March 31st, 2025
by Azria Raventhorn
First they came for the covered area. The shelters at Park Blocks --which provided some small respite from the piercing winter rains-- were torn down. Eyes in the sky flashing blue lights watched over the excavators tearing the posts out one by one. Since 2018, another group has used those covered areas as well: Eugene's chapter of Food Not Bombs, which serves food to the people passing through the Park Blocks every week, rain or shine. Then, EPD's Officer Peckler paid Food Not Bombs a visit, "he said he'd received complaints that we didn't have a permit, and it was a problem that we were using canopies because of the rain," which Food Not Bombs had only begun using to replace the torn out shelters to keep food and gear dry." He said he would let us serve that day, but that we couldn't be back," threatening citation or arrest, said L. Posts began circulating before the group's next serve calling for community support in case of a police response.
I was sitting down with two of the faces behind Eugene's chapter of Food Not Bombs, L and Kim. According to them, "Food Not Bombs is an international decentralized movement. It's a protest against violence inflicted on humans and animals, and saves food from waste and gives it to the hungry," said L. They estimate that Eugene's chapter started sometime around 2010 serving regularly in Kesey Square rather than the Park Blocks, but the city had run the group out of that spot around 2018 in much the same way they're trying to now at Park Blocks. Neither Kim nor L seem particularly surprised by the developments, even though it's the first time it has happened since the group moved locations. "This honestly seems like years in the making," sighed Kim, "It's so much easier to target us as an organization because we're so grassroots- we have no legal protection. The most we can hope for is community support."
And the community did answer the call. The next week, supporters flooded the plaza to defend the group. "We had dozens, maybe more than forty people show up to support and help out," said Kim, but the cops never showed, mirroring a pattern from last year when the Eugene Police Department threatened another food serving group, Neighbors Feeding Neighbors, and failed to make good on the threats when community similarly showed up in support. Kim continued, "I expected there wouldn't be any cop presence. Either way things went smoothly. It was comforting, I did feel safer having that show of support. I hope it continues for the next few weeks." The week after that, a cop tower was placed looking directly over where Food Not Bombs typically serves, still, the group continued to serve despite this display of surveillance.
"The more people we have show up, and the more vocal people are, telling friends, family, sharing about it. Being as vocal as possible and not backing down, when the city sees that people are not only standing up but standing strong with each other, I think that's when they start to worry." - Kim, Eugene Food Not Bombs
The move from Kesey Square to Park Blocks around seven years ago did not constitute a major shift for the group, since the Park Blocks are less then a block away from Kesey square in downtown. Both locations are centrally located, a factor which the group considers extremely important for their serves, as the support in the area has gradually been rolled back more and more over the years. "That's why we have to stay downtown. We represent the failure of the city to take care of it's own constituents. Having that on their front doorstep every week for people to see, I'm sure is a thorn in their side." Kim indicates the group is more than ready to stand firm in their space, as Food Not Bombs is now one of the only groups still regularly serving the unhoused anywhere east of Washington Jefferson Park aside from the Dining Room, which is only open some days of the week. The organizers point to more official non-profits who went through "proper channels" as examples of why that effort is pointless, nowhere is this more clear than with Cahoots service hours being rolled back in the wake of budget cuts. The closure of Eugene's only hospital last year which has now been converted into a SWAT training facility according to Eugene Weekly exemplifies this pattern to a disturbing degree, as social services are rolled back in favor of militarized police across the country.
Food Not Bombs' grassroots nature is far from a flaw that holds the group back with a lack of funding or bureaucratic legitimacy, rather it's an intentional choice that allows the group to focus on what really matters in their perspective "Even if we met the city's demands and had this legal backing, permits and whatever else they asked- we would be less effective." L continues, "We've seen with other orgs like Neighbors Feeding Neighbors, even if you do submit to the city's demands they change the goalposts. They don't actually care about the rules. It's a tool that they use to push you out." This sentiment seems to be informed by L's personal experiences as well, "In my early adulthood I did a lot of liberal volunteering for high barrier homeless shelters. I wanted to do good work. I wanted to help people." But L said working for these shelters only disillusioned them with these official channels, "They turned away the people with the most need. The barriers in place were; no alcohol, no drugs, they were separated by sex. So the people struggling the most, the people who had addictions or had the hardest time getting off the streets were the ones getting turned away." These sorts of barriers are persistent in shelters across the country. The Lane County shelter website features a handy table to keep track of what local shelters require of those who seek services, there is not a single shelter which doesn't have at least one of these barriers. They also acknowledge that even if every shelter bed was full, "95% of those on the streets still wouldn't have a shelter," underscoring that the city's strategy of removing supports like Food Not Bombs as a losing one.
"If you were lucky enough to get in they were regularly breathalyzing people and doing random searches of people's rooms and would confiscate people's things and "lose" them, conveniently. They said they were helping people but really they were shaming people and stealing their shit," L recollects with disdain.
Food Not Bombs represents a no-barrier resource to the community in the heart of Lane County. In the same plaza as the famous Saturday Market, directly in front of the circuit court, and not two blocks from the city's darling, Kesey Square and the "bar-muda triangle" that is Broadway street. The group isn't going anywhere as long as people continue to show up and support them at a time when people doing outreach to those on the streets are increasingly being targeted, from Barefoot Defenders to Neighbors Feeding Neighbors, and beyond. "My goal is what it's been since it started, which is to make a fuck ton of food, bring it to the park blocks and feed whoever comes," emphasizes L, as they ask the city to either give them money or get out of the way. "We've been doing more than just food - still not bombs- but at this point we regularly have hygiene products, we have survival gear, we try to have pet food every week. I want to see us continue to provide these things." But the city shows no sign of backing down. An open records request with the city of Eugene yielded no results for Food Not Bombs, most likely because the city considers this matter to be ongoing and all records are therefore not available to the public for the time being. For their part, Eugene Food Not Bombs doesn't intend to back down either, stating they will continue to serve, no matter what, for as long as there are people to do the work.
"There are people who depend on us to eat on Fridays. I've had regulars come up and tell me if it wasn't for us, they wouldn't eat that day. Multiple people have come up and told me that they haven't eaten in days.... One of the reasons they're targeting us is that we're doing shit they should be taking care of. Even with how grassroots we are, we feed a lot of people. We're a pillar in the community. We don't need them, and they don't want us to know that, so they're impeding our ability to take care of each other." - L, Eugene Food Not Bombs