Emergency Food Not Bombs servings attended by media, hassled by police

(Note: this is not a Food Not Bombs email, it is the personal statement of a person involved with Food Not Bombs)

Today, Wednesday, was the fifth Food Not Bombs serving in six days.
Thursday we got word that the Our Place soup kitchen was going to close for 10 days, so on Friday we did an emergency serving at our usual serving spot and decided to serve every day while the soup kitchen was closed.
We found out on Friday that Our Place would be serving meals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but then closed for seven days afterwards.
We took Saturday off, but have been serving every day at 3pm since.
Community members have responded and brought extra food out to the servings. Regular FNB volunteers have been out in full force, and we’ve been able to serve some beautiful healthy meals.
Yesterday, as we were serving chili, garlic bread, apple crisp, nori wraps (vegan sushi), bread, muffins and fruit, we got a visit from a CBC radio reporter (apparently the first time they’ve talked to us, despite the fact that we serve a block away from their offices). We told them about the issues that homless and poor people face finding healthy food, and gave them a little history of the movement.
Today we got a visit from a couple of Victoria Police community officers, who drove by, flashed their badges and declared “Pack it up. Picnic’s over. We’ll be back in 5 minutes, that’s a promise.”
We had only been there a few moments, and our picnic was nowhere near over. So we carried on.
When the police returned one of the officers went to go argue with some homeless people who had been relaxing at the park before we’d arrived, and the other officer came by to politely inform us that we were in a ‘controversial area’ that was home to a ’sensitive’ situation, and that it would be the nice thing for us to do to not contribute to the problem by feeding people in that spot.
They agreed that feeding people was a noble thing to do, (though they insisted that no one went hungry in Victoria.) but that we should move to another park.
We informed them that we had been feeding at that tree every Sunday for several years and had never even been approached, let alone accused of being part of the problem. They insisted that no matter where we served, hungry people would find us. We informed them that in our experience, people find us when we are in a stable location at a set time, and they don’t have to go hunting all over the city trying to find us.
We debated the merits of capitalism and the role of the police in enforcing the needs of the corporation over the needs of poor people, and towards the end of the debate one of the officers began to get frustrated over the difference of opinion that was not about to be resolved at that time and place.
When asked if anyone had complained about our presence in the park, they informed us that people ‘might’ complain and that they liked to be pro-active. We informed them that we were not convinced it was yet necessary to move locations and if people did complain, we would deal with the issue at that time, though likely we would continue to serve where we have always served. We thanked them for providing their perspective on the situation and informed them that we were likely to leave the area sooner if there were no police standing around being intimidating and we could serve the rest of our food.
They denied that armed police officers can appear intimidating to homeless people, and we all had a good laugh about that.
Then they left, and we began our mobile serving, which is still happening as I write this.
According to the police officers, other shelters have been picking up the slack during this time of closure of Our Place. Regardless, each of these last five days, we have fed many people who were happy that we were out there, so the need exists, though the level of crisis is a matter of debate for some people.
As far as I’m concerned, it was a crisis before Our Place closed. Bless those that feed the people on the street and bless those who donate food, but if you are poor and hungry and looking for a good, healthy vegan or vegetarian meal, you may have a very hard time finding it. Coffee, white bread, donuts, those things are in abundance in the shelters and drop-ins all over North America. People are being fed, but not nourished. Homeless people, especially those with addictions, need a nourishing diet. That’s what Food Not Bombs set out to provide this week, and we met dozens of people who are grateful for the alternative we provide.
We also did a few mobile servings on our bikes and bike trailers this week, bringing food to people throughout the downtown core. This too we feel was a successful experiment, and we are looking at doing this more.
We have yet to discuss as a collective whether we will continue to share at the tree these next few days. As I mentioned, my personal belief is that there is always a need for healthy food on the street. Many of the people we shared with this week at the tree were the same people that come out to share with us on Sundays. If we can get people to organize cooking and sharing for the next few days, it would be up to them I suppose where they serve. The handful of us who have been putting in 9 hour days for the past six days doing this have begun to feel a bit exhausted.
I think a program that salvages food and uses it to provide free healthy vegan and vegetarian food is needed every day in this city, and if we were able to build interest for such an idea, then we would of course discuss whether the tree is the best place to serve the food. We’re not trying to offend the police or the businesses in that area, just feed people. We want to continue to feed people, but we will not let ourselves be shut down for the kind of reasons offered today.
As it stands, we’re not considering changing the location of our Sunday servings, which will continue to happen every Sunday at the tree on Pandora and Vancouver at 3pm. We are always looking for volunteers to help cook and serve and clean-up, kitchens that we can use now and then, supplies and food. If you want to organize other servings, whether as Food Not Bombs, as an individual or part of some group you belong to, please do so, and contact us if you need any help or advice.
A huge thank you to everyone who brought food out and came to eat with us this week. (And I apologize to anyone whose emails I might not have had time to respond to in the last few days. It’s been crazy) We’ve learned a lot, made some new connections, and believe more firmly in the need for this peaceful action. It thrills me to see people helping each other the way people have done so this week. See you soon.