A Letter From Our Executive Director
As a lifelong Georgian with generations of my family dating back to 1836 going from enslavement to sharecropping to professional occupations, I know full well the frustration that Americans are feeling about the senseless killings of black people.
These past few months have been unprecedented. The global pandemic has blanketed us with loss, isolation, fear, uncertainty, and for some of us — especially communities of color that are being disproportionately impacted — extreme insecurity.
Communities and our resources were already depleted by the pandemic, and with the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade, we are feeling angry, exhausted, sad, and sometimes just numb. We are heartbroken for the families of the victims and the communities being torn apart.
Every day in our work at Wholesome Wave Georgia, we focus on addressing food access with the knowledge that this issue is inextricably linked to race- and class-based social and environmental injustices. While we understand that food access is not a cure-all for these layered issues, we know our work of decreasing food inequities is directly tied to improving lives and making communities stronger.
We also understand that these events are not new, and this moment demands that we take a deeper look into how we can further our mission and stay rooted in our values of authenticity, respect, and diversity through an informed, anti-racist lens.
Over the next few months, the Wholesome Wave Georgia board members, team, and I will be examining our practices related to hiring and serving the community. We are also committed to educating ourselves and listening to our community partners— especially our black farmers, market managers, and program participants.
Through a newly formed board committee, we will develop a plan over the next 30 days to focus on specific actions we’ll take that include the crucial aspects of race, gender, and class as it impacts our work. We know we have a lot to learn and are committed to engaging in this process of growth as individuals and as an organization.
To those of you working and volunteering to address the social injustices gripping our country, we stand with you. To those protesting and finding other ways to make your voices heard, we hear you. For all of us in pain, we love you.
As always, if there is anything we can do for you — our partners, service providers, market managers, growers, and shoppers — please do not hesitate to contact us.
Staying Rooted,
Will Sellers,
Executive Director
Wholesome Wave Georgia
