FOOD NOT BOMBS HOBART: Application for a Soup Kitchen. Contact Me – Let’s Open One Together.

This blog is what I wrote for my application to council for the:

Hobart City Council Support Program for Food Not Bombs at Criterion House.

1. What is the name of the program that you deliver at the City of Hobart venue?

Food Not Bombs Hobart

2.  What support does your program provide to the community?

We are a social political organisation. We exist because of the amount of food waste in the world. All major decisions are by consensus (all agree). Everyone who comes has a say. We cook a vegan meal every week and serve it to the public every Saturday afternoon. Anyone can be co-ordinator, cook, helper, market staller, cleaner, kitchen hand or social support person to the vulnerable. The opportunity to co-ordinate secures the rights of all our participants that we belong to a democratic community organisation. In this way we are an experimental model (8 years long). We support diversity and equality in all our days activities. We are all volunteers. We have no funding arrangements. We are supported by donations. We provide a meal, takeaways, and continue with donating long after the event (see below). We provide an open supply of goods called The Free Market including clothes and shoes. We co-exist with Orange Sky Mobile Laundry. We are part of the trail of a group of soup kitchens in Hobart – people tells us so.

3.  How often does your program provide this support at the City of Hobart venue?

Food Not Bombs is open every Saturday between 2pm and 5:30pm. We have operated for about 8 years and about 4 years at the Criterion House venue. We understand our community needs us to be reliable because of the uncertain times that we live in. We rarely miss a Saturday.

4.  How many people attend your program each session at the City of Hobart venue?

On average 20 people have been attending each event, lately. Pre COVID numbers were higher, between 25-45 people. We have been gradually building this year, since restrictions.

Some groups who come include regulars, come and gos, and passing bys. Also, a group who are interesting are professionals. They come for direct political experience and explore the model we developed. Regulars are our backbone and much loved. They make it happen. We have worked with many who progress through our program into activists, soup kitchen co-ordinators, second hand food dealers, event meal preparer. Come and gos come for a few weeks in a row, then they are absent, sometimes they return after a period. It is clear it is important for them to return. We know we provide social support because the way this group express they belong and have ‘only been away, or been busy, and couldn’t come for awhile’. And we welcome new participants on a regular basis.

In addition, several organisations attend each week, including: Orange Sky, and City Organics. We also have a growing collaborative relationship with Pets in the Park. They started sharing the space – once a month – now we co-exist, seeing some of the same clients, and sharing knowledge and services.

5.  Does your program provide this support at other venues? If yes, where and when?

The program provides support at other venues – beyond Criterion House, via:

Sunday Glenorchy Showgrounds Market (We acknowledge this is a Glenorchy City Council event). We distribute Bread collected from the Saturday Criterion House event and hand it out on Sunday at the Glenorchy Market. Stallholders provide their space for free for us. We distribute on the basis we provide support and resources to an economically disadvantaged area.

Night Space and Day Space (Mission Australia) and Bethlehem House – both Warwick Street and Murry Street buildings (St.Vincent de Paul). We have delivered donuts many times for evening supper for residents at these homeless shelters. We call it the Donut Run. We visit all the venues in one night. The donuts are donated by Circle of Life. The donated donuts were unsold at the end of the day. Circle of Life support our organisation and our mission to End Food Waste.

Individual Outreach Venues. We deliver products, meals, and bread from the Criterion event to individual homes every Saturday. Directly after closing up at Criterion House, we carry-on to ensure we distribute what is left over. One of our main stops is Peter, a charitable person, who lives in a court area of flats, and residents include many multicultural and disadvantaged families. Peter redistributes bread and food supplies to families via the relationships which he established after we asked what he could do to help us achieve our ethical responsibility. Food is perishable and is time limited therefore Peter fulfils the project we set out at the beginning. We emphasise here that he established this network because we asked him how to distribute food ethically – so he showed us. This was his idea of ethical practice. As an organisation we learned that all we have to do was ask – ask people like Peter.

