A Just Harvest

Blog

  • Generous with Time and Spirit

    by Rebecca Helberg, A Just Harvest Summer Intern

    Editor’s Note: If you’d like to join us in celebrating these Volunteers of the Year at our 9th Annual Awards Banquet & Benefit, visit our home page for more information.

    Bob Robinson, St. Giles Episcopal Church, Northbrook

    After retiring as a patent council attorney in 1995, Bob Robinson began to give his time to A Just Harvest in 1998. As a Christian, Bob believes that one of his purposes in life is to give his time to help others. He delivers food about 8 times a month to 3 different organizations in the Chicagoland area as a representative of St. Giles Church. On Wednesday Bob comes to A Just Harvest to drop off food from various donors including Sunset Foods, a large contributor in Northbrook. He became involved with A Just Harvest when Polly Badger asked him to be the director of the soup kitchen ministry.

    One of Bob’s favorite connections is the ability to take excess meat from A Just Harvest and deliver it to New Life Baptist Church on the south side. A Just Harvest receives more produce and New Life is able to receive a much needed shipment of meat. Bob remembers what struck him the most when he first started volunteering at A Just Harvest (then named the Good News Community Kitchen) was he was not aware of how many people in the area were in need of assistance. He also finds is amazing that A Just Harvest has expanded its services to community organizing and economic development.

    Bob began volunteering in Philadelphia in 1959 through Big Brothers. Since then he has held various leadership positions in Kiwanis in both the Chicago Lakeview and downtown chapters, recorded stories for the blind and dyslexic, and lead adoption procedures pro bono. Bob has a wife, 3 children, and 7 grandchildren. In his free time he loves to read, watch baseball, and tend to his tomato plants. Bob is both a Red Sox and Cubs fan after living both on the East Coast and Midwest and also had a friendly relationship with baseball star Ted Williams. Bob loves devoting his time to charitable organizations and A Just Harvest has truly benefited from all of his hard work.

    Kathy Cole, North Shore United Methodist Church, Glencoe

    Kathy Cole, a social worker in Northfield, has been taking on many different roles in her 7 years volunteering with A Just Harvest. She has done the food shopping, cooked, and served to the patrons of the Community Kitchen. As a member of the North Shore United Methodist Church, Kathy enjoys coming with her church four or five times a year on the fifth Wednesday of the month. North Shore UMC brings chicken, rice, corn, fruit salad, cookies, lettuce, and ranch dressing from Costco.

    Kathy has a passion for social services and enjoys being at AJH because there is a respect for the clientele and dignity in the Community Kitchen. She knows that the food is good, people are eating, and that the atmosphere is full of caring community members at AJH. She views AJH as following through with an important commitment of feeding those that are hungry. Kathy loves to volunteer at AJH with her two daughters and husband.

    Kathy believes hunger is an important issue to tackle because it is a basic human right. She enjoys working to make sure that people are provided with basic needs such as food and housing.

    Kathy is originally from Ohio and moved to Chicago in 1974.  She currently lives in Glencoe and loves to travel, read and garden in her free time.

    Gail Potter, Trinity United Methodist, Wilmette

    Gail Potter has been volunteering at A Just Harvest for over a year and a half and has had a truly rewarding experience. Shortly after joining Trinity United Methodist Church, Gail was asked by meal coordinator Sarah Jacobs to donate her time and has consistently been volunteering since then at the Community Kitchen. As an involved Trinity Church member, Gail enjoys attending and organizing church events. Whether it is helping plan the summer ice cream social or doing odds and ends around Trinity, Gail does what she can to help the Trinity Church community.

    Gail loves working behind the kitchen counter and appreciates the patrons thanking volunteers. The intimate interaction and mutual respect for all those involved in the Community Kitchen is what Gail loves about A Just Harvest. The friendly conversation and tolerance that is seen at the kitchen is what keeps Gail coming back.

    Fighting hunger is important to Gail because she believes that in the United States, Americans should take care of their own and do what they can to eradicate the widespread problem of hunger. Gail thinks it’s significant to see the face of hunger and open up one’s eyes to the obstacles that many encounter. Gail has always enjoyed working with head chef Rosario and making sure that the details that happen behind the counter are not forgotten. Gail and fellow Trinity volunteers sing spiritual hymns while preparing and serving the delicious food.

  • St. Peter’s UCC, Skokie Receives 2012 Community Organizing Award

    A Just Harvest is presenting the John “Juancho” Donahue Award for Community Organizing to St. Peter’s UCC in Skokie at our 9th Annual Awards Banquet and Benefit on Sunday, October 14. We are so proud of their outstanding leadership in community organizing!

    St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Skokie serves dinner in the community kitchen when there is a fifth Saturday in a month. The congregation has been a Kitchen partner for more than 20 years, and voted to join Northside P.O.W.E.R. in 2010.  Beth Lanford and her husband Rev. Richard Lanford, the church’s pastor of 20 years, are at the heart of St. Peter’s involvement in Northside P.O.W.E.R. Beth currently serves as Northside P.O.W.E.R.’s chair.

