58 Ways to Show Solidarity

To honor Northwest Harvest’s 58 years of service, we wanted to offer 58 ways you (yes, you!) can show solidarity with your neighbors and community.

Some acts of solidarity are small, some require more resources, but all acts of solidarity move the needle. When we commit to getting engaged and staying engaged, we commit to each other. When we commit to each other, we build a better world for all of us. Volunteering and making financial gifts to organizations is a powerful way to show solidarity with the communities those organizations serve. There are many other creative ways to engage in the movement for food justice.

You don’t have to do all of these things to be part of the solution – like a choir, individual singers can take a pause to breathe, while the rest of the voices still sing out strong. When there are many of us, the sound does not falter but swells and sustains.

1. Teach your kids how to cook! Invite them into the kitchen to learn alongside you, try new recipes, and gain skills to promote their independence. This learning will support their development as people connected to land and its abundance.
2. Educate people on how to grow, harvest, prepare, and preserve their food! Do you know how to can or dehydrate foods? Host a mini workshop for your community!
3. If financially accessible to you, pay off a family’s school lunch debt: https://allforlunch.org/
4. Boycott products or brands that use unfair labor practices or exacerbate hunger.
5. Correct misconceptions about who goes hungry and why – explain that hunger is not about individual choices, but the result of intersecting systems of oppression.
6. Forgo traditional birthday or holiday gift-giving and make donations to food banks in a loved one’s name.
7. Coordinate with your community to raise funds or collect donations for food banks that aren’t just food. Get creative! Consider items like freezers, coolers, tents and canopies for outdoor distribution, crock pots, instant pots, can openers – the world is your oyster!
8. Encourage your local community center, faith community, school, or library to apply to be a free summer meals site.
9. Apply to be a board member of your local food bank, or food policy council.
10. Learn about “Land Back” and other movements for Indigenous food sovereignty.
11. Offer to pick up groceries for a neighbor who has limited mobility.
12. Batch cook and freeze casseroles/soups/lasagnas/etc. and deliver them to loved ones recovering from an illness or surgery.
13. Help food pantries and food justice organizations by volunteering to help with social media content.
14. Are you bilingual? Food banks always need extra help making sure all their linguistically diverse community members have access to food with dignity.
15. Compost! If you don’t have commercial compost available in your area, consider connecting with a local farm to drop off your unused vegetable and fruit scraps to be used as fertilizer!
16. Plant native and pollinator-friendly plants and flowers in your garden. Consider using cover crops instead of maintaining a grass lawn.
17. Learn about organizing a union and share your knowledge with others.
18. Tip food service workers well!
19. Ask a local restaurant or cafe if they would be willing to offer discounted hot meals to seniors.
20. Volunteer with your local chapter of “Food not Bombs.”
21. Host a monthly dinner where you invite community members to share a meal and discuss an issue related to food insecurity.
22. Vocally and publicly challenge the idea that some people “deserve” to go hungry.
23. Start a food drive at your workplace.
24. Grow veggies in your yard, or in a pot, and donate extra produce to your local food bank.
25. If you have a fruit tree in your yard and it grows more than you can use, connect with gleaners in your area and arrange for them to harvest it and distribute.
26. Let families in your community know about Summer EBT. In Washington State, this program is called SUN Bucks.
27. Donate gluten-free, vegan, low-sodium, low-sugar and other less common items that are tailored to meet specific dietary needs.
28. Donate items that are considered “luxurious,” like boxed cake mix for birthday celebrations.
29. Try a recipe with an ingredient you haven’t heard of before!
30. Donate culturally-diverse foods – ask your local food bank about the communities that visit them the most and donate staples ingredients for those cuisines. Seeing familiar ingredients at the food bank goes a long way to promoting dignity and respect.
31. Offer to visit a food bank on a neighbor’s behalf and deliver it to them at their home.
32. Register to vote! Help your neighbors register.
33. Are you an artist? Ask your local food bank if they have a wall or two you could make beautiful!
34. Learn about the connection between eating meals in community, and positive physical and mental health outcomes.
35. Reflect on why you think poverty exists.
36. Make art about a world where everyone has full bellies and full hearts!
37. Be mindful and intentional about using language that humanizes people experiencing food insecurity.
38. Establish a relationship with a farmer at your local farmers market. Ask them about their family. Ask them about their harvest.
39. Donate dog and cat food to your local food bank.
40. Know your rights related to ICE raids. Stock “know your rights” materials in Little Free Pantries in English and Spanish. Ask your local food bank staff what they do in the event that immigration enforcement shows up.
41. Reduce the amount of animal protein you consume.
42. Disrupt harmful and racist stereotypes about who goes hungry and why.
43. Learn about food aid in response to natural disasters and other emergencies.
44. Instead of re-selling clothes or donating them to a store, connect with your local food bank – some food banks also offer clothing banks!
45. Call on your local food bank to speak up about the social and economic conditions that lead to hunger.
46. Sign up for a CSA box. Support worker-owned or cooperative farms using ethical labor practices.
47. If you have personal lived experience of food insecurity: be brave and talk about it! Talking openly about hunger helps reduce stigma!
48. Learn about corporate control of American food. Research brands and make informed decisions as a consumer.
49. Learn about regenerative agriculture and the history of responsible land stewardship practices from Indigenous peoples around the world.
50. Opt for natural and chemical-free pest control methods in your garden to promote soil health and keep harmful pesticides out of wastewater.
51. Learn about the connection between climate change and big agriculture.
52. Advocate for low or no-barrier food bank models that promote dignity and choice, and require limited or no documentation to receive services.
53. Find someone working for food justice to look up to as a role model and a hero! Find someone who inspires you to stay hopeful and energized!
54. Support policies and candidates that strengthen and expand access to public benefits like SNAP, WIC, and TANF.
55. Are you a bookworm or a film buff? Assemble a list of your favorite food justice-related media for your local bookstore or library and ask them to share it with the public.
56. Limit your use of generative AI – the environmental impacts have serious consequences for our farmers!
57. Vocally champion public policy that address the root causes of hunger and centers the voices of the people most impacted by food insecurity, especially Black, Indigenous and other people of color!
58. Choose your own adventure – you’ve got great ideas! Get out there and get connected!