We find it deeply distressing that an organization like Food Not Bombs faces legal challenges. Not only does the organization provide food for Middletown’s hungry on Sundays, when soup kitchens are closed, but it also plays a significant role in easing tensions between the University and the Middletown community.
Students’ involvement with Food Not Bombs is an excellent example of engagement with the Middletown community, and it is a paradigm for how our mutual relationship can improve. Rather than condemn Food Not Bombs, the Middletown Health Department should recognize the organization’s contributions to the community, much of which lacks access to fresh, healthy food. Rather than get mired in arbitrary bureaucratic decisions, the Department should work to find a way for Food Not Bombs to continue its work.
In fact, the Board may be legally bound to exempt Food Not Bombs from the Health Code. We accept Food Not Bombs’ argument that it is not organized as a charitable organization, but that it is simply a group of people sharing a meal. In a profoundly unequal society, people should be allowed to share whatever they choose without hindrance.
Middletown’s chapter of Food Not Bombs is not the only chapter to be unjustly hindered. In July 2006, an ordinance was passed in Orlando that required its local chapter to pay for a permit in order to provide food to more than 25 people in the city’s parks. A lawsuit was filed in October 2006 against the ordinance, and after 2 years of protest, a federal judge ruled in favor of Food Not Bombs.
While that story saw a happy ending, many other Food Not Bombs chapters, including ours, may not be so lucky. The idea that the whim of local bureaucracy could squelch an organization that has been feeding hungry people in Middletown for over a decade should be distressing to us all. We urge the University community to support Food Not Bomb’s appeal by attending the hearing, going to Board of Health meetings, and participating in Food Not Bombs’ work.
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