(Cloud Gamble )
Although we may hesitate to acknowledge it, we know it is out there. It is on streets, in homes, stalking the night; its cold, relentless fingers are coiled around the neck of the world. It is everywhere. It is hunger. We need to fight back — so grab a spoon.
After all, considering that 40 percent of food produced in the United States is going to waste, and that there were 925 million people globally without enough to eat in 2010, the need for a massive reform is undeniable. And it is everyone’s responsibility.
In 1981, Keith McHenry — an anti-nuclear activist — and a group of friends turned their idea of spreading peace into a volunteer project by sharing vegetarian food with the hungry in their Cambridge, Mass. community. The philosophy behind the title, Food Not Bombs, is simply that when there are still so many people starving to death daily, it is ludicrous for the U.S. to allot about 50 cents of every federal tax dollar to finance military bloodshed.
To put it simply, in the words of the Food Not Bombs mission statement: “food is a right, not a privilege.”
That sentiment rang true to some Greensboro residents who founded the local chapter over 15 years ago. Though according to Sarah Lee, an organizer for the local group, no one really knows when it was started.
Despite its peaceful purpose, Food Not Bombs is not always welcomed by the surrounding society. Boasting a history littered with arrests and violence — which includes being considered America’s most hardcore terrorist group for a time — the Food Not Bombs effort has long been facing opposition from the limiting legal institution.
Even against the odds, and the government, McHenry stood by what he believed to be right and continued to reach out to communities around the globe in order to feed the hungry.
“I was inspired by the protests that stemmed from Food Not Bombs and baffled about how our government views people who do good, decent, grassroots work as ‘terrorists,'” freshman philosophy major Lyes Benarbane said of the event.
Food Not Bombs — in its ability to combine activism and positive change — seemed to empower the students that gathered on Feb. 1 in the Greenleaf Co-op to become part of the solution for hunger. Hopefully it will empower them into activity with the local chapter.
Meeting around 2:00 p.m. on Mondays to begin cooking, the local chapter serves its guests at the public library on Church Street at 6:00 p.m. Recently the kitchen used for the local chapter of Food Not Bombs closed down, forcing them to move the cooking to people’s homes. That has not slowed their support for the cause or their ability and willingness to serve the average 60 people each week, according to Lee.
“Be passionate about whatever project you’re about to start, and don’t be discouraged if at first it does not work,” McHenry said.
McHenry’s is the quintessential tale of a crew of progressively-minded college students rebelling against “the institution” and simultaneously striving to promote an improved way of life for all. And thanks to their vision and enthusiasm to cultivate peace, over 1,000 chapters in over 60 countries are supporting the effort to end hunger and war.
It is our turn to follow in their legendary footsteps, help out our community, and grab a spoon in the fight against world hunger.