THE NORMAN FOOD NOT BOMBS PROJECT IS CURRENTLY SLEEPING.

If you would like to help reawaken it, please feel free to contact one of the current bottomliners, John or Withlyn.

How to Get Involved with Norman Food Not Bombs

So, you’ve heard about this organization called FNB, realized that there is one in your town, and have decided you want to get involved. Well, it’s not as easy as volunteering with Habitat for Humanity or the local soup kitchen - it is a non-hierarchical, community-building organization based on some rather abstract concepts - voluntary mutual aid, egalitarianism and cooperation rather than competition. With these complex ideals and unique structure, some folks find it hard to know how to get involved or what to do for FNB. Non-hierarchal structures and consensus-based organizations can be confusing to new volunteers who haven't experienced such types of organizations before. Inclusiveness is highly valued by FNB volunteers. This guide is an attempt to make Norman FNB more inclusive. So, this guide will be like a list of ways to get involved and make a contribution in your own way. It will begin with most common volunteer activities of regular Logistics, then move on to Promotion, Sustainability, and finally community-building beyond FNB. This guide is certainly not conclusive or comprehensive. If you notice something that's been left out, please add to this or even make a whole new guide.

Come To The Picnic

The first way most people get involved in FNB is by coming to our picnic in the park. When you come, feel free to bring a vegan (meat-, dairy-, & egg-free) potluck item or drinks if you like, but it's perfectly acceptable to just come and eat. The first step to building a community is eating together, no matter how diverse our economic, ethnic, or lifestyle background is. We recommend vegan food because that allows everyone to eat - food that contains meat, dairy, or eggs cannot be eaten by those who are vegan, but vegan food can be eaten by those who eat meat, dairy, and/or eggs. This is simple egalitarianism and inclusiveness. Just sharing food and conversation, and maybe a game or a song, allows us to find common ground while recognizing the realities of others' life situations. Feel free to bring drums, guitars, frisbees, footballs, basketballs, etc. Currently, we picnic in Andrews Park 5pm on Sunday afternoons.

Offer to Help with Flyering, Meeting & Greeting

We'd like to have one or more people to hand out flyers at shelters during the week, as well as meet, greet, and explain FNB to passers by during the picnic.

Cooking

An important aspect for many FNB groups is seeing the picnic as a form of protest or direct action to regularly remind people of the saddening fact that daily our government spends tremendous amounts of resources for war and military might, but very little to feed people, even while large amounts of perfectly good food is wasted daily due to consumer market practices. Many FNB groups choose to focus their energies on collecting this food, and sharing it at the picnic. This creates many ways for you to get involved, first by sharing your cooking skills at a local FNB cookhouse. Usually, a few hours before the serving, volunteers gather at the pre-determined cookhouse to wash, chop, and cook the donations. We currently meet at Casa de la Corazón (727 North Findlay Avenue) at about 2pm on Sundays.

Food Donation Pickups

Food donations are usually picked up several days per week. The donations that will be used for the FNB meal are stored at CasaDeLaCorazonCasa de la Corazón and the remainder are distributed throughout the week to those who need them. This is a great way to get involved when cooking or picnic times conflict with your other life commitments. Doing food donation pickups usually require a truck or a car with a large trunk or backseat. Smaller donations can be picked up with a good bike and bike cart. Contact Maka at 204-2352 or by email if you'd like to help with pickups.

Getting Donations

Getting FNB new donations from local businesses is another great way to get involved, especially if you’re a people person or have a great local network of business-owner friends. We especially need bulk beans, pasta, grains, and rice, bread, spices, and salt. Other items that would be helpful are larger skillets, woks, and soup pots, durable unbreakable cups, plates and bowls, and flatware. Holding a donation drive is great for churches, schools, or your office - if you focus on one specific type of item, it's easier for the donors to remember what's needed and it's easier for volunteers to sort out what comes in. Some other sources to try are farmer's markets, local gardeners, produce stands, grocery stores, health food stores, bakeries, delis and restaurants. A donation request letter is at the bottom of this page - you can copy it and give it to the appropriate manager, along with a copy of the Good Samaritan Act, to show the business manager that they are protected from donation-related liabilities.