    At the time Beth got involved, Northside P.O.W.E.R. was focused on a campaign to increase the quality and availability of affordable housing in Rogers Park and trying to figure out a campaign that would win relief for homeowners underwater or in foreclosure.

    Beth was especially drawn to the foreclosure issue because, at the same time, her disabled brother was facing foreclosure in Nebraska. Her brother and his partner were sold an adjustable rate mortgage. When the fixed rate period expired their payments ballooned by $600 per month, and they could no longer afford to pay the mortgage. Beth and Richard were already paying for her brother’s expensive, life-critical medication that Medicaid would not cover, and they began to help out with his mortgage as they were able.

    Other members of St. Peter’s UCC are also angry about foreclosures, bank bailouts and a lack of help for average people suffering from the recession. Randy and Maria Altmayer live in Skokie and have seen the value of their home drop significantly since the housing bubble burst and have watched many people in their community go into foreclosure. They’re involved in Northside P.O.W.E.R. because, as Maria says, “Somebody else is making these rules, and they’re not fair.” Randy adds, “This economic crisis is disturbing and something needs to be done. I feel underrepresented in government. It seems like it is now about who has the most money to throw at politicians.”

    As a response to the foreclosure crisis, a team of five St. Peter’s members began going to go door-to-door in Skokie to reach out to people facing foreclosure and connect them with reputable resources for help. Team members heard story after story that were similar to Beth’s brother’s tale of being sold a mortgage he could really not afford. They heard from people who had lost jobs, experienced long-term unemployment and failed at every legitimate attempt to get a loan modification from their banks.

    Beth says that she quickly realized the big banks did not have the best interests of the average person at heart, but she also realized, through Cindy Bush’s guidance, that nothing her group of volunteers could do would change the banks’ behavior. She understood that this was still service, not community organizing.

    The community organizing methodology brings together people affected by the economic & foreclosure crises to become powerful enough to hold elected official accountable to acting in their interests and to force the giant banks to change their behavior towards all homeowners, not just the few lucky enough to get help from reputable organizations.

    Rev. Richard Lanford also preaches about economic justice and connects these sermons to opportunities for congregation members to get involved in Northside P.O.W.E.R. issues.  St. Peter’s has consistently organized people to attend public meetings where we hold elected officials accountable to support our issues. St. Peter’s is also active in the “Give It Back, Chase” campaign, calling on Chase Bank to donate foreclosed, vacant properties to housing organizations in Rogers Park, Albany Park, Skokie and Evanston so that they can be rented at reasonable rates.

  • Rogers Park Farms Receives 2012 Award for Community Development

    A Just Harvest is awarding Rogers Park Farms the 2012 Sister Cecelia Fandel Award for Community and Economic Development.  For more information on our banquet, visit our home page.

    Rogers Park Farms’ vision is to form the cornerstone of a healthy, sustainable Rogers Park by creating an urban farming system that will grow an abundance of produce and fish in the neighborhood.

    Rogers Park Farms plans to develop this urban farming system so that it enhances the quality of life for our community’s residents, including opportunities for residents to grow their own food, to purchase hyper-locally and sustainably grown food, to learn about the environment and to actively participate in building a more sustainable community.  Rogers Park Farms also plans to provide job training and internship opportunities, with a special emphasis in engaging people who are young, poor or long-term unemployed.

    Rogers Park Farms also wants to make a regional impact, helping to meet Chicago and the North Shore’s growing demand for local and sustainable food and reduce our communities’ dependence on polluting, oil-dependent agribusiness. Simply put, RPF wants to create a food system that has high yields on small parcels without fossil fuel inputs.  They are working to create a community wide food system that has low energy and water inputs and turns food waste back into organic soil or renewable energy.  This model requires “people power” instead of fossil fuels, and promotes education and employment opportunities for youth and community residents.

    The neighborhood is very diverse in terms of race, income, national origin, level of education, and even religion, but it is fair to say that for the most part, people’s buildings, blocks and social circles tend to remain segregated.  Rogers Park Farms wants to be a place where residents cross all these barriers and across the generations to collaborate on something in everyone’s self-interest.

    Rogers Park Farms plans to do all this by coordinating existing urban farming projects (there are already 5 on the north end of Rogers Park), cultivating new ones, and developing a combination of vacant land and empty storefront properties with outdoor and indoor farming initiatives to anchor the project.

    Chair Pam Richart emphasizes that this is different than the traditional model of economic development and gentrification where people from outside the community make an investment that they hope will yield profits for their company, but that instead RPF is actively harnessing the creativity and self-interest of the current community.

