PlantTheVegan didn’t come out of nowhere. It came out of decades of showing up — and a big piece of that lives inside Zeta Phi Beta, Tau Xi Zeta Chapter, the Finer Women of Forest Park. When I crossed, I wasn’t joining for letters. I was joining a tradition of women on the West Side and in Forest Park who pour into this community without waiting on a grant cycle or a press release.
Our service flows through Z-HOPE — Zetas Helping Other People Excel — and it touches every part of the work I care about:
Educational support — Finer Womanhood Night at the Forest Park Library, the Blue Renaissance College Fair, scholarship workshops where we sit down with our students and show them how to actually write the essay, find the money, and walk into a college visit knowing they belong.
Health and wellness — the MLK Day “Stronger Together” Family Health Challenge with IL State Rep. LaShawn K. Ford, plus our ongoing Finer Fitness work where we hold each other accountable.
Community engagement — Bingo and care packages at Symphony Nursing Home, Thanksgiving Eve at St. Stephen’s AME Soup Kitchen feeding the homeless, and Veteran’s Breakfast at Fisher House for the families of service members at Hines VA.
This is what service looks like when no one’s clocking in for it. It’s what the West Side and Forest Park have always done — folks who live here, taking care of folks who live here.
PlantTheVegan is built on the same foundation. Different platform, same heart.