The line was long with neighbors in need, people living on the streets and day laborers last Monday for a community meal at Fisherman’s Park hosted by Food Not Bombs Reno.
With the weather turning, tea, coffee, and cocoa were served along with hot food and winter jackets. There was also a strawberries and cream dessert handed out.
Pet food was available to feed the many furry friends and companions also showing up.
They’ve been here for years, giving out love, hugs, healthy food and clothes to neighbors in need.
It was this same group which was run down by David Turner driving a car at a second location they used to serve food at and hand out donations in April 2023, outside the Cares Campus. One unhoused woman was killed, and two of their volunteers were seriously injured. Turner has since been sentenced to life without parole.
Griffin Peralta (in red shirt above), a teacher who has been volunteering for the organization for almost ten years, explains that more people come to the gathering as it gets later in the month. This is due to an “inverse relationship to food stamps and SNAP,” Peralta says.
SNAP short for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget.
“For us, we’re out here every week, doing this thing, having dinner with people, specifically to be in solidarity with folks that we feel the government is letting down,” Peralta said.
He says this Reno chapter of Food Not Bombs sprung from the Occupy Wall Street movement which started in 2011.
Peralta makes a clear distinction that, rather than a hierarchical top-down charity approach, Food Not Bombs pursues solidarity by “meeting people where they’re at.”