    Board members are:

    Pam Richart, Eco-Justice Collaborative & Chicago Bioneers

    Marilyn Pagan-Banks, A Just Harvest

    Kim Delong, Family Matters

    John Hoekwater, Many People’s Church and The Common Cup

    Milton Dixon, Midwest Permaculture

    Christine Wellman, Transition Rogers Park

    Sue Lannin, Rogers Park Resident

    Chad White, Environmental Scientist

  • Union Church of Hinsdale Receives Service Award

    A Just Harvest is presenting the Winston Garnett and Mary Byrd Award for Service to Union Church of Hinsdale at our 9th Annual Awards Banquet and Benefit on Sunday, October 14.  We are so grateful for their outstanding service in partnership!

    Union Church of Hinsdale has volunteered and donated a monthly meal at A Just Harvest on the 4th Sunday of every month for more than 25 years.  The congregation has also made an annual financial gift for the past 10 years and makes additional special gifts when they are able, such as designating their 2012 Easter offering to A Just Harvest and purchasing a new set of plates for the Community Kitchen.

    When UCH first started donating and serving food, A Just Harvest was a nascent project of the Good News Community Church, a fellow United Church of Christ congregation.  UCH valued not only their service in the Community Kitchen but also the chance to work in partnership with a young, urban UCC congregation.

    Beyond its partnership with A Just Harvest, Union Church of Hinsdale is a champion of justice and has a long standing history of involvement in work as varied as the anti-war movement of the 1960s to overseas mission trips.

    The central question UCH asks about any ministry is “How can we get involved?”

    At one point, UCH gave to 20 agencies, but the church now focuses its efforts on about 15 agencies that engage its members with face-to-face volunteer opportunities and that benefit from the talents of individual members.

    Rev. Thom Parrott-Sheffer, associate pastor of 8 years, says that the opportunity to get behind the line and serve patrons directly is so important to UCH members. Pastor Thom adds, “Our partnership with A Just Harvest has lasted so long because while ministry became more and more about giving money, writing letters and helping from a distance, we were always so hands-on with A Just Harvest.”

    Pastor Thom adds that volunteers feel welcomed, have a clear task and know that they are making a difference each time they serve.

    Kim Kiyosaki, began volunteering with her entire family in the mid 1990s when her youngest child was just 10 years old.  Kim can name at least a dozen families who have volunteered from the time their children were in junior high until they entered college.  “Our congregation’s adults volunteer many places, but the unique thing that happens with A Just Harvest is that it can be a family affair, and that makes a huge difference”, says Kim. “It helps create a lifelong connection between A Just Harvest and our church.”

    Brad Gravelin, who succeeded Kim Kiyosaki as the liaison from UCH’s Mission Board to A Just Harvest, also volunteered with his wife and children for many years.  “The fact that A Just Harvest is outside our immediate community adds value to the experience for us,” Brad says. “Serving at AJH has had a huge impact on me. It has given me a different perspective on people’s true needs.”  Both Brad and Fran Evans, UCH’s current Mission Board liaison, agree that in addition to family volunteer opportunities it provides a unique opportunity for UCH’s youth and older members to work as a team. (You can read much more about Fran Evans, UCH’s Community Kitchen Volunteer of the Year, on A Just Harvest’s blog.

    Doug Clark has volunteered since 1992 and agrees that it is a great way to fellowship with other members. He also really enjoys socializing with the patrons.  Doug believes it is important to maintain the historic relationship between UCH and AJH and views his volunteering as an important part of keeping the ties going.

     

  • Baking, cooking, delivering and serving

    by Rebecca Helberg

    Editor’s Note: If you’d like to join us in celebrating these Volunteers of the Year at our 9th Annual Awards Banquet & Benefit, visit our home page for more information.

    Winnetka Covenant Church

    Norm Johnson of Winnetka Covenant ChurchNorm Johnson, a retired Battalion Chief with the Glenview Fire Department, has been volunteering at A Just Harvest since 2006 shortly after joining Winnetka Covenant Church. Norm strongly believes in giving back and also volunteers at the Greater Chicago Food Pantry. He has been volunteering since he was a Boy Scout and has also done some youth hockey coaching.

    Norm does his part for AJH by helping prepare the food that the Winnetka Covenant Church graciously provides. By preparing the turkey sausage, roasted potatoes, vegetables and a fresh fruit salad, Norm sees the food before it goes off to the kitchen. Once in a while Norm also delivers and plans on serving in the kitchen one day with his wife, Sharon. Norm was born and raised in Evanston then moved to Glenview with his family. Norm enjoys volunteering and believes it to be a way to do extra work with the church.

    Hunger is an important issue to Norm because he views as being able to eat as a human right. In his free time Norm reads and plays golf. Norm was on the fire department for 30 years and today sells fire trucks. Norm finds A Just Harvest to be a unique organization that is phenomenal in filling the hunger need. He absolutely loves when he is able to fill the food truck twice a month to send it off to feed the patrons on A Just Harvest.

