• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
WRAP

WRAP

Western Regional Advocacy Project

  • Donate Now
  • Get Email Updates
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • About
    • 40 Years of Fighting
    • History
    • Mission
    • Strategy
    • Members
    • Board / Staff
  • Campaigns
    • Business Improvement Districts
    • House Keys Not Sweeps
    • Legal Defense Clinics Project
    • Homeless Bill of Rights
    • Oregon Right To Rest
    • Without Housing
    • Street Outreach
  • Organizing Tools
    • Without Housing Organizing Toolkit
    • Homeless Bill of Rights Campaign Manual
    • WRAP Organizers Manual
    • WRAP Artwork
  • Resources
    • Pipe Dreams and Picket Fences Report
    • Art in Action Power Point Slide Show
    • Hobos to Street People
    • House Keys Book
    • Political Education
    • Legal Research
  • Media
    • Newsletters
    • Blog
    • Hobos to Street People Art Show
    • Street Newspapers
    • Sweeps Gallery Videos
    • Videos
  • Support Us
    • Donate
    • Become a Monthly Sustainer
    • Volunteer
    • Support WRAP
    • WRAP Newsletters & Updates Sign Up

Memorial Day 2020: The Homeless Union and the 40th Anniversary of Food Not Bombs

May 22, 2020 by Jonathan Leave a Comment

The National Union of the Homeless and Food Not Bombs presents:

Memorial Day, 2020 Veterans, homelessness and  hunger in a time of pandemic.

Forty years of feeding the people and organizing the homeless.

A global webinar of resistance with Homeless Union military veterans and Food Not Bombs volunteers

            Sunday, May 24, 2020: 12:30 pm PT/ 2:30 pm CT/3:30 pm ET

Bruce Parry, Treasurer, Coalition of Veterans Organizations * Keith McHenry, Founder, Food Not Bombs Jose Vasquez, Common Defense * Savina Martin, military veteran and founder, Boston Homeless Union Daniel Ochoa, Jr. Imperial Valley Veterans and Families Organizer * Alicia Kuhl, President, Santa Cruz Homeless Union *  International Food Not Bombs Volunteers: Bulgaria, South Africa, Myanmar and Mexico

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85484172758

Or iPhone one-tap :
    US: +16465588656,,85484172758#  or +13017158592,,85484172758#
Or Telephone:
    Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
        US: +1 646 558 8656  or +1 301 715 8592  or +1 312 626 6799  or +1 346 248 7799  or +1 669 900 9128  or +1 253 215 8782
    Webinar ID: 854 8417 2758
    International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcjr1IkxHm      

Officers and Supporters of the National Union of the Homeless:

We had originally planned a Memorial Day webinar for May 24, 2020 focused on veterans, homelessness and the pandemic. However, we became aware that because of the lockdown, a public celebration and concert marking the 40th Anniversary of Food Not Bombs scheduled for the same day in Santa Cruz could not take place. We decided we could not let the anniversary of an organization that has been with the Homeless Union movement from the beginning go unrecognized. And so we have expanded the Memorial Day webinar and have put together a fantastic team of military veterans, Homeless Union leaders and Food Not Bombs volunteers from around the world. We are especially honored to have Brother Keith McHenry, creator of Food Not Bombs and now an officer in our National Union join the program.

 attached word and PDF

Some background:

Food Not Bombs (FNB) was established in 1980, when Ronald Reagan became president and began an unprecedented shift of funding away from programs for poor people and into a massive expansion of the military budget including “Star Wars” and other war profiteering projects. FNB responded by feeding poor and homeless people in the parks and on the streets; its name was a political protest saying “we should be feeding the hungry, not feeding the military industrial complex: Food, NOT Bombs!”

FNB was with the original Homeless Union from the beginning, cooking for the homeless and supporting the Union actively. Keith McHenry, who founded FNB, was beaten and arrested in San Francisco and Oakland for helping us with our housing takeovers. In the film “Takeover”, you can see Keith being clubbed by police after a confrontation at Oakland City Hall. Keith has been arrested hundreds of times by defying laws against feeding the poor and homeless. He still suffers from nerve damage from a savage beating by the San Francisco police while in custody and has spent over 500 nights in jail. Today, Food Not Bombs has over 400 chapters in the U.S. and 1,000 across the world. It is the longest running poor people’s “Project Survival” in history. 

