Soupstock-24: Celebration of 44 Years of Sharing Meals!

Food Not Bombs, an all-volunteer movement in over 1,000 cities and at least 70 countries, celebrated 44 years of sharing meals and organizing for peace and social justice with a free festival in San Lorenzo Park in Santa Cruz, CA on May 25.

At Soupstock-2024, as it is called, an estimated 300 people came to the celebration; many spread out on the grass to enjoy free vegetarian meals, live music and speeches. There were families, unhoused people who don’t often get a chance to relax in a park without ordered to ‘move or be arrested,’ striking UAW student workers (See speech: https://bit.ly/3wOFufn); community groups with booths on renters and homeless uniting for justice; support for Palestinian families in Gaza, arts and crafts, and more.

Started in 1980 by college age anti-nuclear activists, Food Not Bombs co-founder Keith McHenry and a team of volunteers share vegetarian meals every weekend at the Santa Cruz Town Clock where all are welcome. People coming to eat are all ages; many are unhoused; evicted; former home owners; older women often in tears, never imagining they’d ever be hungry; housed people who can’t pay rent and also buy food; and other hungry people. “When a billion people go hungry each day, how can we spend another dollar on war?” asks McHenry. Below are excerpts from Keith McHenry’s speech at the celebration about Food Not Bomb’s work in Santa Cruz during the Pandemic for people with nowhere to go — and the city’s response:

“For three years, we were the only warm hand washing station in downtown Santa Cruz. We were the only daily hot meal, never missing a day. And, for honoring that, the city was really nice. What they did for the third-year anniversary was to send a cease and desist order. And they made a law against serving every day at the Santa Cruz Town Clock. And they arrested us for trying to serve inside the parking garage tent during the atmospheric river [floods]. So that’s the thanks we got from the city of Santa Cruz for actually keeping their city safe for three years.

“Imagine what hundreds of unhoused people living outside would have done without access to food during the Pandemic since three days after the lockdown, everybody living outside was supposed to be in a chain-link fence area on a parking lot with no doctors. No nothing. No food. Eventually, they would’ve gone to Trader Joe’s to help themselves for free, right? They would’ve gone to CVS. They would’ve gone to New Leaf [grocery] to help themselves, because who’s going to live out here for three years without food when you know you’ve got food in stores right around the corner?

“So the city of Santa Cruz can thank us for making sure there was no looting, particularly during the early days of the Pandemic. In fact, one of our volunteers saw a couple of guys with a big rock about to break out the window at Oswald’s. But thankfully, our volunteer said, ‘Oh, you don’t need to break out Oswald’s windows. We have a meal at the Town Clock.’ And they said, ‘Oh, cool,’ threw the rock in the air and walked away. So, we were directly aiding the City from total chaos by being out here every single day.”

Police have arrested Food Not Bombs volunteers for feeding the hungry in many U.S. cities, including Tampa, Orlando, Arcata, Los Angeles, and Houston. However many people in the same cities, including small businesses, community groups, and individuals support Food Not Bombs work to share food with anyone in need and donate to that cause.

Live music was performed at the celebration by Gina René & Million 7’s Project; Lyrical I; The 77 Wonders; Dormroom Capybaras; Carabeza, Robert Perala, and others. Some of their photos appear on this page.

You can join Food not Bombs by visiting their website at www.foodnotbombs.net