We’ve lost track of the “get healthy” resolutions we’ve heard so far for 2013: hitting the gym, eating better, less stress, more sleep…the usual. But nowhere on the list had we heard “stop stalking Facebook and Twitter so much and start reconnecting with actual human beings.” That is, until we stumbled upon a new organization called Warm Cookies of the Revolution. (Naturally, the name hooked us immediately.) 

This monthly effort to bring Denver’s civic-minded citizens together over cookies, ice cream, and soup is the brainchild of Buntport Theater Company’s Evan Weissman. It’s his attempt to facilitate “an antidote to the loneliness that comes with Facebook and other online interactions” (a line which is, ironically, posted on the group’s Facebook page). But more than that, he wants Denverites to improve not their physical or mental health, but their civic health.

How? By creating a space for people to meet, share a snack, and exchange ideas on improving our community. Weissman plans to open a storefront space near Denver’s Esquire Theater and invite community members to attend regular gatherings and contribute a pay-what-you-can donation. Normally, he says, important civic issues are discussed in forums such as City Council meetings—in other words, Snoozeville for your average citizen. But by bringing people together in a laid-back and engaging social setting—he plans to serve milk and cookies from the Santa Fe Cookie Co. and vegan cookies from Watercourse Foods, as well as ice cream and soup from local vendors—Weissman hopes the ideas will flow, collaborations will form, and community projects will develop. “The idea behind it is to make a place to exercise our community’s civic health in the same way you’d go to the gym for your physical health or to the therapist for your mental health,” Weissman says. “There are a lot of groups in town doing great things, and no one really knows about them unless they’ve sought them out.”

Although Weissman has secured the space, he doesn’t expect it to be up and running until the end of 2013. In the meantime, the monthly gatherings will be held at Buntport Theater, and he hopes to host meetings at various other neighborhood venues in the future, such as RedLine in Curtis Park and the McNichols Civic Center Building. He says he wants to bring the concept to individual neighborhoods to create “a program that people can invest themselves in” before launching the permanent location. Check the Facebook page for updates and more information.

Cheers to 2013 and Warm Cookies—a more human way to approach the issues.

—Image courtesy of Shutterstock.