    Congregation Hakafa

    A significant part of being a bar or bat mitzvah, the Jewish ritual of becoming an adult at age 12 or 13, is committing various mitzvot or good deeds. Emily Charen, a member of Congregation Hakafa, chose to donate her time and effort to A Just Harvest as part of her mitzvah project. In preparation for her bat mitzvah on November 17th, Emily bakes 6 dozen brownies with her mother Debbie to deliver to AJH on a regular basis. Emily and her mother have been baking since January, but she’s also come with her class to help serve meals.

    Serving food to those that are hungry is important to Emily because she finds it upsetting to see such a stark contrast between those who are hungry and those who aren’t. Emily believes it’s extremely important to give to others and not be wasteful of food. Her favorite part of volunteering at AJH is serving and interacting with patrons. She enjoys working face to face with people and finds everyone to be nice and patient in the kitchen.

    In her free time Emily loves to play basketball and soccer. She plays travel soccer throughout the year and thoroughly enjoys spending time with her teammates. Emily also likes to play volleyball, hang out with her friends, and jump on her trampoline in her backyard. Emily has a younger sister and older brother.

    Every Hanukkah her immediate family and aunts, uncles, and cousins shop together to donate food to the Northfield Food Pantry. Instead of the adults giving each other presents, the whole group goes to Jewel and shops for the best buy to give as much as they can to the pantry. It is clear that Emily loves to volunteer and help others, and she definitely plans on continuing giving her time to AJH.

    Lutheran Church of the Ascension

    Jeanne Peterson of Lutheran Church of the AscensionJeanne Peterson, of Lutheran Church of the Ascension, has been volunteering with A Just Harvest since we opened our doors in 1983!  Jeanne remembers when she first starting serving a congregation didn’t commit to a set menu ahead of time, but often brought something different each month as long as it was a balanced meal.  She would typically bring ham, vegetables and fruit. She also received donations roast beef from Treasure Island and served a simple prepared meal. In the years since A Just Harvest expanded its dinner service to every night of the year, Jeanne has brought Sloppy Joes, fruit, dessert, and milk.

    Jeanne helped plate and serve the food to the patrons for many years, but due to a knee surgery she is no longer able to come with her congregation on the third Tuesday of every month.  Despite her knee problems, Jeanne still delivers the food on behalf of her congregation. She appreciates that AJH serves a well-balanced meal that is hot and healthy. Jeanne appreciates working with the staff of AJH, especially Community Kitchen chef, Rosario.

    Jeanne is active at her church and participates in the Alter Guild and a women’s group named Ruth’s circle. Jeanne used to love to play golf and also volunteers at the Union League club.

    Northfield Community Church

    Dan Thuente of Northfield Community ChurchDan Thuente has been an active member at Northfield Community Church for 10 years and has volunteered at A Just Harvest for the last three years. Dan’s favorite part of the Community Kitchen experience is the opportunity to meet and interact with new people. He describes it as an upbeat and positive atmosphere.

    Dan grew up with 6 brothers and sisters and values family immensely. Dan learned to give back at a young age and divides his time between A Just Harvest, the Northfield Senior Center, and his church. At Northfield Community Church Dan serves as a deacon and is involved with the Salvation Army and Family Promise. Dan and his wife have three children and a newborn grandson. He works as a cashier at Trader Joes.

    Dan has a great respect for AJH and the commitment to end hunger. He finds it admirable that A Just Harvest feeds the community 365 days a year. He loves seeing patrons volunteer at the kitchen and the caliber of people that come in.

    In Dan’s free time he enjoys golfing and spending time with his family. Dan also loves doing work both around the house and in the yard.

  • Northside P.O.W.E.R. serenades Chase Bank Director

    North Side Residents Serenade James S. Crown
    at Gold Coast Block Party &
    Call for Chase Donation of Vacant, Bank-Owned Properties

    Fifty members of Northside P.O.W.E.R. and our allies publicly called on James S. Crown, a director of JP Morgan Chase & Co., to return vacant, Chase-owned properties to the communities of Rogers Park, Albany Park, Evanston and Skokie at the “Evening on Astor: The World’s Most Elegant Block Party”.  The annual block party, sponsored by Gold Coast Neighbors, is just around the corner from James S. Crown’s home.

    Northside P.O.W.E.R. members used a portable audio system to serenade Mr. Crown with original lyrics to the tune of “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music*.  Others members passed out postcards addressed to Mr. Crown and invited his neighbors to drop them off at his home.

    The postcards explained that during the housing boom, thousands of units of affordable rental housing were lost to condo conversions in these north side communities. Now many of these homes have become bank-owned through the foreclosure process and sit vacant.  Northside P.O.W.E.R. is requesting a Chase Bank donation of vacant housing units (both single family and multi-unit dwellings) back to the Rogers Park, Albany Park, Evanston and Skokie communities so that these unites can once again become affordable and occupied.