We have distributed meals to many other individual venues/homes on an ad hoc basis. Situations arise at the Criterion House event each Saturday which we address as they present. For example, participants often ‘know someone’ who is struggling and needs help so we drop off some food. For example, as I referenced earlier, a second hand food dealer, Helen* said the bread we gave her went to 12 people last Saturday (from our Criterion event). She says it solves two problems for her, collection compulsion from OCD, and she swaps until she fulfils her needs for a full balanced diet of food each week (this is only one case example of many stories of charity we take part in).

6.  Please provide information on the diversity of people who attend your program. This could include age, gender, culture or any other type of diversity.

Food Not Bombs is radically diverse. Perhaps there are few places in the city which support diversity as we do. We use experimental models of community from social work, providing a safe environment where diversity flourishes. The model incorporates feminist perspectives, and principles of equity and equality, and also strengths based practice.

We are a supported space for a diverse community of people including differences in culture, age, gender, politics, economic status, and social circumstances. For example, we support older groups. We think older people need more care and consideration. This is a focus for our group because older and younger groups together provides probably the most advantage for both groups than with any other two groups.

Another example are the urban poor who attend. In reality this group is more diverse within themselves than they are consistent. We like the economic disadvantaged working together and adding value to volunteering, civil participation, training like cooking or co-ordinating. This levels up their skills and provides them responsibility which helps them feel appreciated. One example is Paul. He cooked on a regular basis, which we supported and hoped he would advance. After cooking for 3 years for us he has recently started at the zinc works. Though he isn’t cooking at the plant he links his move to employment to us. We think belonging to a diverse community empowered Paul to believe more in himself. We also supported him in his housing choices when he was homeless. Notably, housing was fundamental to securing work. We believe Food Not Bombs was probably the grease in the cogs in which Paul turned himself around.

We evidence our diversity each week with the way we have held together for as long as we have, despite insurmountable challenges. Diversity is what binds us. It seems to be our seedbed for culture and really is a draw card for people to come. Mental health is chronic however our diversity policy and practice provides opportunities for adaption i.e. people fit in with us after not fitting in anywhere else. We look at diversity as a bonding agent rather than something to be individually categorised.

Another example are people with current employment positions who attend. We have people who come who bring high level skills such as management, protest, chef, community development, academic experience and so on. In this case diversity is expressed as empowerment, class elimination and consciousness up-rising. We support the class clash by providing opportunities for co-ordination. From that site professionals have a smooth transition as they are well situated in the kitchen, as food can be a middle class value. From there the economically advantaged see first hand, experiences which are uncommon to them, and that provides perspectives of poverty.

One more example occurs with our collaborative arrangements with Orange Sky. We see political fusion of diverse views, via the context of professional staff who volunteer, and wash clothes for participants of Food Not Bombs who are also homeless with mental health issues and can have surprising political opinions. In these instances usually both groups learn from the other. Given the time, like the duration of our event, and the critical space which Criterion House belongs, as a public square, we think something happens which can only be explained in a political context.

There are many more examples of participants who identify publicly as diverse, unique and/or as themselves. The model successfully provides for a continuum of differences. We discovered when attendees identify differently and belonging to one community, diversity thrives, because the context of community encompasses differences – this provides a talking point.

7.  Do any other services accompany your program in order to provide support to the community? If yes, what programs accompany your program and what support do they provide?

Shoes for Planet Earth (Sydney) and Foot Ankle Rehabilitation Centre (FARC) provide top brand recycled sneakers for the urban poor. We distribute for them through our event at Criterion House. We store the shoes in the cupboards on site.

The Free Market is the provision of second hand clothes, homewares, camping supplies, bedding and bric-a-brac. The charity market stall is set upat each Criterion House event. Its a developing activity/organisation and relies on Food Not Bombs to collaborate. An exciting new supply has been the free sneakers from Shoes from Planet Earth. Our participants can be fitted for new shoes. At the moment sizes have maxed out at size 11, we endeavour to go higher. Another part of The Free Market has been some provision of furniture for participants who were homeless, and transitioning into public housing. They have needed every single thing. The Free Market helped furniture their home. Moreover this has been provided for a few cases only. We want to help expand the project.

