[diggers350] A criminal act of kindness

Wed Feb 23 14:52:12 GMT 2000

> 
> 
> The Pitt News, 21 February 2000, A1
> 
> 
> A criminal act of kindness
> 
> 
> Kate Zangrilli
> Staff Writer
> 
> 
> 
> 	For Bob Bovy McFadden, Sundays are a welcome relief. Relief from
> hunger. On Sundays, a city group called Food Not Bombs provides free,
> multiple-course vegetarian meals to the hungry in Market Square Downtown.
> Threatening citations, two policeman sent members of Food Not Bombs away
> Feb. 13 on the grounds that they lacked a health permit to distribute free
> meals.
> 
> 	"I like all you people down here," McFadden said. "As long as the
> damn cops don't get you. They were here last week, jumping all over you
> people. I don't know why."
> 
> 	Despite the run-in with Zone 2 police last week, the local
> philanthropists returned yesterday to continue their tradition of feeding
> Downtown's poor and homeless. No arrests were made, and amid a sea of
> about seven media cameras, police did not issue any citations.
> 
> 	Instead, about 30 Food Not Bombs members set up coolers, a giant
> bag of bagels and several bins of salad, apples, muffins and tofu
> casseroles. They also arranged donated shoes and slacks for the taking.
> 
> 	The Pittsburgh chapter of Food Not Bombs, an international
> organization, began operating eight years ago. After organizing the food
> cafeteria-style, some members began an old-style garbage-can band,
> fashioning drums out of cans and buckets and tapping sticks against the
> iron fence. One homeless man started dancing to their beat.
> 
> 	Meanwhile, other Food Not Bombs workers distributed wrapped peanut
> butter and jelly sandwiches to the hungry. For the past two years, members
> have prepared the Sunday meal at the South Oakland house of Pitt senior
> Jim Robinson, who joined the group as a freshman."I knew it was a good
> thing, so I thought I'd lend a hand," he said. Overall, Robinson counts
> about 15 Pitt students involved in the organization.
> 
> 	"It's interesting that we haven't had any problems for eight
> years," he said, as he linked last week's incident to the city’s plan to
> redevelop the area around Fifth and Forbes avenues close to where Market
> Street is located. While Robinson said he wasn't surprised at the police
> action, he doesn't expect to give in.
> 
> 	"[The homeless] have rights like anyone else," he said. "We're not
> going to back down. This is something we believe in." The group received
> e-mails from other chapters across the country, and the support has
> fortified the local group's efforts, he said. The amount of media
> attention the police confrontation garnered the group was unexpected.
> 
> 	"We've never gotten media coverage before this," Robinson
> said.Fred Price, a former homeless volunteer with Operation Save A Life,
> said the media attention chased many homeless people away. Fewer than 10
> homeless people came for meals yesterday. Usually, 30 to 50 attend.
> 
> 	Price said homeless and marginally housed people depend on the
> Food Not Bombs lunch for two reasons: food and companionship. Old friends
> greet each other across the square; new friends are made in line for
> water.  "They don't have any ulterior motive except to share what they
> have," he said. Price fears that other organizations with a similar intent
> will be targeted soon after Food Not Bombs is restricted. He cited similar
> meals being served by other groups on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays.
> 
> 	Representatives from the Mosque Avengers, an organization formed
> in opposition to the Fifth-Forbes project; Carnegie Mellon University’s
> Student Union; the Pitt chapter of Students in Solidarity; a high-school
> chapter of Amnesty International; and the Thomas Merton Center, an
> social-justice organization that provides office space for grass-roots
> organizations, were present to give their support.
> 
> 	Vince Eirene, who owns a homeless shelter on the North Side,
> blames city officials for last week's event. "The mayor's office and the
> city should be ashamed of themselves. They should be encouraging people to
> care for people and not make that a crime,"  he said.
> 
> 	Past newspaper reports quote Mayor Tom Murphy’s spokesman as
> saying that the city never ordered police to issue citations to volunteers
> who don't have permits to serve food. Cara Wiegand, a member of Food Not
> Bombs and a student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, said police
> demanded that the organization obtain a health permit.
> 
> 	"But why would we make food that we wouldn't eat ourselves?" she
> asked.The food is donated by Einstein Brothers Bagels, East End Food Co-Op
> and other food establishments that would otherwise throw the food away.
> Wiegand questioned another concern expressed by city officials, who stated
> that free food took away business from Downtown establishments. "On
> Sunday, nothing's ever open. They are just trying to hide that there is a
> problem with homelessness," she said.
> 
> 	Food Not Bombs was founded in Boston in 1980, according to the
> group’s Web page. The organization is based on the principles of
> nonviolence and "food recycling," taking unwanted food from restaurants
> and other establishments and giving it to the homeless. There are 70
> autonomous chapters. Jason Angse, a member of the Pittsburgh chapter, said
> it is important to bring attention to the plight of the poor.
> 
> 	"Out of sight, out of mind is what they want, and it simply does
> not solve the problem. It's just wrong. We're the first beginning step to
> change that," he said. Angse added, "There's a lot of food that's thrown
> away and a lot of people that are hungry. ... Put those two together, and
> people are not hungry; food is not wasted."
> 
> 	The Web page also details the struggles of the San Francisco
> chapter, which has faced censure. Since 1988, the city of San Francisco
> has arrested more than 1,000 Food Not Bombs members for distributing food
> without permits. Unable to find recourse in the legal system, the chapter
> appealed to Amnesty International to have those sanctioned members
> declared prisoners of conscience.
> 
> 
> 
> the pitt news
> 
> 
>   vegetarian, nonviolence, consensus
> -Food Not Bombs List     fnb-l at lists.tao.ca
> -distributing food in opposition to violence
> -archive: http://archive.foodnotbombs.ca
> -active cities: http://webcom.com/peace
> -send '(un)subscribe fnb-l'  to lists at tao.ca
> 

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<sffnb at iww.org> Signature File Of Thursday 20 January 2000

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