Keith joined the Santa Cruz Homeless early last year and since then has forged a real partnership with the Union that we hope will become a national and world-wide model. FNB had originally scheduled a major 40th Anniversary rally and concert in Santa Cruz for May 24, which now cannot take place because of the pandemic. In discussing the situation with Keith we would like to now propose is that we go ahead with our Memorial Day Homeless Union Webinar on veterans, homelessness and the coronavirus crisis, but share the event with Food Not Bombs to mark its 40th anniversary. The Webinar will take place on Sunday, May 24, 2020, the day before the federal holiday on May 25. 

This will be an International event that could possibly draw thousands of participants. Forty years since FNB was formed, we now see that the expansion of the military budget has come at the direct expense of the poor, including millions of poor, disabled and homeless veterans, made even more desperate and obvious by the current pandemic. This Memorial Day, we can bring these issues together to help build our Union and our movement. 

Hoping you are all staying strong and safe, 

Anthony Prince, 

Lead Organizer,

Kristin Colangelo,

National Secretary and Membership Director

 

Filed Under: Events

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Footer

Instagram Feed

Welcome to the WRAP-UP! Boise, ID. Video Shows Fam Welcome to the WRAP-UP!	Boise, ID. Video Shows Family Violently Arrested and Severely Injured for Living in Park, and more news from our members.  https://conta.cc/3R8Efzl
https://conta.cc/3r3rHhU
Washington D.C. PRESS RELEASE: Congresswoman Bush Washington D.C. PRESS RELEASE: Congresswoman Bush Re-Introduces Unhoused Bill of Rights https://wraphome.org/
After nearly 30 years of continuous publication, w After nearly 30 years of continuous publication, we have lost our funding. Street Spirit ceased publication on July 1, but we will not give up! Our newspaper is an invaluable source of East Bay news, and a vital resource for the people who sell it. Come party with us to support our effort to relaunch. https://conta.cc/3rifOod
WRAP is Hiring - Member Organizer WRAP was founde WRAP is Hiring - Member Organizer 
WRAP was founded in 2005 by local social justice organizations across the West to bring about real systemic change. We are building a multi-issue, multi-racial and social justice-based coalition which brings organizations together across the local–national divide, thus giving us the strength and experience to make ending poverty and homelessness a national priority. https://conta.cc/3XD5QK9
Celebrating Resistance Relationships June 30, 202 Celebrating Resistance Relationships 
June 30, 2023 * 6:00 - 8:00 pm 
320 West 37th Street, New York, NY 10018
State of the “Sweeps” The politics of encampme State of the “Sweeps”
The politics of encampments and displacement in the “post” pandemic order
Public panel discussion, June 14, 4-5:30pm Communications 120
University of Washington, Seattle
Undercommons Archives Art Show Thursday June 15th Undercommons Archives Art Show
Thursday June 15th 7-10pm 
Adobe Books 3130 24th St. SF
Instagram post 17863401230948820 Instagram post 17863401230948820
San Francisco, CA. Mayor’s Plan to Expand Shelte San Francisco, CA. Mayor’s Plan to Expand Shelter GUTS HOUSING FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES AND YOUTH 
https://wraphome.org/2023/05/31/mayors-plan-to-expand-shelter-guts-housing-for-homeless-families-and-youth/
Nationally, evictions from public housing have sur Nationally, evictions from public housing have surged since late 2021, when the federal government lifted an eviction moratorium put in place to protect renters during the pandemic, according to Peter Hepburn, associate director of Princeton University’s Eviction Lab.  https://conta.cc/3WJco9B
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Facebook Icon

Facebook Feed

Comments Box SVG iconsUsed for the like, share, comment, and reaction icons
6 days ago
Mark your calendar: Homeless Advisory Meeting Friday September 22nd
If you are houseless or have been houseless or are on the edge of being houseless come to this meeting and speak up! 
If you are housed and can come listen and support please do too! If you can help provide rides to houseless people to this meeting please let us know. 
Friday September 22nd 11am-2pm 
at 20th Street Rec Center (1011 20th Street) 
There will be lunch.
View on Facebook
· Share
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email
View Comments
  • Likes: 0
  • Shares: 1
  • Comments: 0

Twitter Icon

Twitter Feed

Twitter feed is not available at the moment.

YouTube icon

Youtube Code

Our Channel

Copyright © 2023 Western Regional Advocacy Project WRAP · Log in