Gleaning

Another great way to collect food that would normally get wasted is by gleaning. This is when volunteers go pick vegetables and fruits that are not being harvested. Just make sure to ask first! Often times gardeners would love the help, especially during the hotter months. Next time you’re walking or biking around your 'hood, stop by and meet your neighbors and offer some help. This is a great project to do with your children on a weekend morning, and a great way to build community locally, reduce yard waste, and feed folks at FNB picnics. Sometimes gleaning is organized where groups of volunteers go out to local farms, and pick left over fruits and veggies after the commercial harvest is over.

Providing a Cookhouse

Many great cooks have not only cookbooks, but also an amazing array of appliances and gadgets to fill their spacious kitchen. If you’re one of those people who spend most of your free time at home in the kitchen, then maybe you would like to share your knowledge, skills, tools, and space by getting involved in FNB. Centrality and convenience is important so volunteers can make their way to your place, so please keep this in mind when deciding to offer up your place. Although we don’t have rotating cookhouses locally yet, they could reduce burnout and bring a variety of new volunteers from differing neighborhoods and social groups.

Transportation

Sometimes we can manage to get all of the food to the park via bikes with trailers, but sometimes it's not that easy. If you have a vehicle, a great way to get involved is by offering rides to the many non-driving individuals, as well as the pots of food, dishes, and literature bin. So, fuel up, and drive for FNB about 4:45 PM on Sunday afternoons from the cookhouse.

Clean-Up

Hey, we all know what this means: Dishes and Cleaning. Take this job on some week, and combat that silly argument against anarchism, “If there was no government, or capitalism, then who would pick up the garbage?” This usually means picking up in the park after the picnic, helping with storage of leftovers, and doing the communal dishes. Currently our cookhouses are volunteers' home kitchens, and having a mess of FNB dishes to deal with after the picnic is over and everybody has gone home just sucks.

The Literature/Supply Bin

This is the container (or containers) that holds plates, bowls, cups, flatware, salt, pepper and especially the literature to set out at the picnic, so people understand who we are and what we are doing. This task includes checking to see that everything on the checklist is in the bin before the picnic, and photocopying literature and flyers about FNB. It’s not a hard way to volunteer but is rather essential, so try taking this on occasionally.

Designing Literature

Well, maybe cooking is not your thing, and you’re not quite a people person, but you do love computers and design. Most FNB groups get new volunteers by word of mouth and flyers. Well-designed flyers are essential, so one very important way to get involved is by designing promotional flyers, handbills, pamphlets, and/or posters about FNB directed for specific audiences that may not be represented currently at the picnic or volunteering. Maybe you could design a couple or maybe you know a different language and could translate them to reach out to more diverse folks.

Tabling and Flyering

Maybe design is not your thing, either, but you love going to events and talking to new people. FNB always needs people to constantly be doing promotion by tabling and flyering at events, shows or concerts. Just grab or download some flyers, photocopy them, and off you go. If you don’t like handing them to people, you could just take them with you to school, venues, shops, any place you find yourself, and just leave a stack here and there.

Printing Posters and Stickers

Another way to promote FNB is by posters and stickers, so maybe a late night at Kinko’s sounds fun to you. Stickers can be made on copy machines at most copy centers, and they usually even have the sticker paper there. You can find tons of FNB graphics on the Internet, and this is a great way to volunteer by promoting FNB.

Artistry - Banners & Screen-Printing

You could volunteer with Norman FNB by making a few banners for display at the picnics, as well as during tabling events and protests. Banners can be made as easily as painting on a flag or sheet. If painting is not your thing, maybe woodcut printmaking or screen-printing is. The best way you can personally promote FNB is by wearing a T-shirt or a patch. But someone has to make those stylish shirts first, and maybe that someone could be you. Printed posters are another great thing if you’ve got these skills, and makes for a great fun night with friends. Norman FNB could specifically use some t-shirts right now - making homemade screen-printed shirts is great fun.

Donation Request Letter

Food Not Bombs Volunteer

Text of Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act

Related pages:

• Food Not Bombs
• What Is Food Not Bombs?
• About Norman FNB
• How To Get Involved With Norman FNB