FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PHILADELPHIA, PA, January 13, 2104 — When thousands of Martin Luther King Day of Service volunteers converge on Girard College Monday, Jan. 20, Weavers Way will be there.

But while most of the participants will be working on projects addressing the 19th annual Philadelphia King Day’s focus on helping schools, we’ll be doing what we do best:

Providing lunch.

Starting Sunday, Jan. 19, Weavers Way managers, staff and members will prepare sandwiches to sustain the expected 6,000 volunteers at the Girard “signature site.” (Weavers Way members who want to help can contact Outreach Coordinator Bettina de Caumette at outreach@weaversway.coop, or 215-843-2350 ext. 119.)

Among the Weavers Way suppliers filling our MLK Day larder are Baker Street, Beechwood Orchards, Dietz & Watson, Foods Galore, Julius Silvert, Le Bus Bakery, Restaurant Depot and Weavers Orchard.

This year’s King Day coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, the decision that barred racial segregation in public schools. “That offers an opportunity to highlight Dr. King’s activism on educational equality,” said Todd Bernstein, founder and director of the annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service.

Bernstein, a Weavers Way member who also heads up Global Citizen, a nonprofit organization that promotes civic engagement year-round, is predicting a regional volunteer turnout topping 125,000.

Classroom and library books, computers and college preparation materials are still being collected at the offices of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, 801 Market St., and will be sorted and packed by volunteers at Girard College, Girard and Corinthian avenues. (Info: globalcitizen365.org.)

To find out how to volunteer, visit mlkdayofservice.org, contact your local school or community or religious organization. For example, Weavers Way friends and neighbors Awbury Arboretum (www.awbury.org), Friends of the Wissahickon (www.fow.org), Greene Street Friends School (www.greenestreetfriends.org) and the Unitarian Society of Germantown (www.mlkphillyuus.org) all have MLK Day activities planned.

About Weavers Way
Weavers Way is Philadelphia’s oldest member-owned food co-op. Our stores in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill are open to the public and offer quality products that are local, sustainable and nutritious. For more information, visit www.weaversway.coop.