Muncie’s Food Not Bombs reorganizes to help feed local unhoused community members

Muncie’s chapter of Food Not Bombs, an international meal share volunteer group, has organized for the second time, after a pandemic disruption.  IPR’s Ransom True reports on how members are supporting the local unhoused population.

Volunteers gather in Heekin Park, draping a “Food Not Bombs Muncie” banner over a plastic folding table. Ruby June Haller is the Muncie branch’s founder, one part of an estimated thousands of branches all over the world, all operated independently.

“Food Not Bombs is a historic global initiative that was originally started by actors who were busking, and they noticed a lot of their friends who lived outside would get persecuted for doing so, in the same way that they were persecuted for busking. […] And so these actors, […] they started to acquire excess food from local producers, farms, bakeries, et cetera. And then repurposing the food that would otherwise go bad into meals for those that live outside, and that is a tradition we carry in our chapter.”

Muncie Food Not Bombs collects donations from the farmer’s market at Minnetrista, typically receiving a weekly pick-up of excess produce. This produce is prepared and brought to the weekly meal share.

After the first group’s disbandment, Haller believes the disconnect between Ball State students and Muncie residents was partially to blame.

“Ultimately we think we discovered that the Muncie locals and the students are frightened of each other. And they have a really hard time crossing that boundary and learning to trust each other. […] I do suspect that a big issue that Food Not Bombs has had in the past is learning how to bridge that gap and bridge truly into the community, because it is usually students who are volunteering.”

Now the group has tried to bridge this gap by engaging with the local food-insecure and unhoused community, even directly visiting local camps to invite them to the Thursday evening weekly meal share.

Ransom True is a news fellow with Ball State Public Media’s Public Media Accelerator student fellowships.