On Sunday morning after cooking breakfast at Josh and Shin's apartment, Kovit and I drove down to Richmond, Va.
We started our day at the Food Not Bombs house in Richmond.
Food Not Bombs was born in 1980 when the movement's founding members served free food to the homeless outside of a stockholders' meeting of the First National Bank in Boston. The group's message is simple, "less money should be spent on destructive military equipment while much of our nation's population lives in poverty". Now there are Food Not Bombs groups all over the world!
The Richmond Food Not Bombs has been active sinc 1994. Folks have been gathering in Richmond every Sunday to cook vegan meals for people with out homes or access to healthy meals in Monroe Park for 15 years- only missing 2 servings in its history! All of the food that the group receives is donated from local restaurants and grocery stores.
At the FNB house we got to chat with local activists about the FNB mission while helping cut vegetables and fruit. Kovit met many interesting people, including Aaron- an activist in Richmond who works with the Latino population. Aaron is friends with fellow Engagers Virginia Leavell and Mandy Skinner, and became aware of Engage after he traveled to Mexico with the Mexico Solidarity Network. Aaron teaches an ESL class in Richmond- and explained to Kovit and I that it is different than most ESL classes because it is mostly conversational. He said that everyone sits around in a circle and discusses a different issue each week, and because Aaron is committed to justice he tries to incorporate different social justice issues into his class.
After cutting vegetables and fruit, we left the FNB house and headed to Monroe Park- located next to the VCU campus- to serve the food. Kovit and I helped serve vegan pasta and veggies to about 30 or 40 people.
After leaving Food Not Bombs, Kovit and I returned to my house and sat down to reflect and evaluate the day. Kovit enjoyed working with FNB and especially enjoyed talking with Aaron. He was excited about the possibility of Engage working with Aaron in the future.
He liked that the FNB house was open and inviting- a place where people can just show up and talk and share ideas. However, he wondered why the people they serve in the park do not join them to cook or clean up. I explained that those folks have joined to cook and clean sometimes in the past.
He thought it was very good that they serve food every week, but wondered where people in Richmond receive food the rest of the week or where they find shelter. He said he has only had one experience with the homeless in Thailand. We both agreed that the United States and Thailand are very different because community is usually much stronger in Thailand. He explained that even if you are poor, that if someone does not have a place to sleep or food to eat that you will help them, but we agreed that is not always the case in the U.S. He also wondered if there are people helping to organize the homeless population in Richmond, and we discussed some of the obstacles involved with organizing the homeless.
Later that night my friend Vash came over. We chatted about a project she is working on in New Orleans where they plant sunflowers. She explained that there is a big problem with lead poisoning in New Orleans and that the sunflowers help take the lead out of the soil. Its nice because it is fun activity for everyone in the community to do, and looks very pretty. She also talked to us for awhile about the ESL classes that she teaches and about her love for herbal remedies.
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