    “Banks like Chase created the housing bubble, and when it burst, we taxpayers bailed them out. Rather than returning the favor by extending a helping hand to the large number of newly unemployed people who could no longer make their mortgage payments, banks began foreclosing on homeowners in record numbers,” said Rev. Marilyn Pagán-Banks, Executive Director of A Just Harvest.  “It it time for Chase Bank to ‘Give It Back’ to our communities.”

    Northside P.O.W.E.R. is the community organizing arm of A Just Harvest, a 29-year old anti-hunger organization on Chicago’s far north side.  A Just Harvest serves a nightly meal and distributes surplus food to anyone in need. The numbers of people A Just Harvest serves has increased steadily over the years and spiked during the recession.  In 2011, the organization served more than 58,000 meals and distributed 101,000 pounds of food.  A Just Harvest started Northside P.O.W.E.R. with the goal fighting rising poverty rates and increasing income inequality.  For more information visit www.northsidepower.org.

    *Lyrics to “Give It Back!” (to the tune of “My Favorite Things”)

    Kids with full bellies and schools with good learning

    Mortgages that match what homes should be earning

    Living wages jobs make our neighborhoods swing

    These are a few of our favorite things

     

    Banks like Chase tell us to go chase what matters

    Neighborhoods rot while their coffers get fatter

    Friends you may wonder why is it we sing

    Affordable homes are our favorite thing

     

    Banks got bailed out

    We got sold out

    And we still ain’t seen jack

    On your way home tell your neighbor James Crown

    TO GIVE IT BACK!!

     

    Chase Bank owns homes that are vacant and needed

    We’ve reached out to Chase but our calls go unheeded

    Friends we need you to join us in our fight

    Help us make Chase & James Crown do what’s right!

     

    Banks got bailed out

    We got sold out

    Get our city on track

    On your way home tell your neighbor James Crown

    TO GIVE IT BACK!!

  • Decade-Long Volunteers of the Year!

    by Rebecca Helberg and Kristi Sanford

    Editor’s Note: Amazingly, each of these volunteers of the year have been active with A Just Harvest for 10 years!   If you’d like to join us in celebrating these Volunteers of the Year at our 9th Annual Awards Banquet & Benefit, visit our home page for more information.

    Saints Faith, Hope and Charity Parish

    Karen Sokol and Diane Melio have both been volunteering with us for 10 years.  They’ve been working as a team for the last 5 years.

    Karen SokalKaren Sokal has been the co-coordinator for Saints Faith, Hope and Charity’s April meal service for the last ten years.  She and Diane Melio recruit volunteers and find congregation members to purchase the all the components of the chicken dinner they serve on the second Thursday of each month.  Karen also serves on the congregation’s Sharing Committee and manages their Christmas in July charitable activities.

    When I asked Karen what inspired her to serve at A Just Harvest and be active on the Sharing Committee, she said she grew up in a poor area of a small Wisconsin town, but that her parents always shared what they had with others.  She shared that her grandfather passed away when her mother was a small child and that her grandmother raised three children with the generous help of extended family. Her mother received a free education by the local Dominican nuns, and this inspired her mother’s life-long commitment to the church and to sharing with others who were in need.  Karen is youngest of 6 children.

    Karen has a degree in hospitality and hotel management and spent many years working around in far flung places, including Singapore and Hawaii, for the Hyatt Corporation.  She met her future husband when he came from Chicago’s corporate headquarters to work with her on a project.  They didn’t date until two years later when she was transferred to Chicago.  Karen continued to work for Hyatt until 9 months until her second child was 9 months old.  She looked out her office window towards the Lincoln Park Zoo and realized that her babysitter with there with her kids, and that is exactly where she’d rather be herself.

    Karen’s has three children, the oldest is a freshman at Boston College and the youngest is beginning high school at New Trier.  They have volunteered with Karen many times, including baking desserts for the Community Kitchen before they were even old enough to serve behind the line. Her kids have also donated from their baby-sitting money to help purchase parts of the meal from time to time.

    Karen is grateful to be blessed with a wonderful husband and family and the means to serve others.

    Diane Melio, a stay at home mom, is a passionate volunteer who has been active at A Just Harvest for 10 years. She has be co-coordinating the meals for the month of April for Saints, Faith, Hope and Charity along with Karen Sokal for a number of those years. The Parish has been bringing chicken, pasta, frozen carrots, milk, fruit, and salad for a decade. Diane helps coordinate the volunteers every April by organizing who cooks, delivers, and serves the food.

    Diane has volunteered with her four children and husband for many years. Diane truly loves serving the patrons at AJH while her husband enjoys cooking the chicken for the monthly meals. Diane feels that the Community Kitchen is special because of the community atmosphere and respect that is given to everyone. She is active in other activities at Saints, Faith, Hope and Charity such as volunteering in the religious education program and participating in Bible study.

