fundraising event at the invitation of his boss.
What a delightful discovery to learn about her passion and commitment to this extraordinary, culinary-based cause.
In fact, Greyston's work is so profound and impactful that I was chagrined I hadn't heard about it previously. Is it just me?
The CEO, Steve Brown, couldn't disagree...
He said they are working on it.
But there is so much of a good food/good community story there that I couldn't wait to share the news of their efforts.
Please enjoy the post and if you can, contribute to helping the Greyston effort. You can just buy the brownies!
Greyston – Marking 30 years of making brownies
Long before Sex in the
City made Magnolia Bakery the talk of the town or Billy’s Bakery became the
lovechild of Martha Stewart, Vogue.com and The
Today Show, Ben & Jerry’s (www.benjerry.com)
put the Greyston Bakery on the map.
But this was no fancy or delicate collaborative confection.
Rather this was a partnership forged by two titans of social
justice who aimed to arm-wrestle homelessness, childcare and unemployment.
And win.
The relationship is an enduring one – lasting some 20 years
and counting.
The back-story is Greyston founder; Bernie Glassman was
running a kitchen to serve his Zen community in 1982.
Glassman is an aerospace engineer who’s vision helped launch
more than jets or rockets to take flight.
His community activism coalesced around giving hope to those
in the community who have been incarcerated, struggled with substance abuse and
lack of education, suffered from the double drama related to HIV-AIDS of both
the disease and the stigma of having the now-curable condition, along with
child care and often having no place to live.
The Yonkers and Riverdale area at that time had a soaring homeless
population.
The Greyston Bakery was launched to produce locally made
food items in order to provide jobs and funding for the other legs of the
efforts’ social mission.
Soon, the Bronx-based bakery was cooking up high quality
food, especially baked goods and desserts for the city’s restaurants and food
stores.
Bernie and Ben met at The Social Ventures Network - a
conference for social justice, mission-driven organizations and struck an
immediate rapport.
It’s a truism that great minds think alike so no wonder that
these two optimists of utilizing culinary crafts to further a cause struck a
chord.
Bernie made brownies.
Ben needed brownies for their Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. What could be simpler and more simpatico?
That first shipment of brownies took a bad turn, though, so
it could’ve been the partnership that almost wasn’t.
But like PB&J this duo was meant to be together.
See, according to
Greyston lore, it seems that “Ben & Jerry's had originally intended to use
Greyston Bakery's brownies for ice cream sandwiches. Unfortunately, the
brownies stuck together during shipping and arrived in one big lump of product.
Instead of discarding the lump of brownies, Ben & Jerry's chopped them up
and used them as inclusions in its ice cream.”
Talk about making
lemonade out of lemons… or Fudgies from brownies…
It was karma. Times
the stars.
Right there on the side of the pint of ice cream (and on the
Ben & Jerry website) the Greyston brownie connection is in the spotlight.
While it’s true that any bona fide ice cream lover might
plunge the scoop or spoon without reading the legend, all will be forgiven as
the heavenly taste is what will eventually bring the sweet-tooths back for
more. And that’s the best news for Ben
& Jerry and Bernie and Greyston.
So for those who can’t wait to scoop, here’s what Ben &
Jerry say on their pints:
“This flavor combines
our great ice cream with chewy, fudgy brownies. These brownies are baked by
Greyston Bakery, which provides employment and training to economically
disadvantaged residents of Yonkers, NY.
We are glad to have Greyston as a business partner because we get great
tasting brownies and we also get to support the good work they do to create
economic opportunities in their communications.”
Today, Ben & Jerry’s represents approximately 60 percent
of Greyston’s total business.
It is the sustainable underpinning that allows the Yonkers-based
effort to coordinate its noble work.
Think of the delicious, handcrafted brownies as a ticket to
a better life.
Any self– respecting sweets lover knows that brownies are
practically synonymous with a special treat– but in Greyston’s case, their
portfolio of brownies is a means to an end.
