“Despite our indirect role in its passage, our goal was never the statewide legislative reform which ultimately protected our activities and those of other grassroots anti-hunger activists from state intervention,” the statement reads. “Rather, our commitment has always been the to the elimination of structural inequality of which hunger is but a symptom, the abandonment of militarism and to the emergence of voluntary mutual aid as the essential characteristic of our social interactions.”
Tag Archives: food justice
Atlanta FNB Under Attack
(via Atlanta IndyMedia)
Charges Dropped Against Tampa Bay FNB
TAMPA — Prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against seven people arrested for refusing to stop feeding the homeless in Lykes Gaslight Square Park.
Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren announced Tuesday that his office would not move forward with the cases stemming from the Jan. 7 arrests. Seven people were given notices to appear in court on trespassing charges after they were warned about violating a city ordinance that requires a permit and insurance policy to distribute food in the way Food Not Bombs has done for years. (full story)
Background on the 7 arrested here
FNB Building Kitchen to Support Standing Rock #NoDAPL
(coastalview.com)
“They are preparing to stay here for the entire winter, so we spent the day building a kitchen that Food Not Bombs is building to feed the Grandmothers council and volunteer workers during the brutal months to come.”
Read more here:
Criminalizing Homelessness in South Carolina
Last August, the city of Columbia, South Carolina approved a new plan to give its homeless population an impossible choice: leave downtown or be arrested.
The city is now taking even more steps to criminalize homelessness. On Saturday, it will begin to strictly enforce an old and seldom-used ordinance requiring groups of 25 or more to obtain a permit and pay a hefty fee before congregating in a public park.
One impacted charity that was interviewed by the Free Times, Food Not Bombs, has been serving food to the homeless in Finlay Park every Sunday for 12 years. The group’s organizer, Judith Turnipseed, noted that the group has an impeccable track record and always tidies up after the meal. But with the new crackdown, Food Not Bombs will have to pay at least $120 per week for the right to feed the homeless, an extremely tall order for a group that’s not even an official 501(c)(3) organization but just serves out of the goodness of its heart.
More Attempts to Shutdown FNB
On Sunday afternoons for more than 20 years, volunteers with the nonprofit Food Not Bombs (Sacramento) have passed out free vegetarian meals to hungry, low-income Sacramentans at downtown’s Cesar Chavez Plaza park.
This month, however, city police interrupted the organization’s feedings and informed volunteers that giving away free meals is illegal.
Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill
(NRDC) Food is simply too good to waste. Even the most sustainably farmed food does us no good if the food is never eaten. Getting food to our tables eats up 10 percent of the total U.S. energy budget, uses 50 percent of U.S. land, and swallows 80 percent of freshwater consumed in the United States. Yet, 40 percent of food in the United States today goes uneaten. That is more than 20 pounds of food per person every month. Not only does this mean that Americans are throwing out the equivalent of $165 billion each year, but also 25 percent of all freshwater and huge amounts of unnecessary chemicals, energy, and land. Moreover, almost all of that uneaten food ends up rotting in landfills where it accounts for almost 25 percent of U.S. methane emissions. (full story)
Orlando Mayor Drops Charges Against FNB
ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced Friday that he will drop the charges against 27 Food Not Bombs members and volunteers who were charged with violating a 2006 ordinance regarding feedings in downtown parks.
HARTFORD FOOD NOT BOMBS 