Food Not Bombs

Mutual Aid Groups Mobilize In Wake Of Hurricane Helene

October 4, 2024 It's Going Down, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Organize! climate crisis, disaster relief, Florida, Food Not Bombs, Hurricane Helene, Kentucky, Mutual Aid, Natural Disasters, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia

A Category 4 storm, Hurricane Helene, one of the largest storms to hit the Gulf Coast in a century, collided into the Big Bend area of Northern Florida on Thursday, before moving into neighboring states of Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and the Carolinas. According to media reports, upwards of 60 people have already been confirmed dead, although the death toll is expected to rise as many municipalities have yet to release official numbers as cell phone service and internet remains down and millions are currently without power. Extreme flooding has been reported in Atlanta, GA and Asheville, NC, as whole communities are left stranded and lacking proper shelter and access to clean drinking water.

One Person Killed, Two Injured In Vehicle Assault On Food Not Bombs

April 5, 2023 It's Going Down. Educate! Food Not Bombs, Homeless, Nevada, Vehicle Attack

Two volunteers with the mutual aid group Reno Food Not Bombs are in “critical, but stable condition” and one unhoused person, Michelle “Mama Bear,” is dead after a 57 year old man, David Turner, “suddenly and inexplicably drove his car through the area where the women were standing” on Monday. All three were reportedly transported to a local hospital directly following the attack, however Michelle sadly passed away due to her injuries. According to law enforcement, Turner claimed that the attack was “intentional.” As This Is Reno reported: David Turner, 57, is facing one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder. He drove into a small group of people, who were reportedly helping to feed those in need, near the Nevada Cares Campus, according to Reno police. Two were injured and are in stable condition.

1,000 Days Of Compassion

December 7, 2022 #lnf, Anarchist Cook. Organize! California, COVID-19, Food and Agriculture, Food Not Bombs

Santa Cruz, California - The streets went silent that misty March 14, 2020 morning. I passed only two other vehicles on my way to prepare the meal at the Veteran’s Hall. News that the indoor food programs had been ordered shuttered meant our unhoused friends would have to go without food if we didn’t step up and fill the void. Eight of us Food Not Bombs volunteers gathered at LuLu Carpenters that cold Saturday to discuss our plans. I think all of us were in a state of shock at the mystery that lay ahead. A medical social worker who had just been trained in the COVID-19 safety protocols at Good Samaritans Hospital detailed what she had learned the day before. We moved our meal to the Town Clock from the Post Office so our line of guests would not be standing near the dozen or so people camping along the Water Street sidewalk.

Food Not Bombs displaced from Santa Cruz lot

February 24, 2021 Jessica A. York, Santa Cruz Sentinel. Educate! California, City Government, Food and Agriculture, Food Not Bombs

Santa Cruz, CA - An activist group on the brink of celebrating a consecutive year of coronavirus pandemic-era free meal service was summarily ejected from a private downtown parking lot Thursday. Potentially setting the stage for the latest standoff with the City of Santa Cruz, organizer Keith McHenry then moved Food Not Bombs’ distribution effort into an adjacent “Lot 27” public parking area just across Front Street, the same one the group was locked out of last year due to what officials cited as “public nuisance” complaints. “We’re like, just keep moving and doing what needs to happen,” McHenry said of consistently serving as many as 200 free vegan meals a day since Marcy 14.

Food Not Bombs Aims To Bring More Than Just Food

February 3, 2021 John Camera, Spectrum Local News. Create! Food Insecurity, Food Not Bombs, New York (NY)

New Paltz, NY - Every Wednesday, a mix of New Paltz college students and locals congregate in a small workspace just outside of town. It may look like they’re just cooking and packing food to deliver to needy families, but it’s really more than that. “Like when people say, ‘serving the community,’ well, we want to build a community,” said Katari Sisa, a volunteer for Food Not Bombs New Paltz. Sisa, a recent graduate of SUNY New Paltz, has been involved at the organization for the last four years now. Sisa says that giving back is necessary right now, with a pandemic raging and, according to data collected by the University of Southern California, nearly 37% of Americans are dealing with food insecurity.

