Good food and good company can easily sum up the second annual Honest Weight Food Coop’s Working Member Dinner, which was held on Sunday evening, November 10. More than 250 weekly and monthly members gathered at St. Sophia’s Church on Whitehall Avenue, Albany, at a dinner coordinated by the Coop’s Membership committee. From planning, to cooking, to set-up and clean-up, the whole event was a grand member effort.

For a $2 donation, members dined on salads, hummus, baba ganouj, tabouleh, squash, yams, mousaka, roasted veggies, shepherd’s pie and an array of desserts—all cooked by dozens of Coop member chefs. And judging by the constant shuffling of empty and full food trays and the number of people purchasing leftovers to take home (a bargain at $1.50 a half-pint) it was all a resounding success. The dinner crowd was also serenaded throughout much of the evening by pianist Paul Cronin. Special performances were also presented by the poetry trio, Three Guys from Albany (who have already played in 10 of the 18 Albanys nationwide), and by pianist Alan Thompson. And the many kids in attendance had use of St. Sophia’s wonderful space for children that was filled with toys and games.

The Membership committee hopes to sponsor more of these types of events. If you would like to help out and work on these events please contact the committee. Special thanks for the success of this Working Member Dinner goes to Matt Pellowski, Erin McEwen, and Juli Ann Curtis-Lefebvre of the Membership committee for transporting, heating, and setting up much of the food served at the dinner, to Nate Horwitz for serving as the staff coordinator, and to all the wonderful member chefs.