Mission and Values
A Just Harvest’s mission is to fight poverty and hunger in the Rogers Park and greater Chicago community by providing nutritious meals daily while cultivating community and economic development and organizing across racial, cultural and socioeconomic lines in order to create a more just society.
Feeding Hunger
We feed hungry people, but we also feed our common hunger for hope, for fellowship, and for a strong sense of community. We feed people’s hunger to serve, to improve our communities, to be creative, and to be a powerful agent for justice.
Cultivating Abundance
We are blessed with resources and are called to be good stewards of these resources, to be co-creators with God. On a practical level, we do this by sharing resources with our neighbors who don’t get enough to eat, by growing food sustainably and doing other economic development work, and by organizing for policies that help ensure we can all enjoy access to and be good stewards of our resources.
Seeing Beyond
We see beyond a world with hunger, brokenness, and despair, and we believe a new world is possible. We see beyond economic policies and political systems that create and perpetuate poverty and vast economic inequality, and we proclaim a vision for a future where all have plenty and no one is left in need. We see the potential of people in despair and communities experiencing oppression and are committed to helping all people find their gifts and become leaders in creating a more just society.
We also create opportunities for people to see beyond (and learn from) the differences that usually divide us – differences like disparities in wealth or education, race, religion or national origin – and to build authentic relationships with one another.
Building Power
Power is the ability to act – to get things done. We want to be a powerful organization so that we can improve our community and be effective in the fight against hunger and poverty.
Too many people are going hungry in America. Too many people are unemployed or underemployed, losing their homes to foreclosure, and struggling under debt. It is our analysis that many of our economic policies create and perpetuate these problems. We believe ordinary people must have the power to hold our elected officials and other powerful decision-makers accountable for acting in the broad public interest in order to eradicate hunger and poverty. We also want to provide opportunities for people in relatively powerful positions to be effective voices for social change through our work.
A Just Harvest is known for being a resource to people in need 365 days a year. At the core of the mission of A Just Harvest, is to be part of the thriving—not simply surviving—of our community. We work intentionally to be a part of the transformation of the community, for and by the people living here. This requires listening, walking with and remaining humble in our efforts. It also requires steadfastness in our commitment to not perpetuate our own existence, but remain relevant to the needs of the community.