The Happy Cart works to provide accessible, free-of-charge vegan food options to the community weekly - and additionally, to provide an evolving program of health, nutrition, climate, food and interconnected social justice educational components - shared on site in the form of in-person teachings, films and printed resources - to empower the beautiful local community.

The mission of THE HAPPY CART is based on the following core beliefs and principles:

• ACCESS: All people/beings should have access to the full array of healthy food options that exist, for their peak wellness and empowerment. Barriers should be removed that make it hard for people to access healthy, clean, non-animal-harm based foods.

• EMPOWER ALL ABOUT THEIR HEALTH: 60-75% of people in the U.S. are lactose intolerant and may not even know it. Higher rates of chronic ailments and things like diabetes and heart disease are found in communities who have been denied equal access to plant-based foods and nutritional education (and greater issues of land access and food sovereignty). Too many in our community suffer from an array of debilitating conditions that can be assisted by access to more vegan, plant-based foods. The journey to greater health awareness can begin when access is grown from directly within community.

• ENVIRONMENTAL PARTICIPATION: All people/beings are entitled to be active and informed participants in protecting a sustainable and healthy environment for all to thrive in. Learning about veganism supports understanding of how all is connected: availability of fresh whole fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes and vegetables; our health (personally and collectively); and the health of the planet and all the wildlife and insects that share this precious biosphere. Information about how growing and harvesting different foods can affect the resources we need to survive, and all attendant land-use issues, should be accessible and understood by all.

• RECOGNIZING ALL FAMILY MEMBERS: People facing food and housing inequity  often have non-human family members, and they also deserve support, access and to be participants as outlined above. We wish to provide support to all living beings who need it so that families can stay together.

• HARM REDUCTION: Increasingly, more and more people are recognizing the benefits of a vegan diet for their emotional and mental well-being, as well as understanding that animal agriculture is another system of oppression that keeps violence rooted firmly in society. By gaining increased access to a lifestyle and diet that is rooted in an ethos of peace for all beings, we start to consciously dismantle more systems of harm. The Happy Cart was co-founded by an animal rescue - and as such we teach respect for all living beings and how to live a joyful, healthy, vegan life.

  Thank you for your support and participation.