    Diane is originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and moved to Chicago in 1992 for her husband’s job. They absolutely love the Chicagoland area and currently reside in Winnetka. Diane volunteers elsewhere, including twenty years at Lawrence Hall Youth Services shelter for boys where she tutors, helps the youth with school projects, celebrates holidays with the youth and staff. Her goal is to help the shelter feel more like a home.  In her free time, she enjoys gardening, tennis, and reading.

    Carter-Westminster United Presbyterian Church

    Sam and Mary MirzaSam and Mary Mirza have been volunteering for A Just Harvest for over ten years, and have been active in their church, Carter-Westminster United Presbyterian Church (formerly Carter Memorial and Westminster Presbyterian Church) for over 70 years. Sam and Mary shop together for all the food that Mary and other Deacons and volunteers cook and prepare. The menu is “chicken-kiev”, potatoes, mixed vegetables, salad, a seasonal fruit, and ice-cream. Mary created this menu because she felt it was simple to prepare, healthy, and something different from the usual fare.

    After preparation of the meal, Sam loads the church van with the help of his son, some church members and members of the church youth group, and then delivers the meals to the Community Kitchen. Sam always stays to help serve the food to the patrons with other church members and often the youth group. Both Sam and Mary find it enjoyable to volunteer for an organization that is so pleasant to its patrons and helps serve a need as serious as hunger.

    Sam and Mary are both active at Carter-Westminster – Sam is a church Elder and Mary is a Deacon. The couple met at a church picnic in the late1940’s. Something attracted the couple to one another and after about 3 years of dating they were married. This year they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary!

    In her free time, Mary enjoys cooking and looking after her grandchildren. Sam likes to golf and does gardening during the summer. Sam also volunteers at the Presbyterian Homes in Evanston, where he transports patients to physical therapy. The Mirzas have three sons and five grandchildren. They both grew up on the North Side of Chicago and are devoted Cubs fans. Mary retired in 1993 from administrative work at WGN and Sam retired from his position as Purchasing Manager at the Chicago Tribune in 2001.

    Glencoe Union Church

    Claire HugiClaire Hugi has been an active member at both Glencoe Union Church and A Just Harvest since 2002. Claire serves every other month and coordinates the volunteers to come to AJH. She loves to give her time to AJH because it helps fulfill in a basic need such as hunger. She finds that cooking in the Community Kitchen is like cooking for family. She likes that patrons are able to leave satisfied with full stomachs.

    Claire and Glencoe Union bring lasagna, vegetables, milk, and dessert for the patrons of AJH. The food is brought down the day before being served then served on the fourth Tuesday of the month. Claire’s 3 children and husband have also donated their time to AJH.

    Claire grew up in Joliet and attended Northwestern. In her free time Claire plays piano, reads, and takes care of her golden retriever. She also works part time at her local library. Claire and her husband have been married for 30 years.

  • Spiritual Poverty & Material Poverty

    By Rev. Marilyn Pagán-Banks, Executive Director of A Just Harvest

    The Henri Nouwen Society recently tweeted a quote by Mother Theresa that read, “The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”

    After reading this, my first reaction was—YES! We get this at A Just Harvest!  This is why we intentionally create and maintain an atmosphere of community, dignity and respect in our Community Kitchen.  This is why each and every person that comes through our doors is welcomed—no “proof of need” required.  It does not matter to us whether they walked over or drove up, are without an address or live in the suburbs, are college students or never finished 8th grade, panhandled for change all day or just got off of work—they are greeted with warmth and acknowledged as guests.

    It has long been our understanding that humans hunger for community, to be seen and heard, for a sense of belonging and to be known.  Our humanity depends on it.  This understanding is at the core of how we engage in the work against hunger and poverty.

    Upon my second reading of the quote, a concern rose out of my gut for how poverty is taken and used outside of a socio-economic and political context.  As an ordained Christian minister, I know the Bible speaks of the woes of being spiritually poor.  As a former struggling single mother, I know firsthand that you can be dirt poor and rich in love, family and faith.  However, my concern comes from how these interpretations are too often used to do nothing about ending poverty.

    For millions of people in this country—poverty is tangible and concrete.  Children go to bed hungry and attend overcrowded and underfunded schools.  Seniors are forced to work past retirement age in order to afford the cost of lifesaving prescription medicine and keep a roof over their heads.  Families work day and night and still don’t earn enough to maintain quality housing, the rising cost of food and health insurance.

    This is terrible!

    This poverty and the poverty felt across the world—the poverty witnessed by Mother Theresa in her ministry—reflected by swollen bellies, people dying of curable illness and disease, the lack of clean water—exits! And it exits because of greed, hubris and apathy.

