After a couple of months of organizing we had our first serving in April of 1993 on Easter Sunday. There were about 40 homeless people there and it worked really well. At our second serving the local newspaper, the Whittier Daily News, reported on our activities and portrayed us very warmly. Also at our second serving a park worker told us that we would need a permit if we wished to continue. We told the city worker that we were only having a picnic with friends.
The park that we serve at, Central Park, is surrounded by middle class home owners. Most of the residents have blamed homeless people for many of the problems in the area, rather than seeing homeless people as victoms of a problematic society. Several other individuals have tried to give out free food to the homeless in Central Park but were forced to stop due to pressure from City Hall and local home owners.
The third week serving a man from the Health Department came to the park and told us that we didn't meet up to the proper health standards to serve people. He told us that we'd have to cook in a restraunt kitchen and have cooling units to kep the food at proper temperatures, He informed us that we either needed to stop serving or suffer the consequences.
During this time a city commission in Whittier was holding meetings open to the public to discuss homelessness. Many of us from Food Not Bombs went to these meetings. There were some people who felt that homeless people should be kicked out of the city and others who felt we should just try to keep them out of the public eye. We explained what Food Not Bombs is all about and we received a good amount of local support. St. Mattis church in Whittier who shares food with homeless people close to Central Park gave us a portable Coleman stove to keep food at the proper heat and beat atleast one of City Hall's arguments. The local newspaper ran an article with headlines like "Volunteers to feed homeless despite arrest threats" and "Food group and officials at odds on feeding homeless."
A friend of ours who was a writer and homeless wrote a hilarious letter to the editor, which was published. He said that Food Not Bombs should bring the food in garbage cans because City Hall never seems to care when homeless people eat food under those conditions.
The next Sunday came and we continued to serve. Over 40 people came out to support us in addition to the homeless community. People from Long Beach Food Not Bombs and churches came out. We received a letter from the City Council telling us that we needed a permit and had to meet health code standards. As a group we decided to continue serving and take a stand of non-compliance. It has been seven months and we are still serving, without any further word from City Hall.
Through Food Not Bombs we've met alot of wonderful people. Food Not Bombs helps us put our anarchist ideas into practice. We are now trying to build support for San Francisco Food Not Bombs and raise money to help them fight the latest wave of arrests against them for sharing free food with poor people.
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