Students interested in restarting the University’s Food Not Bombs chapter held their first meeting Friday to discuss possible locations for food-gathering efforts and to consider locations for meal distribution programs.
Working in conjunction with the University’s Survival Center, Food Not Bombs is an independent collective focusing on managing surplus food for the homeless and other underprivileged community members. The organization collects produce, bread and other foods approaching their expiration dates to share as a way of protesting war and poverty. Its mission is to reduce waste by preparing free vegetarian and vegan meals, while providing literature about broad issues of social injustice like animal rights, war and racism.
“The University affiliation will give it a sense of legitimacy within the community,” Survival Center Co-Director Stefan Andreev said.
“For the Survival Center, I want this to be a major ongoing project.”
Eugene had a FNB group in the past, but it faltered in 2009. Andreev hopes to keep this start-up lasting by consistently offering meals every week.
With enough public interest, he said, Food Not Bombs’ mission of pushing education about military spending and focusing on basic human needs could reach out and be beneficial to the Eugene community.
“It’s about community involvement,” Andreev said. “It starts with Food Not Bombs; it’s a beginning of other actions and other causes.”
With more than 12 possible grocery stores for collection — including major corporations such as Safeway and Market of Choice — the group wants to make requests to many locations hoping to collect larger donations.
Thomas Walker, a resident of Lorax Manner, plans to provide Food Not Bombs with food storage space and resources for meal preparation.
“We are going into it with wanting to grow a stronger community,” Walker said. “So much edible food is being thrown in the dumpsters, and it’s such a waste.”
University freshman Paige Corich-Kleim is a first-time member of Food Not Bombs and joined because she is passionate about the concept.
“It’s a peaceful protest,” Corich-Kleim said. “Its conveying that we don’t agree with what (the government) is doing, and we are working outside of the system.”
Food Not Bombs started in the 1980s as small protests against the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in Seabrook, N.H. Members dressed in military uniforms and protested against what they saw as unfair spending of school funds on U.S. Air Force weaponry. Andreev says he wants to demonstrate Food Not Bombs as inspiration to call attention to a similar message.
“It is part of being a student and using resources we have to better a community,” Andreev said. “Knowing that you set it up in a way for future generations could continue it, I would want to come back in a decade and see it still going on.”
Food Not Bombs will hold its next meeting at noon, April 22, in the Survival Center. The group tentatively plans to host its first service April 30 at Washington-Jefferson Park.
More information about the group’s burgeoning efforts can be found on the Survival Center’s Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/fg7y7v.
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