Anti-Racism Statement

The HANDS Staff and Board believes that access to food is a right. So is the right to being treated equally, regardless of the color of one’s skin.We are heartbroken by far too many deaths at the hands of police, some recorded and others unseen and uncounted. The death of George Floyd has, hopefully, finally become the tipping point in this country for racial justice.The COVID-19 pandemic has, once again, put a spotlight on inequities in health care in the United States. Communities of color are at a much higher risk of getting and dying from COVID due to systemic racism.Police brutality and COVID are just two examples of what falls primarily on citizens with black and brown skin.Nonprofits such as HANDS have the responsibility of providing greater food access to folks 50 and older in Chittenden County. We need to recognize who is not sitting at the table and should be. We pledge to work harder toward equality in all of our endeavors, regardless of skin color.Racism is not the responsibility of people of color---it will only change when white people force it to change. We denounce all acts of violence against people of color. We must stand together against racial injustice.