PILGRIM'S UPDATE: Help Me Help Our Kids

Author: Joe Hamilton, Team Captain

Something hit me today… I have only experienced a few mornings like this in my life. Today greeted me with misty fog lifting and swirling just above the surface of our beautiful lake and the shape of everything in the foreground was glowing from the brilliant sunrise. It was sublime, not just because of the beauty, but because it was a beautiful metaphor for the clarity of purpose I was also feeling.

Today is September 16th, 2025. Two of my children married their perfect partner this summer and my third grandchild was born, so my heart is as full as it has ever been, and yet I feel so much sorrow. Public assassinations, mass shooters and the ravages of war pollute the news so it’s hard to fight the feelings of hopelessness. The opening of the classic novel by Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities has never felt more apropos “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

Thankfully, like a phoenix rising, out of my cognitive dissidence, I am also seeing clarity of purpose. Mark Twain said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

My efforts and accomplishments with Pilgrim’s Market have animated and rewarded my life with purpose, but within the context of discovering “my why” I think Pilgrims is just the beginning. I have always been enamored with the love, joy, innocence and purity of children. I think they are the best of us and yet I realize that they are also the most vulnerable. They deserve to be celebrated and elevated, but that first demands that they be protected.

First and foremost, Pilgrim’s mission is to provide nutritionally dense foods to our community, but providing foods, supplements and homecare products that are free of toxic chemicals has become equally important. Thousands upon thousands of toxic chemicals and pharmaceuticals have invaded our lives via medicine, food, clothing, furniture and even via our public spaces like city parks or school lawns since I started Pilgrims in 1999. The landscape has changed, and our children are facing an epidemic of chronic disease. Lawsuits against the makers of Roundup are exploding for the cancer that it has caused those applying it, but what have the effects been on our children who play on the grass? We don’t know, but it’s not good and it must stop!

What does all of this mean to me? The clarity I am feeling is to use my resources and influence to improve access to nontoxic and nutrient-dense foods and playgrounds to all children in our community. Children are our future. They deserve our protection and our best efforts to provide them with health and vitality, from which they can care for us as we age and improve the lives of future generations. My purpose is to reduce the chronic disease and mental health issues that our youth face today. This means that I am going to take a huge leap of faith and do everything in my power to increase access to healthy and nontoxic foods, homecare items and outdoor spaces for our kids.

MY THREEFOLD APPROACH-

1- Negotiate lower prices for children and young families with Pilgrim’s suppliers.

2- Personally subsidize further lowering of prices so that compensation for Pilgrim’s staff is not compromised. We have an aggressive profit-sharing program with our staff, so I can’t make them pay for the reduced prices. I need to do it myself via charitable contributions and through money-raising efforts. (This is where you can help)

3- Volunteer my time to lobby local authorities to discontinue the use of toxic chemicals in our parks and schools. I have recently begun working with beyondpesticides.com, which has resources and funding to help communities like ours accomplish these goals.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

If you share my passion to provide for and protect our youth, then please do the following:

1- Notify a cashier that you would like to “donate” your rewards to reduce prices for our community’s children and young families. I hope to have the details worked out by January 1, 2026, but it might require the involvement of an established non-profit. If you work with non-profits and can contribute ideas or resources to help me, then please email me at joe@pilgrimsmarket.com

2- If you are the parent or caretaker of a child under 10 then please notify the cashier so that we can put you on a list that will qualify you for aggressive discounts. You will need to have a rewards account and share your contact information with us.

3- If you are willing to contribute time, resources or money for this purpose then please email me at joe@pilgrimsmarket.com. This is much bigger than myself, so I can’t do it alone. The details are still blurry, but everything starts with a vision.

Thank you for your support.