Bringing Justice Home Announces Strategic Sabbatical

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Constance Merritt, Co-Founder and Executive Director

Email: constance@bringingjusticehomelou.org

Phone: 502-215-0155 (call or text)

Bringing Justice Home Announces Strategic Sabbatical and Final Mission Phase:

Achieves 72% Reduction in Hunger Over Six Years

LOUISVILLE, KY–May 18, 2026

Bringing Justice Home (BJH), a grassroots initiative that has served Louisville’s homebound and medically fragile residents since August 2020, announced today it will enter a "Strategic Sabbatical" effective July 1, 2026. The move follows a six-year heroic effort that has successfully proven a new model for food security among the city’s most isolated neighbors.

As BJH enters this final phase of its current model, the organization is also announcing a $22,500 grant from the Lift a Life Novak Family Foundation. This funding ensures that the current direct-service mission is fully resourced through its completion in June.

The Evidence of Kinship: 

Since its first delivery on August 30, 2020, BJH has challenged the "emergency food" status quo. By using the same digital infrastructure available to the city’s most resourced residents—including grocery delivery apps and custom logistics—BJH achieved:

• A 72% reduction in hunger among its long-term participants.

• 63% of neighbors reporting marginal to high food security.

• 68 consecutive months of community-led "food, fun, and fellowship."

"BJH 1.0 was a vital success. We proved that the last mile is reachable and that food security for the homebound is a choice the system can make," says Constance Merritt, Co-Founder of BJH. "However, after six years, we are confronted by a difficult reality: our 52 neighbors won a food security lottery, while hundreds of others remain hungry and isolated. It is time to go upstream and address the roots of this problem."

A Shift from Direct Service to Systems Advocacy: 

During the sabbatical, BJH leadership will transition from crisis response to advocacy and design. The organization will call on local food banks and housing agencies—many with multi-million dollar annual budgets—to embed accessibility and personalized food security into their existing programs rather than treating it as an outsourced luxury.

"The how of our work is simple—we used tools that are already sitting on our phones," Merritt says. "The why and the spirit of kinship we’ve built is what we will continue to uphold. We are taking this space to rest and to allow a more sustainable, community-wide strategy for BJH 2.0 to emerge."

BJH will conclude its final delivery cycle on June 30, 2026, and will host a community anniversary and dreaming gathering on July 27, 2026.