Sue Morris's Awesome Grassroots Distribution System: Just Food Hub
Just Food Hub is a volunteer group that distributes ethically sourced food to consumers, local organizations, buying clubs, and small businesses throughout New England. Sue Morris, a retired writer and editor living in Marshfield, Vermont, created the organization in 2021. Due to their amazing efforts, Sue and her husband, John, are one of Equal Exchange’s top customers. Below, Sue shares some excerpts from her blog to describe the model in her own words.
Sue and John getting a tour of Equal Exchange’s Massachusetts warehouse with a group of Citizen-Consumers in June, 2023.
“When I retired from editing, I wanted to do something that aligned with five important parts of my political work: fighting racism, combating climate change, supporting farmers, advocating for organic food, and championing worker co-ops. In the winter of 2021, I realized that Equal Exchange supported all five of my criteria. During March and April of that year, my husband John and I developed the idea of Just Food Hub, buying products from Equal Exchange and selling them to Vermonters, without going through any corporations. We formed our small worker co-op and began developing our infrastructure. By the end of May of that year, we started buying and selling products. We soon realized that a sixth tenet of Just Food Hub was to support local organizations. We do that by giving all profits to Vermont organizations working for progressive values.
We trade in simple, plain, real, nutritious food and search for families, small businesses, organizations, and community groups who want a fairer food system and good quality food to eat. We aim to invest in our community by distributing funds raised in food sales to community projects that complement the resilience and vitality farmers bring to our planet.
We’re about food justice and being the center of grassroots farm-to-table food excellence. Just Food Hub is committed to the following ideas:
• Taking direct action to halt further destruction wreaked by the rigged unjust food system owned and controlled by huge multinational companies.
• Fighting for the planet’s health. Food is our source of energy and creativity and the fuel for all human endeavors. We need good quality food for the health of our bodies and minds. The future of farming is small, ecologically aware, and community-engaged.
• Ensuring that food trade and distribution is fair. Our objective is to work with our local community and spread news about the ethical food we promote and distribute.
I enjoy shopkeeping, so my job is ordering, warehousing, and bookkeeping and to ensure that orders are prepared and delivered quickly on a regular basis. My experience as an administrator and bookkeeper, alongside my love of the food from Equal Exchange, makes for a well-informed and efficient shopkeeper skill set. My goal is to expand and develop local community awareness and enjoyment of ethically sourced foods. John, my husband, keeps the Just Food Hub finances in order. Our daughter, Leila, helps by engaging with small local stores.
Just Food Hub has indeed become the center of our political work. We presently raise funds for more than 50 organizations working on peace, politics, the environment, social justice, immigration, education, and the arts. Now entering our fourth year, we continue to add new groups that seek funding through tabling at events, our online store, buying clubs, kiosks, and small local stores. We’re proud of the many thousands of dollars we’ve raised for local organizations while bringing thousands of dollars in trade and many new customers to Equal Exchange.”
To get involved with Just Food Hub and learn more from Sue and John, visit: justfoodhub.us/blog