Sustainability becomes part of everyone's everyday life in Cleveland as we all connect together and leverage the strengths of all. There was a perfect demonstration of that this week at REALNEO's home away from the office - A.J. Rocco's Espresso Bar and Restaurant - as a result of REALNEO member Sudhir Raghupathy bringing together a group of socially conscious young people he calls NEO Net Impact, on Tuesday, November 29, at A.J. Rocco's. Just two days later, A.J. Rocco's became the first downtown restaurant participating in a program to add their organic waste to a composting initiative in Ohio City.

All it took for this to happen was connecting Net Impact members together. At Sudhir's meeting, member, Maurice Small, who is Learning Garden Manager for the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and Coordinator for Cleveland City Fresh, connected with Net Impact member Nicole Tuzzio, who works at  A.J. Rocco's and shares an interest in organic produce and gardening. Maurice explained to Nicole about his initiative to composte restaurant waste, - Nicole connected Maurice with A.J. Rocco's owner Brendan Walton and two days later bins were set up to collect waste that can be composted (e.g. coffee grounds, egg shells, and other organic matter).

A.J. Rocco's is thus the first restaurant in downtown Cleveland to participate in this community-wide, cooperative sustainability initiative, joining the likes of Great Lakes Brewing Company, Parkers, and Lolita, among other. For more information on the program, contact Maurice Small at mrsmall216 [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Such socially conscious action is not unique for locally-owned A.J. Rocco's, which roasts its own coffees, hand-bags locally-made organic teas, provides free wi-fi, recycles unused bagels as bagel chips, and was the first bar/restaurant in Cleveland to offer a completely smoke-free environment. Next up - they plan to be the first restaurant in downtown Cleveland that recycles glass waste.

On St. Patrick's Day,  A.J. Rocco's is also the Cleveland-area home of the St. Baldrick's Foundation's annual fundraising to cure childhood cancer. On St. Patrick's day 2005, A.J. Rocco's helped raise over $150,000 by shaving the heads of sponsored locals, including Forest City's Brian Ratner, placing this small venue in St. Baldrick's Foundation's Top 5 fundraisers nation-wide.

So, join the sustainabiliity movement by regularly joining REALNEO and those in the know at A.J. Rocco's and contributing to composting in NEO. A.J. Rocco's is at 812 Huron Road and is open from around 6 AM until 8 PM - sometimes later...