We’re growing a lot of food, vegetables, and I’m not worried. I’m going to start planting and growing and growing to survive.

Ruhel Islam

Fighting food insecurity through empowering future generations to take charge in the garden is one of the keys our organization is humbled to wield in rectifying racial injustice in our own neighborhoods. Food is a universal harmonizer. Ruhel Islam is an immigrant, a restaurant owner, and a gardener in Minneapolis. When his restaurant, Gandhi Mahal, was torched during the protests in Minneapolis, his daughter says his response was astounding. “Life is more valuable than anything else,” he said, hours after his restaurant had burned. “We can rebuild a building. But we cannot give this man back to his family.”