FOOD NOT BOMBS

Go, Food Not Bombs!

For the next flyer, it might be helpful to add a phone contact and the location of the Farmer's Market, for newbies. (There are several Farmer's Markets in Santa Cruz now, particularly with the new Saturday market in San Lorenzo Park).

Good luck.

As a long time believer in the efforts of FNB I do support the taking of food from stores that will otherwise throw it out. BUT- I am concerned by the practice of taking food out of the mouths of those who work at those stores. At the Franklin St Whole Foods the underpaid and over worked workers have fought for the right to take home the left over food at the cost of 25 cents. They can take loafs of bread, bakery goods, and the pizza slices or pre made sandwiches. this was not always the case. As many of the workers there can not really afford to eat well with that one job and many work two and still are barely getting by, this option has at times been a savior to these hard working individuals. Many have eaten only what they get at the end of the night for weeks at a time.
My concern is that there is a group of people who go into the store right at 10pm to collect the food for FNB. Often times they take all the bread, bakery goods and even the hot bar food and pizza before most of the stores workers have had the chance to get any for themselves. Also they have been caught and asked multiple times to not take the pizza, pre made sandwiches and other hot bar food that is not part of the agreement. I myself have watched as a few of these individuals begin to eat the food as they leave the store. So my issue is that while the majority of the food is going to the FNB program, it should not be a licence to enter a store and take from the workers for yourself.

While I agree that taking the food that would be thrown out by corporate america and feeding the needy is a great thing. I do not feel as though taking from the workers what they have fought for the right to have as being on the same level. It seems to me to run on the same level of the corporate pigs when you steal from an underpaid workers mouth. I mean to go in right at closing and take everything and eat part of it in the face of the workers is an insult. Should not the workers who are mistreated by managment and look forward to haveing some nice food recieve the option to take home a loaf of bread? Sure one could say that at least they are not homeless- but come on, we all know how hard it is to get by in SF. The cost of living here is the highest in the country. And wages are not high enough to eat well. Stealing from the poor to give to the poor is not the same as stealing from the rich to give to the poor. it is not the same as stealing from the poor to give to the rich. yes we could all do more- but please consider the ethics of stealing from the poor to give to the poor when the original intent was to take from the rich to feed the poor.

To me, if FNB wants to go into WFM and take the left overs then they should have to wait until the workers have recieved their chance. Most of these people who work there are making around $10,000 - $13.000 a year!! They are poor too.

that is all.
Keep up the good work!