    These very different reactions cause me to pause and to pray.  I pray I never get so spiritual as to ignore the call to put my body on the line—so that everyone has access to God’s promise of life and life more abundant.  I pray I never get so caught up in the struggle that I loose opportunities to see how we are all interconnected and that the well-being of our spirits depends on our willingness to be so.

  • Volunteers of the Year from Glenview Community Church, Winnetka Presbyterian & Sukkat Shalom

    by Rebecca Helberg, A Just Harvest Summer Intern

    Editor’s Note: If you’d like to join us in celebrating these Volunteers of the Year at our 9th Annual Awards Banquet & Benefit, visit our home page for more information.

    Chili Chef’s of Glenview Community Church

    For more than 25 years, Glenview Community Church (GCC) has been cooking chili for A Just Harvest’s Community Kitchen.  Carolyn Keller, Barb Smith, Sue Hunt, and Dori Hirsch continue that tradition today.  Dori, a retired manufacturing representative, and Sue, a former nurse, have been cooking the chili for the last 15 years.  Carolyn, a retired nurse, has been cooking for 5 years, and Barb, who worked retail at Lord and Taylor, has been cooking for 6 years. Dori and Barb also occasionally help serve the chili at A Just Harvest’s Community Kitchen.  The women love the camaraderie of cooking together in the basement kitchen of GCC.

    The chili, served over rice, is made up of meat, onions, corn, tomatoes, beans, and seasoning. The chili is very flavorful with a little bit of a spicy accent. The recipe has been modified over the years, but in general it is a healthy and hearty meal. Donations come from Whole Foods and Gordon Food Services. The women also receive help from church members who open industrial sized cans that contain the ingredients. It takes 25 pounds of meat to create the four pots of chili which serve 200 people!

    Dori, Carolyn, Barb, and Sue are all active and proud of their church. Glenview Community Church is one of the largest United Church of Christ churches in the United States. They adore the music during the services and the ministers that lead the church. There are always a plethora of volunteers who offer their time to serve the meal at A Just Harvest.

    The four chili cookers love that they are able to participate in a hands on outreach where they can help the community. It may be a big commitment, but all four women find it fun and enjoyable.  They also love the enthusiasm from the other volunteers and they are moved by the patrons’ gratitude each time they volunteer at the Community Kitchen.

    Carm LoGalbo, Winnetka Presbyterian Church

    Carmelo LoGalbo (pictured left with his grandson Ivan), a retired computer reseller, is an enthusiastic volunteer who has gone from volunteering once a month with Winnetka Presbyterian Church to twice a week on his own. Carm, as his friends call him, took his volunteering experience into his own hands because he knew he wanted to spend more time in the Community Kitchen.

    Carm grew up on the West Side and has a strong connection to the people that A Just Harvest serves. He knows many of the patrons by name and prides himself on how close of a relationship he has with those working and eating at the kitchen. Carm has done everything from helping Rosario cook, to plating the food, to bussing tables and washing dishes. He has done every job that has been handed to him and enjoys the challenge. Carm even ran the front of house one day and assigned the volunteers their jobs acting on a moment’s notice. They served 194 patrons that day.

    Carm fondly remembers volunteering with his young grandson and serving 177 fruit cocktail desserts to the patrons. Carm’s favorite part of the job is talking to the people he is working with, especially those that he is serving. Carm loves that A Just Harvest is non-discriminatory and serves anyone that comes to the door 365 days a year.

    Carm has a daughter and three grandchildren and is the youth elder at Winnetka Presbyterian Church. He helps lead missions to Cuba, Tennessee, and Colorado along with teaching Sunday school at his church. He also helps his church fundraise by running both an annual softball and basketball game.  Carm’s wife works across the street from A Just Harvest at Good News Partners. It is easy to see how passionate and happy Carm is to be at A Just Harvest and we are so grateful for his big heart and his dedication.

    Lynn Deton, Sukkat Shalom

    Lynn Denton began her relationship with A Just Harvest over ten years ago when her daughters were in Girl Scouts volunteering at the Community Kitchen. Since then Lynn has continued to go with her daughters and serve the patrons of AJH through Sukkat Shalom Synagogue. It is a bonding experience for the family and Lynn enjoys it.

    Lynn is a social worker at a Skokie elementary school and also lends her services to non-profits such as Camp Kesem and Curt’s Café.  Lynn values community health which is an important reason why she continues to work with A Just Harvest. Lynn also worked at the soup kitchen at Beth Emet Synagogue.

    Lynn devotes her time to AJH because of the opportunity interact with both volunteers and patrons. She loves chatting with patrons and being involved in the community directly. She finds that the organization is well organized and devoted to an important cause.

    Lynn has been attending Sukkat Shalom for 15 years and has regular involvement with the synagogue. She was born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago. Lynn enjoys reading, playing tennis, playing piano, cooking and spending time with her family.

  • We are saying it, but do we mean it?