Greyston’s key talking point – that actually resonates
because of its veracity – is: "We
don't hire people so that we can make brownies, we make brownies so that we can
hire people.”
Long before chefs supported edible schoolyard gardens or
healthy locavore menus, there were good citizens like Bernie and Ben &
Jerry who advocated food as a way to -- if not enlightenment -- at least to a
better way of life here in Gotham.
The Greyston Foundation has evolved from Glassman’s kitchen in
a Yonkers mansion. After all, this
wasn’t a soup kitchen kind of effort.
Rather, the mission was to offer the Greyston constituents a
sustainable and permanent ticket to a better life – one where they could earn a
living, live in an affordable home, and have access to affordable child care
and garden-fresh food. A life with
dignity…
The name itself is derived from Buddhism – the Sanskrit word
mandala means circle. The social
enterprise notes Greyston’s Mandala
is “modeled on two central principles: Mandala is a symbolic representation of
the interconnectedness of all life and Path is the idea that all healthy living
systems evolve along a developmental path with distinct stage.” Greyston Mandela integrates for-profit and
non-profit while joining community development with personal growth.
Greyston’s initial effort produced both savory and sweet
food for commercial enterprises.
Today, the bakery is their number one, largest enterprise,
representing approximately 50-60% of their effort with childcare next, followed
by Housing and then by the HIV effort and the gardens.
In order to keep up with demand and sales, Greyston expanded
the bakery in 2004 to its present 23.000 square foot facility.
Through its illustrious and dedicated Board members, a New
York networking connection was made by the Board Chair to no less than the
award-winning architect, designer, and landscape artist, Maya Lin, who is
probably most famous for designing the Vietnam Memorial and the Storm King
Wavefield. The company says it brought
Lin onto the building team to give the bakery and manufacturing facility a more
“aesthetic appearance.”
Take that, celebrity architects the likes of Daniel
Libeskind!
The facility is a 100% LEEDS certified factory constructed
on a redeveloped brownfield.
According to Greyston, the
Bakery is now an $8 million for-profit company that trains and employs more
than 80 people who face barriers to employment.
Greyston Bakery operates with
a double bottom line, prioritizing both profits and social contributions.
They are the primary supplier
of brownies for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and produces 30,000 pounds of
brownies each day.
By any measure, that’s a LOT
of brownies.
Separate from its Ben & Jerry’s
and commercial, wholesale business, Greyston produces an all natural
line of products that taste great while supporting the greater good and can be
ordered from the Greyston Bakery website: (www.greystonbakery.com).
According to Steven Brown, president and CEO, Greyston, the
food that Greyston made was always of the highest quality. This attention to quality amplified the
non-profit’s message.
When asked if the adherence to high quality products showed
just how much the creators of the food items – who are considered by some
unenlightened one-percenter’s to be not so versed or capable of embracing high
quality, the answer was a resounding, “Yes.”
As a matter of fact, the goal according to founder Bernie
was to show the contrast, Brown noted. The strategy was to showcase people who
were usually dismissed as the “hard to hire,” and how they could – if just
given the chance – produce food that is world-class and of The best quality.
In fact, Brown is proud to share how Greyston has provided
food to a plethora of commercial enterprise, including top-tier restaurants and
some celebrity sparklers like the White House and Ellen DeGeneres.
It’s hard to make the case that these folks and so many of
Gotham’s best restaurants and grocery stores, including Whole Foods, and of
course, Ben & Jerry’s, would choose to offer and feature Greyston brownies
and other desserts if they were not top-tier or The Best.
Greyston led the way, demonstrating how food is a fundamental
dynamic and network to benefit local communities. And others have picked up the
baton.
That said, Greyston’s Path Making program is unique.
Based on founder Glassman’s philosophy, it is a guide to self-sufficiency.
PathMaking is a holistic approach to self-sufficiency.
