Food Not Bombs Providence
Our Purpose
Food Not Bombs is a collective of loosely affiliated chapters, in over 1,000 cities worldwide, that seek to redirect food that would otherwise have been wasted to people. While Food Not Bombs has been around since the 80s, the Providence chapter has existed in its current iteration since 2015. Chapter activity primarily consists of the distribution of 1 vegan meal per month in downtown Providence; we serve in a central location, near the main bus station, that is highly accessible to all residents of Providence, regardless of where they live or whether they have access to transportation. However, during the pandemic, we have redirected our efforts into distributing groceries due to social distancing efforts. We generally acquire food donations from local farms, and buy additional food (as well as materials, like paper plates) with our own money. FNB is a direct/mutual aid organization based on non-hierarchical, lateral organizational principles, rooted in solidarity, not charity. We are an environmental group insofar as we seek to remove food from the cycle of food waste, and redirect that food to people who need it, but primarily, we focus on food justice by providing food to anybody who asks, without question, and without threshholds/standards that need to be met in order to receive food. Many members are involved with other organizations that focus on economic justice, and we frequently reach out to local businesses to ask for donations.