    Editors Note: A Just Harvest was founded by a United Church of Christ congregation in partnership with congregations of other denominations and faith traditions. We currently partner with more than 40 congregations to serve our nightly meal and to fight economic policies that perpetuate or deepen hunger, poverty and gross inequality.  We’ll be posting regular reflections from people of faith who are a part of our community or like-minded in the pursuit of justice in the hope that these reflections resonate and provide a source of inspiration to our readers.

    By Rev. Wendy Witt, Chicago Temple United Methodist Church

    SCRIPTURES:

    Matthew 25:40: 

    “As you have done unto the least of these my sisters and brothers, you have done to me.”

    Luke 9:22 – 24:

    “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow me. For whoever wants to save their lives will lose them, but those who lose their lives for my sake will save them.”

    John 10:10:

    “I have come that they might have life and have it in abundance ~ or to the fullest.”

    My church, Chicago Temple, is actively engaged in lively discussions around formally affiliating with IIRON.  (Northside P.O.W.E.R., A Just Harvest’s community organizing arm, is a member of IIRON, a regional community organizing network devoted to people power, real democracy and economic justice.)

    This process is leading us into some very good conversations around what it means for us individually and collectively to live out the faith we profess on Sunday. These conversations are not without tension. But as we’ve learned through IIRON, tension is a good thing ~ it moves us forward.

    The number one charge leveled against the church by people young and old who no longer choose to participate in “organized religion” is HYPOCRCISY ~ that we say one thing on Sunday morning or Saturday evening but live according to very different set of values during the rest of the week.

    I saw this up close and personal at the recent General Conference of the United Methodist Church.  I observed it as “worship vs. plenary”.  We had incredible worship with calls for racial reconciliation and healing; to bring down the dividing walls of hostility; to open wide the doors to the church; then we would turn and in that very same room, just moments late we would hear speeches filled with hateful rhetoric and pass legislation that would once again deny full membership and participation to some in our congregations.

    I came back even more determined not only to continue the struggle for justice and inclusion but to do all I can to ensure that we at the Temple are striving to live our faith with boldness and courage so that we can proclaim that faith with integrity and honesty. I am tired of the hypocrisy of the church and the timidity that locks into our fears and keeps us from living out our faith in real ways.

    One of the recurring themes at the Temple, and in most churches involved in community organizing ~ in fact I have heard it even within IIRON leadership ~ centers around pastors and leaders fears about taking a bold, prophetic stance for fear of alienating some in their congregations.  Usually those we fear to alienate or offend are people of power and prestige in the church and in the community.  They are the moneyed, positioned people; people with status and prestige, people with power in the church and beyond. Interesting to me, we never seem to fear alienating or offending those who need us to speak for them the most: the poor, the powerless, the marginalized . . . or as Jesus would say the least, last and littlest among us.

    Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr’s Letters from a Birmingham Prison expose this problem:

    You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham, but it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.

    We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

    At the Temple our prayers of confession almost always include a line goes something like this:  “Lord, forgive us our reluctance to stand up and fight for the poor and powerless for fear of the rich and powerful.”

    The following is a portion of United Methodist Social Affirmation.  The first part is confessional, the second professing a time of commitment:

    We confess our sin, individual and collective, by silence and action;

    Through the violation of human dignity based on race, class, age, sex, nation, or faith;

    Through the exploitation of people because of greed and indifference;

    Through the misuse of power in personal, communal, national, and international life;

    Through the search for security by those military and economic forces that threaten human

                existence;

    Through the abuse of technology which endangers the earth and all upon it.

    We commit ourselves individually and as a community to the way of Christ,

    To take up the cross, to seek abundant life for all humanity.

    To struggle for peace with justice and freedom;

    To risk ourselves in faith, hope and love,

    Praying that God’s kingdom may come.

    At the Chicago Temple we have a saying: “If we say it, we mean it. If we mean it, we do it.”  We are saying it, but do we mean it? And if we mean it why are we still so often afraid to do it?

    Reverend Wendy Ann Witt is an associate pastor at First UMC/Chicago Temple in charge of justice ministries. She was ordained as a deacon in the Northern Illinois Conference in 1987 and as an elder in 1989. She has pastored seven local congregations throughout the Conference, including rural, small town, suburban, and downtown churches. She has also served as the Director of the Wesley Foundation at Northern Illinois University.

    Reverend Witt chairs the Conference Board of Church and Society and serves on many other boards and committees in the wider United Methodist Church that are working on issues of inclusion and justice.

    Reverend Witt is married to Don Floyd, Lead Organizer and Director of Training for IIRON. She has four children: Peter, married to Gretchen with four-year-old daughter, Chloe, living in Texas; Abigail, an attorney in Chicago, and engaged to Michael; Zachary, a recent graduate of NIU and now employed by Enterprise Car Rental; and Ross, a sophomore at Jones College Prep High School.

A Just Harvest