Court Backs Activists Who Feed Homeless

August 26, 2018 David Fleshler, Sun Sentinel. Resist! First Amendment, Florida, Food Not Bombs, Homelessness

Florida - A group whose symbol is a clenched fist holding a carrot won a legal victory over the city of Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, when a federal appeals court found that its weekly events to feed homeless people were protected under the Constitution. Food Not Bombs, which grew out of an anti-nuclear protest in New England, now has chapters around the United States, which promote the shift of funding away from the military to address hunger, poverty and other problems. The Fort Lauderdale chapter’s weekly feeding events at Stranahan Park generated opposition downtown, where a growing homeless population had led to tensions with businesses owners and visitors.

In Tampa, Food Not Bombs Activists Arrested For Feeding Homeless—Again

January 10, 2017 Kate Bradshaw, www.cltampa.com Resist! Arrest, Florida, Food Not Bombs, Homelessness

By Kate Bradshaw for Creative Lofting Tampa Bay - Temperatures were dipping into unfriendly territory Saturday afternoon as sports fans flocked to the events at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. At nearby Lykes Gaslight Park, members of Tampa's homeless community were gathered for hot coffee and bagels, courtesy of the group Food Not Bombs. There were no altercations, no illicit substances, no bad behavior—unless you count that, according to the City of Tampa, that coffee and bagels were illegal. Why? Because you have to have a special permit in order to offer free food to the needy in city parks.

3 Arrested Protesting World Food Prize

October 18, 2014 Sharyn Jackson, www.desmoinesregister.com Resist! Food and Agriculture, Food Not Bombs, GMOs, Protest

Three activists protesting the World Food Prize were arrested Thursday night in front of the Iowa Capitol building, just as attendees to the 2014 Laureate Award Ceremony gathered inside. The three protesters, part of the Occupy World Food Prize movement, were arrested after a march up the Capitols' west steps, during which a crowd of about 40 people chanted "No, no, GMO." The arrest came after an hourlong rally with speakers from Iowa and around the country, who criticized the World Food Prize's recognition of genetically modified organisms as the solution to feed a growing world population. The prize, they say, honors corporate and large-scale industrial agriculture, rather than farmers who grow their own food. "Even though a lot of people in that building over there are very powerful and rich, we represent a lot of people who can't get here — the majority of the human race," said Frank Cordaro, founder of the Iowa Catholic Worker and one of the protesters who was arrested, in his opening remarks.

Food Not Bombs Pilsen Turns Police Station Into Garden

May 11, 2014 Staff, www.pilsenfoodnotbombs.wordpress.com Create! Food and Agriculture, Food Not Bombs, Poverty

In a globalized city at the heart of advanced capitalism, where bond traders exchange billions of dollars in our financial markets, people are still allowed to die of starvation, malnutrition and lack of permanent shelter. In the wealthiest country of the world, the most extreme forms of poverty persist unabated, while buildings that could be urban farms, social centers, living spaces, radical libraries, free schools or free medical clinics are kept off limits through the unending threat of the prison cell and the barrel of the gun. Today Food Not Bombs Pilsen has taken a small step in our neighborhood to combat the ruthless inequality of capitalist society. Instead of allowing the abandoned police precinct to remain privatized and wasted, we have decided to make a garden to grow food and build community power through autonomous food security. In the garden, we will grow fresh vegetables that we will hand out for free at our weekly food distribution.

Video: 24 hrs with Long Island Food Not Bombs

January 8, 2014 Sparrow Media, www.vimeo.com Organize! Food and Agriculture, Food Not Bombs

The hunger relief efforts of a small group of dedicated and caring Long Islanders operating on a near-zero budget is eclipsing that of the relief efforts of many well-funded 501-c3 organizations, both in number of people served and in the volume of food distributed. The group, a Long Island chapter of the decentralized, grassroots, hunger relief group, Food Not Bombs, is serving to both inspire the local community and simultaneously raise questions as to how an autonomous group with a shoestring budget can outmatch non-profits of similar purpose whose operating budget exceeds millions of dollars annually.

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