Tim’s Charity from Woolworths. We can get a call at a random time and have 30 minutes to meet Tim at some undisclosed location for a pick-up. When Woolworths has a big load to throw out we score, when Tim calls us. We collect and source the kitchen at our Saturday event with boxes of fruit and veggie’s.

Local government counsellor, Bill Harvey remains a big support. We score regularly and thoughtfully from Bill and his family. This is not taken for granted, though he has been their for many years from behind the scenes with never really making it known he is behind the scenes. We found out from our own secret sources Bill is responsible for the drop offs – though we don’t say anything. We remain proud to be associated with that humility and return that grace in-kind.

8. Are you aware of any community members experiencing any long term improvement in their situation as a result of your program? This could include community members being more socially connected, being healthier or being linked to other support services (health, housing, social, etc.).

We have many stories of improving outcomes for Food Not Bombers. One case was Rob who did his mandatory community hours while on parole at Food Not Bombs. He was a cook for us and a good one. He averaged seven plates an event. The magistrate at the courts discussed our event every fortnight with him because Rob was in a diversion court program where the magistrate came down from the bench to have that conversation with him. It was relayed to us by the justice department that we were a legitimate social justice agency. Once Rob completed his 100 hours he started a job as a cook at Flint House.

Dougie was another case that emphasises what possibilities communities like ours can have. Doug had been socially isolated. He/She is a transvestite and gay. He was also army trained we found out and highly capable. Doug was co-ordinating in no time. He likes the central position which Food Not Bombs gives him. He has really shined over the period of events he co-ordinated this year. I mean he loves the spot light. Moreover, as we provide a safe space for gender diversity, doug could come out as queer. His frocks have become more extravagant at each event since the beginning of 2022.

9. What would be the impact on your program without the of City of Hobart’s in-kind support?

We are completely reliant on City of a Hobart for our venue. Without this support we would undoubtedly close. We have planned for this contingency. We have scoped what our event could be if we lose the venue. We concluded we have not yet reached a level of real support that would secure another venue with any certainty: That level of base support remains: ‘very thin, full of wishful thinking and shows other key membership (other than the core) is persistently depressed and would absolutely let the program end with no challenge). It would be a problem with no venue. More new challenges for the remainder of the year like the loss of use of Criterion House, would probably, be catastrophic.

10. Are there any issues that have arisen from the provision of your program at the City of Hobart venue?

We have had our issues. These are well documented for previous years. This year was about seeing through a major division in the core group. A 2 year strategy was put in place and resulted in a new responsible person. Several trespass notices were issued. And a number of applications to the Equal Opportunities Commissioner were made. All these actions were successful for the long term success of the organisation. An eventual resolution which would be based on humanitarian principles and the goal of Food Not Bombs, continues to elude us. Matters are currently stable, locked and without incident. No present conflict exists with us. This year has been smooth. Though we do not rest on our laurels. We are a political organisation. And we must change to the stay the same. Two opposing core members which are at the heart of the organisation, had not had the heart of the organisation in mind in 2021. A solution was that both not attend as they had done. We continue to feel from the loss of two sides of the heart which are not currently in the body. Food Not Bombs currently has a standing core co-ordinator, who operates and keeps the peace. They do so efficiently and without complaint. Other associated issues included: that key assets have been locked for a year without access by the responsible person, including the official Facebook group page (which has 3000 members) and the original art banner. We wait!

11. Do you have any other comments regarding the delivery of your program at the City of Hobart venue?

We are a developing program. We have progressed this year more than any other year. And we had many challenges this year. We had hoped to have had an auspice by this time, however it was delayed until later this year. We have had some major media interest, though our story was not published in the end. We have had a year which we established some real foundational work, contextually. We demonstrated strengths with our capacity for resolving several political challenges. Which we did compassionately and intricately. We are a community development project which City of Hobart can recognise as one of her own uniquely Tasmanian environmental political grassroots community organisations.