According to Greyston, “PathMaking is … an effort to support all its
community members (staff, residents, program members, volunteers and board
members) to grow and develop into stronger and healthier individuals through
personal growth that includes attention not only to the initial or primary
reason for their connection to Greyston, but also to the body, mind, heart and
spirit”
Or
in other words, Greyston fulfills the Lao Tzu Chinese founder of Taoism proverb
who said, “If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach a man
to fish you feed him for a lifetime.” In
Yonkers, the team learns how to take care of themselves given the chance.
Job Creators
“We have a bias to create jobs,” said Brown.
When pressed how Greyston increased their business by 50%
thereby expanding their work force in an economic environment that was, by any
economist’s barometer, probably the worst business crises in generations, Brown
demurred, saying, “We had more orders.”
He added that Ben & Jerry’s continued to grow (perhaps
hard times sparks the affordable luxury such as indulging in ice cream and
brownie treats).
People kept buying ice cream!
Plus, Greyston continued to attract new customers, according
to Brown.
Greyston has a talking point that best describes their work
philosophy:
While primarily a wholesale baker to commercial enterprise,
including restaurants and food stores including Whole Foods and Whole Planet,
the non-profit also offers a direct to customer web site: www.greystonbakery.com Greyston’s line of brownies is a win/win
treat and gift.
Once the recipient learns of the good work proffered by Greyston,
every delicious bite brings tasty and happy rewards and no guilty pleasure.
The brownies are an ideal gift for any occasion to share the
good food and make a special hostess gift this time of year when heading out to
visit friends and family in the country or at the beach.
The job training provided by Greyston is by and large the
work in the bakery.
The also have another job training program where the sills
they train for and not the ultimate employer.
For example, food prep or healthcare training are related
fields where Greyston trains the employee, staying true to its mission but the
staffer finds employment elsewhere - not in the bakery.
Extending the
Mission
In fact, the three legs of Greyston’s mission are described
as People, Profit and the Planet.
Sustainability is increasingly integral to their socially
responsible business movement.
Solar energy is yet another area where Greyston is a
leader. The renewable energy initiative,
provided by Green Mountain Energy is new. http://www.greenmountain.com/)
Here, Greyston is looking to not only power up the electric
power needs of the bakery and reduce the electric costs but to better utilize
the waste water one where they demonstrate they grew water and rood water
Greyston is justly proud to highlight they are the first non-profit
in New York State to be recognized as a Certified B Corporation.
They are in good company. B Corp recognizes those companies
as the best businesses in the World for creating the most positive overall
social and environmental impact.
In addition, through Greyston’s outreach with Groundwork
Hudson Valley, a Yonkers community garden effort, Greyston has been involved and supportive of
urban gardens for 20 years, working to give citizens a way to grow organic,
healthy food.
Chef Peter Kelly, a Yonkers native, lends his restaurant,
X20 Xavier, to host the annual Greyston fundraiser gala. “The guests are
treated well. Chef Peter offers fabulous
and generous hospitality,” says Brown. “It’s an unbeatable combination – great
location and views and delicious food.“
Brown noted that Chef Peter does incredible things with the Greyston
brownies. “Did you taste his crème brulee?” he challenged.
Looking ahead to the next 30 years, Brown sees opportunities
for social entrepreneurship in addition to the bakery - and will look for other enterprises to grow
their business and bottom line.
This
Examiner suggested consulting and team leadership a la Danny Meyer’s hospitality
outreach. After all, as a social enterprise, Greyston has led the way with its PathMaking
roadmap to self-sufficiency and independence.
Brownie Trivia
Do you know where the brownie was first conceived?
In 1876, in Boston, a cooking school created a molasses
based cookie cake baked in small tins.
The origin of the name is from the color of the cookie.
Seems New York took more than the Babe from Boston and made
it its own…
Isn’t it cosmic then that Greyston’s CEO is named Brown?
And his favorite brownie? He says it's a toss up between the
Fudge and the Blondie.
Any way you cut it, you can’t go wrong with delicious
Greyston brownies – “The Brownie Company."
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