At Christmas, I went with my boyfriend to “meet the parents” and as we were driving along the highway he pointed to his hometown’s Whole Foods Market and said, jokingly, “There’s Whole Foods, I bet you’d love to go there since you get to see it every day!” He was trying to be funny, but I confessed that I actually love to visit our stores in other towns because each and every one I’ve visited is different. With the varied selection of prepared foods, regional specialties in our grocery departments and locally grown produce, each of our stores truly caters to the local flavor of the community.

But the community feeling is not limited to the products we sell. I hear from customers every day about how our Team Members make them feel like part of the family. One customer I spoke with was so used to the Team Members in her store knowing her personally, she was heartbroken that one of our Team Members didn’t know her name! She explained that the store was her spiritual family. While sweetly off-kilter, that call reminded me that our stores truly do make an impact in people’s lives.

For example, after Thanksgiving I heard from Kelly, a customer in Massachusetts. Kelly’s brother-in-law was in the hospital with terminal cancer and Kelly wanted to do something nice for her sister and brother-in-law since this was likely to be the last Thanksgiving meal they would share together. Kelly did not place her order before the deadline, but she explained the situation and the team in her local store fulfilled her late order. They even went the extra mile to roast and add extra turkey wings — her brother-in-law’s favorite. Her voice quavered as she told me how much she wanted to make this Thanksgiving special for her sister and brother-in-law and how she was so appreciative that our Team Members helped make that possible.

Stories like Kelly’s are not unique. We also heard from a customer here in Austin named Jim who was delighted and surprised when he ordered Thanksgiving dinner from our Austin store for himself and his wife. His wife was recovering from surgery on Thanksgiving Day, and our store’s Team Members offered to deliver the meal to them at the hospital. He said the delivery offer was an unexpected and appreciated personal touch.

We even had some customers who love Whole Foods Market so much they included our Better Bags in their wedding décor! Many months ago I took a call from a customer in Philadelphia who was desperately searching for our limited edition Sheryl Crow bags because her son and future daughter-in-law wanted to use them as centerpieces in their green wedding. These bags were no longer available in our stores, but, luckily, I was able to track down a small stash of them in our global office. I was delighted a few weeks ago when she emailed me photos of the centerpieces. They are lovely and it’s so cool to see how the talented work of our Team Members, who helped with the design concept for the bags, inspired floral arrangements for a wedding.

We have wonderful Team Members who go out of their way to satisfy and delight our shoppers every day and the stories our customers share with us are truly a reminder that whether you work here or shop here, we are all part of one big happy family. Do you have a great story to share with us? If so, please tell us in the comments section. We’d love to hear it!

Hit the streets, tents and pavilions with Emma as she eats, drinks and dances her way through festivals that celebrate and preserve international cultures far from home.

The self-described “Martha Stewart meets MacGyver of all things food, wine and travel,” Emma Green asks the questions you would ask if you were there and gets the answers with her ever-present smile.

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

In this episode of Hungry for More, follow host Kieron Elliot as he gets up in the trees picking Satsumas and on his knees begging to drive the forklift. Will he help get fruit fresh to market before he eats all the profits?

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

Satsuma or Clementine? Taste test and get back to us!

In this episode of Hungry for More, host Kieron Elliot as tastes his way through Sinskey Vineyards and climbs into the process with both feet. Literally.

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

Are organic and biodynamic vineyards important to you?

We’re partnering with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry® Campaign to end childhood hunger in America. The No Kid Hungry Campaign supports local youth groups, schools, faith-based institutions, food banks and other community programs in providing meals to children in need.

Here are four easy ways you can help:

Donate Online & We’ll Match It

Go to our online holiday meal ordering site and select “SOS Donation” as one of your items. Make a donation and we’ll match it, up to a total of $25,000. (You can donate even if you don’t place a holiday meal order!)

Buy Organic Fuji Apples

For every pound of organic Fuji apples sold at our stores, a donation goes to the campaign. Together, Whole Foods Market, Rainier Fruit Company and Columbia Marketing International will donate two cents for each pound of organic Fuji apples sold from November 14 to December 25, up to a maximum of $30,000.

Order Gift Cards Online

For each Whole Foods Market gift card ordered online from November 16 to December 31, we’ll donate $1.

Use Special Coupons

Arrowhead Mills, Celestial Seasonings and Terra Chips will donate 40 cents per redeemed specially marked coupons featured in The Whole Deal value guide.

Watch this video to see how your donation to Share Our Strength’s No Child Hungry campaign can help the children in your community:

No Kid Hungry creates partnerships with anti-hunger groups, government agencies, corporate partners and political, education and business leaders at the state and city level to break down barriers to accessing healthy food. Learn more details about our partnership with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign and find out how Share Our Strength is making a difference in your area.

In episode 3 of Hungry for More, host Kieron Elliot visits Jaindl Turkey Farms and puts in a good day’s work bantering with organic turkeys and eating their food. Now if he could just keep a straight line, driving the combine in the feed field could be his true calling.

