'They fill you up'

February 28, 2007

Nonprofit feeds homeless while protesting by Amber Dixon published on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 Lee Kauftheil / THE STATE PRESS NOT BOMBS: Michael Williams is one of Phoenix’s homeless who gather at Copper Square for food given out every Sunday by the Food Not Bombs group. The charity group serves hot food in addition to giving out nuts and other non-perishables. Passing out plates and utensils, volunteers mingled with the homeless as they came to eat.Volunteers served rice, mashed potatoes and a pepper and squash stir-fry, and in return received a simple "Thank you."While the purely vegetarian meal gives these homeless people at Patriots Square Park in downtown Phoenix something to look forward to most Sundays, it also serves as a form of protest against war to

those who serve it -members of Food Not Bombs.Food Not Bombs is a volunteer organization with independent chapters around the world that is dedicated to nonviolent social change and protesting war and poverty, according to the group's Web site. "We should be fostering a sense of passion, a sense of caring for one another rather than focusing on destruction," anthropology senior Samson Swanick said.Swanick has volunteered with Food Not Bombs for two years. He and other volunteers cook vegetarian meals and serve them most Sundays to the 20 to 30 homeless people that linger around the stage platform of Patriots Square Park, on Central Avenue and Washington Street.Swanick said his specialty is mashed potatoes, which is just one part of the primarily vegan meal served at the park. Vegan refers to a diet free of meat and products derived from animals, like eggs and milk. "The way our country is run is kind of like these standards - meat

and potatoes," Swanick said. "But there are alternatives that don't require ... The same amount of cruelty ... that's applied to all factory farming."The primary ideas of the Food Not Bombs movement are nonviolence, vegetarianism and consensus, volunteer Earl Torbellino said. The group operates as a volunteer consensus - part of what makes it unique, Swanick said.The program is self-sustaining, with no leaders or sponsors, Swanick added. All food is donated from local vendors and is usually part of a vendor's surplus, he said. "We use food that otherwise would get thrown out," he added. Volunteers prepare meals from the vegan donations, volunteer Stan Hemry said. Group members still give away all of the donations they receive, even those that contain non-vegan products, to the homeless. But they give the non-vegan products away uncooked and unprepared, he said. When money is needed to replenish supplies like

utensils, water, plates and spices, the Phoenix chapter puts on fundraisers, volunteer Shane Sittig said. "Fundraisers are like throwing parties and just getting friends to donate," he said. Volunteering opportunities are not limited to only cooking and serving, non-profit leadership and management senior Matt Besenfelder said.He said he also participates in picking up the vegetarian food from local vendors. "It's nice that the group can actually provide a meal with substance," Besenfelder said.Other perks to volunteering for Food Not Bombs include getting to eat some of the food and learning how to cook, Torbellino said. "It's the very best free vegan cooking class you could have," he said. Torbellino has volunteered with Food Not Bombs for five years and is helping to develop plans for a Tempe chapter. Anyone can volunteer for Food Not Bombs as long as he or she agrees to treat everyone equally, Swanick

said. "It's very diverse, either like old hippies and young punks, sometimes people that choose an alternative lifestyle," he said. Although the organization is anti-war, its members are not trying to alienate anyone from volunteering or to force their ideas on anyone, Sittig said. "Certain things are set precedent over personal politics," Sittig said. "We all have a common goal - feeding the homeless." At Patriots Square Park Sunday, homeless man Randy Whemer said the organization is doing a good job. "They don't got no meat," Whemer said. "But they fill you up."Reach the reporter at: amber.dixon.Peter H

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