Once you have made the decision to start a local Food Not Bombs group, pick a meeting date, time, and place and gather together everyone interested to talk about what you would like to do. You might start with a group of friends, or members of an existing group, or it could be people who respond to posters and emails announcing your intentions.
The following is a step-by-step process to get your food operation up and running. Because of your unique situation, you may need to add, ignore or reorder steps. Follow the path you feel will work best for your group.
Step 1: Start by getting a phone number, email or postal address. By using a voice mailbox you can have an outgoing message with information about the next meeting time and place, and receive messages so that you never miss a call. You can also post a MySpace, Facebook, Twitter or other website for your group. Many chapters also create listserves on sites like Riseup, Google or Yahoo. Some groups use a commercial mailbox or post office box for their physical address. When you set up your contact information you can ask to have it posted on the contact pages of www.foodnotbombs.net so people can find out how to reach your chapter. The website also provides a wiki, alliance, and other self-posting sites for contact information.
Step 2: Make flyers announcing the existence of your new local Food Not Bombs chapter with your contact information and time, date and location of your planning meetings. By handing out these flyers at events, posting them around town, emailing the announcement of your next meeting to friends, classmates and other local organizations, you will get additional volunteers and donations of food and supplies. It is helpful to have regularly scheduled weekly or monthly meetings and always know the date of the next one to share at the end of each meeting. Encourage people who may rely on the food to participate in the meetings. Post the time, date and location of your meetings on your websites. We provide sample flyers that you can down load on www.foodnotbombs.net. The agenda for your first meetings can include a.) food collection b.) location for cooking c.) locations to deliver your food. d.) consider a location to share your meals in the future e.) outreach to people who may want to volunteer and join the meal.
Step 3: Arrange for the use of a vehicle. Among the members of your group, there might be enough vehicles of the right size for your needs, but if not, you might be able to borrow a van or truck from a sympathetic church group or similar organization. If none of the above succeeds, you can always hold fund-raising events specifically for the purchase of a van or truck. Some groups use bicycles and bike carts to pickup the food and take the meals and literature out to share. Other groups use shopping carts and travel on public transportation.
Step 4:With flyers in hand, begin looking for sources of food. The first places to approach are the local food co-ops, produce warehouses, farmers markets, organic food stores and bakeries. These types of stores tend to be supportive and are a good place to practice your approach. Tell them you plan to share the food with the hungry, delivering food to shelters and soup kitchens as well as providing a regular meal once the chapter is established, and if they are interested and willing, arrange for a regular time to pick up the food each week or as often as is practical. Where it is appropriate, leave literature which explains the mission of Food Not Bombs.
Step 5: Start by delivering your collected food to housing projects, shelters and local meal programs. It is important to get to know the food pantries and soup kitchens in your area. Learn where they are located, whom they serve, and how many they serve. This information will help you plan your delivery route and distribute the appropriate types and amounts of food to each program. This will also give you an idea of when and where your chapter should start to share your regularly prepared meals. It is usually desirable to arrange a regular delivery schedule with each location. Building relationships with the other food programs is valuable.
Step 6: Once this network becomes established, start to skim some food out of the flow without disrupting the program. With this food, prepare meals to serve on the streets with literature about Food Not Bombs as well as current issues and related events. It can be very helpful to share meals at rallies and demonstrations first; there your group can recruit more volunteers, collect donations, as well as lift the spirits of those participating in the action. Giving out meals at a protest can build community and supports the cause in a very direct way.
Step
7:Once enough people are involved, consider sharing meals in
a visible way one day a week to the hungry on the streets. Cooking and
serving food there builds community within the group and is hard work,
but this is also great fun. Choose a time, day and location where you
will reach the most people. Always be on time. Pick highly visible
locations where a diverse population is likely to walk past your food
and literature.
One aspect of our mission is to help make the "invisible
poverty" more visible. Your meal is not a Food Not Bombs meal if you don't provide literature and display a banner. Otherwise the public will think you are a church and have the impression your group believes that our political and economic system is fine and that all we need to do is care for those who are not able to make it.
We are not a charity, we are seeking to build a movemnet to end the exploitation of the economic and political system.
If you are not interested in changing society so no one needs to eat at a soup kitchen then you might want to volunteer with a church or government food program. We are seeking to end hunger and poverty not just feed it.
When so much money is spent on the military we know it is possible to create a world where no one is required to stand in line to eat at a charity.
The meal and literature can be a powerful way to reach out to the community with the message of "food not
bombs."