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

Would you eat turkey feed? Or would you prefer chicken feed?

Hit the streets, tents and pavilions with Emma as she eats, drinks and dances her way through festivals that celebrate and preserve international cultures far from home.

The self-described “Martha Stewart meets MacGyver of all things food, wine and travel,” Emma Green asks the questions you would ask if you were there and gets the answers with her ever-present smile.

There are tons of great stories out there. Watch them on Thrive and let us know what you think.

This is our fifth year to create a calendar, and each year gets better. More value for you through coupons and more funds raised to help our microcredit clients. Last year, shoppers purchased more than $70,000 in calendars, which funded 312 microloans that empowered nearly 2,000 poor women and their family members to create or expand a home-based business and create prosperity. Each year these loans are repaid and re-loaned again and again, and with your help this year, Whole Planet Foundation can empower 2,000 more women with an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty through entrepreneurship.

Whole Planet Foundation funds microcredit in 46 countries where Whole Foods Market sources products, and this year’s calendar features beautiful photographs of inspiring microcredit clients from Paraguay, Malawi, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Dominican Republic, Rwanda, India, Cambodia, Turkey, Indonesia, Ecuador and the United States.  Check out our featured microcredit client page to learn about microcredit clients like Lourdes, who used her microloan to expand her neighborhood grocery store in the Villarrica region of Paraguay, where Whole Foods Market sources sugar.

As a microcredit client of Fundación Paraguaya, she now has a support system and access to credit to invest in her own business, which after three years keeps growing and giving her hope for a better future. “When I first started, my store had a plain scale with different metal weights, a couple of shelves, very little merchandise and an old fridge,” Lourdes said.  “Now I have a digital scale, a 400 liter freezer, two big fridges and a bigger quantity of merchandise.”

Pick up your copy of the Whole Planet Foundation 2012 Calendar in your local US and Canada Whole Foods Market store through January. Thank you for your help providing a hand up to more than a million people!

Since 1986, Gaia Herbs has been committed to growing certified organic herbs.  Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, the Gaia Herb Farm is one of the largest medicinal herb farms in the United States, with some 50 crops growing on 250 acres of certified organic river bottom soil.

Eat it!

Make sure you look for the local vendors we feature in our Northern California stores like Liba Falafel, El Porteno Empanadas, and Scream Sorbet. It’s a great way to meet your favorite chefs face to face and tell them how much you love their food.

We’ll have a special area where you can put your feet up and relax with some tasty treats from our own Taco Truck featuring Creminelli Meat Whip, Grilled Figs with Goat Cheese, Hodo Soy Kung Pao Yuba Salad and Jalapeno Battered Fork in the Road Corn Dog Bites.

You can take a bit of Eat Real home with you, too! The Craft Marketplace will have handmade honeys, jams, pickles, and other deliciousness for sale. There’ll be a complimentary bag check, so you can buy your treats, go enjoy the fest, and then pick up your goods before heading home.

Drink it!

The Beer Shed will have an amazing selection of local small-batch brews. For you wine-aficionados, we’ve got a whole Wine Barn full of velvety reds, crisp whites, and tangy roses from the East Bay Vintner’s Association. All Bev Shacks offer refreshing non-alcoholic beverages like Iced Tea and Lemonade. Additionally, we’ll have local kombucha from Lev’s Original and natural sodas from Taylor’s.

Make it!

Eating is only half the fun! Get hands-on in a DIY food workshop or show off your goods in a food craft contest, or learn the basics of backyard farming. Learn how to brew the perfect cup of coffee with Blue Bottle Coffee, make kraut with Happy Girl Kitchen Co., stretch mozzarella with Belfiore Cheese Company and brew mighty mushroom tea with Lev’s Original Kombucha.

Grow it!

Ever wonder how to milk your own goat? Or grow a vegetable patch that actually produces enough for winter preserves? Then mosey on over to the Eat Real Corral and get acquainted with backyard farmers and farm animals. They’re ready, willing, and able to answer all your questions, from honeybee dos-and-don’ts to getting the best backyard eggs. Or you can say hi to Lucy and Ethel, the miniature goats from Itty Bitty Farm in the City.

See it!

If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to make your kitchen more self-sufficient, then Eat Real’s got you covered. A crack line-up of master food crafters will present demos on everything from making bacon to coffee roasting.

Cheer on the next generation of culinary celebrities at the Sprouts Kids Cook Off. Two teams of kids race to beat the clock and each other to cook a dish that uses a secret featured ingredient. The winning team of mini top chefs will get a prize!

Watch three competing teams of butchers break down steer hindquarters and wild boars right before your eyes at the Flying Knives Steer & Wild Boar Butchery Contests.  Emceed by Anya Fernald, they’ll have 45 minutes to make their high quality cuts – from primal to retail. Judges will be looking for accuracy, quality of trimmings, technique, and teamwork.

This is really just a small taste of all that’s happening. Make sure you hit up http://eatrealfest.com/ before you come so you can fill your belly with all of your favorites! We can’t wait to see you there.