These days, many businesses say they’re community-focused, and plenty are true to that claim. Being engaged with our neighbors is actually good business, because if a community isn’t thriving and healthy, its businesses will struggle.
Organizations across Savannah are supporting the Canyon Ranch Institute Savannah Partnership, which is helping people make healthy choices every day through the energetic CRI Life Enhancement Program with Curtis V. Cooper Primary Health Care and the CRI Healthy Garden program at Trustees’ Garden, as well as the CRI Theater for Health and CRI Healthy Table programs that will launch in 2015.
One CRISP collaborator — the 1-year-old Dept. 7 East — is getting a lot of media attention, winning awards and receiving outstanding reviews across social media for its delicious food and quirky sandwich names (Bonnie Blue, anyone?).
Dept. 7 East also has earned accolades and return business for its highly professional catering and in-house events, dedication to locally sourced ingredients and even its charming décor.
But there is a little secret about Dept. 7 East that isn’t being blasted from Savannah’s rooftops. Dept. 7 East co-owners Meta Adler and chef Michele Jemison are investing in the Savannah community by contributing time, money, food and Savannah-style hospitality and love back to the people and place they call home.
I had no luck getting these ladies to brag about themselves. Adler and Jemison are great business partners and friends who finish each other’s sentences and seem to have an unspoken pact about not tooting their own horns. So we’re bragging for them.
Their philosophy is laid out on their website like this: “We feel passionately for supporting local purveyors, farmers and businesses, while always contributing positively back to our Savannah community.”
In conversation, Adler and Jemison are much more apt to sing the praises of their suppliers, such as Davis Produce, Polk Produce and Dubberly’s Seafood. Check out the photo to learn more about Dept. 7 East and their commitment to CRISP and Savannah. And then visit them at 7 East Broughton in beautiful historic Savannah, online at www.dept7east.com or call them at 912-232-0215.
If you want more info about CRISP, call Canyon Ranch Institute at 912-443-3264 or email CRI@canyonranchinstitute.org.

Cabe is the executive director and a board member of Canyon Ranch Institute.