By Aidan Sova
Each year, the Grow Jackson Harvest Dinner reminds me what a community can achieve through a shared vision, shared effort, and shared table. As the nonprofit enters its fifth year, I encourage everyone to join this celebration and invest in a mission to promote fresh food as a human right.
This time, attendees can expect food catered by local businesses like Big Guy Catering and
Love, Pasta. This neighborhood-to-plate experience is a tangible celebration of the local soil and the community that sustains it. Guests will dine with a mix of dedicated volunteers,
neighborhood garden participants, local leaders, and business sponsors, all gathered around a joint passion for community health.
Growing up in a low-income, single-parent household in Jackson, food security was never a
given. We often had to choose between paying bills and buying nutritious food. That difficult
reality instilled in me a deep understanding of why equitable food systems are so important. It’s no surprise that I find the Harvest Dinner profoundly moving; it shows food justice in action.
Sharing the literal fruits of collective labor transforms the abstract ideal of “equitable access”
into a concrete, delicious reality. In these moments, we prove that when a community owns its food system, it owns its well-being.
Grow Jackson’s impact on the city is massive. Its robust network of twenty-plus community
gardens provides a critical lifeline, serving as essential local food sources that immediately boost the nutritional intake and public health of Jackson’s residents. Furthermore, their educational programming empowers individuals with the skills to grow their own food, fostering self-sufficiency and resilience. By providing knowledge and access, Grow Jackson strengthens the socio-economic foundation of the city and turns their belief in a healthier tomorrow into reality.
As Grow Jackson celebrates its fifth anniversary, your support for the Harvest Dinner is both a
donation and a direct investment in the health of our city. Please join me to share a meal,
celebrate five years of essential growth, and help plant the seeds for the next five years of
transformative change in Jackson.