RESOURCES TO HELP YOU START YOUR FOOD NOT BOMBS GROUP THE PRINCIPLES OF FOOD
NOT BOMBS FOOD SAFETY FOR FOOD
NOT BOMBS
SOLIDARITY NOT CHARITY - REMEMBER - LITERATURE AND A
BANNER AT EVERY MEAL - DOWN LOAD THIS FLYER
DOWN LOAD THIS FLYER
DOWN LOAD THIS FLYER
THE GOOD SAMARITAN ACT - You can give this flyer published by Second Harvest to grocery and bakery staff to show they are protected from liability.
FLYERS TO SHARE AT YOUR MEALS AND EVENTS
THE FOOD NOT BOMBS
HANDBOOK
SAMPLE AGENDA FOR
THE FIRST MEETINGS
When you hold your first few meetings you can use this sample agenda. You can move the times to fit your schedule and add items you think might be important. You may be starting your group because of a crisis and that item could be placed on your agenda.
Volunteers participating in the 1992 and 1995 gatherings
came to consensus that we would have three principles that would make us FOOD NOT BOMBS. 1.The food is vegan and free to all. 2. We have no leaders and use the process of consensus to make desisions. 3. That Food Not Bombs is dedicated to nonviolent direct action towards creating a world free from domination, coercion and violence.
Our food is always vegan or vegetarian and is one reason our food is safe and that no one has been made ill eating with Food Not Bombs. If meat or dairy is included in the food you recover you can donate it to a food program that does provide meat and dairy. Many people that want to contribute to Food Not Bombs are not informed about our principle of only sharing plant based foods.
We encourage all Food Not Bombs groups to have a stack of these flyers on their literature table at every meal. This is very important to do if your chapter is in the United States where the governmnet has taken measures to reduce our meals to just another charity.
This flyer is an effective way to let everyone in your community to know about your Food Not Bombs group. You can post two or three copies on top of one another and cut the tags so people can take your contact information. You may have a volunteer that is not able to help your group the day of your meal but thay could post these flyers all over town once a month. (Again cut the tags for best results)
AND ADD YOUR DETAILS TO
LET PEOPLE KNOW WHEN AND WHERE YOU ARE SHARING YOUR REGULAR MEAL
ON SEVEN STEPS TO STARTING A FOOD NOT BOMBS GROUP
"Hungry For Peace -How you can help end poverty and war with Food Not Bombs"
 THE FOOD NOT BOMBS STARTUP KITEverything you need to start a local Food Not Bombs group in your community. A full color banner, on copy of the 180 page Food Not Bombs handbook, a DVD, flyers you can reprint and buttons. Everything you need to start a group. |
THE FOOD NOT BOMBS
HANDBOOK Hungry For Peace This 180 page book shows you how to cook vegan meals for 100 people and has detailed information about starting a Food Not Bombs group. |
| FLYERS AND IMAGES TO MAKE
FLYERS Flyers, graphics, logos, and photos you can use to help you start your Food Not Bombs group. Please use any of these images on posters, flyers or on your new website. |
POST THIS FLYER ALL OVER
TOWN You can start a Food Not Bombs group in you community buy making copies of this flyer, add your phone number and post it all over town in cafes, bookstores, schools, and store windows. |
| FOOD NOT BOMBS
MATERIALS It can be helpful to raise money and awareness to have Food Not Bombs buttons, stickers and other materials on your table at events and concerts. Our office provides these materials at half price to Food Not Bombs chapters. You will attract more volunteers and support in your community when people see the Food Not Bombs image all over town. |
CONTACT A FOOD NOT BOMBS
GROUP NEAR YOU Before you start a group see if one is already active in your community. If you do find a group in your town try work with them. Sometimes the contact information is old and the group has stopped so if you find this has happened then let us know and start a new chapter. You can also invite a Food Not Bombs group near your community to help you get started. When you get your group going please email us the correct contact information and the times, days and locatons of where you share food. |
| FOOD NOT BOMBS
PRESENTATION One great way to help start a Food Not Bombs group is to invite the co-founder Keith McHenry to speak to your community. Student activity centers at colleges and universities will provide funding for a presentation by Keith, helping with transportation and an honorarium. You can learn more about Keith and listen to his presentations here |
YOUR LITERATURE AND FOOD
TABLE Your Food Not Bombs group can have real impact when you include literature and a banner at every meal. If you set up your table at a location that is busy with a diversity of people at a time when lots of pedestrians walk by you will be able to attract more volunteers and discover new food sourses. You can also meet people who would have never known about the issues we are working on. Many Food Not Bombs tables are considered the place to visit for iinfromation, community as well as great food. This page shows you how you can have a more effective Food Not Bombs table. |
