“An organization based in Akron called Food Not Bombs has had recent exposure around the University of Akron campus with its campaigns. The buzz deals with organization’s incident in front of Market Path, a fair trade store, last week. Tom Kychun, a member of the Akron division Food Not Bombs group, insisted wasn’t an incident.”
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An organization based in Akron called Food Not Bombs has had recent exposure around the University of Akron campus with its campaigns. The buzz deals with organization’s incident in front of Market Path, a fair trade store, last week. Tom Kychun, a member of the Akron division Food Not Bombs group, insisted wasn’t an incident.

The organization, dedicated to taking expired supermarket food and making fresh and free meals, distributes their food to anyone and everyone every other Saturday at Grace Park in Akron.

According to Kychun, the incident reported in front of Market Path was barely an incident at all, but that Market Path workers didn’t think it was a good idea to give their food away outside of the store, but rather do it inside the store.

We’re a political group, Kychun said, Market Path members were hesitant about showcasing the group outside of the store.

Nevertheless, Kychun said the group was still able to give away its free food inside the store without problems.

Half of us went down to Grace Park and served, and the rest of us ran the Free Store at Market Path, said Kychun. It was part of Market Path’s Peace Day donations.

The organization, founded in California in the 1980s, started as an anti-nuclear protest effort to raise money for food (not bombs). The group was outraged that the government was spending money on making bombs instead of focusing on fixing problems in America, such as the nation’s homeless.

While recapping on the organization’s history, Tom said, It was kind of ridiculous since we already had bombs and didn’t need to spend money on more.

The organization then started taking matters into their own hands by procuring food that was past its expiration date but was still healthy and edible. The food was used to prepare free meals for those who were in need.

The organization’s philosophy was to focus on America’s needs for food and shelter, since the government was, as Tom said, busy working on military endeavors and technology instead of correcting the problems at home.

The organization is decentralized throughout the nation with each group being autonomous, but still upholding the beliefs and values of the original group founded in California. Its goal is still aimed at publicizing and politicizing hunger.

According to Kychun, Food Not Bombs is also a vegetarian group. They do not serve any meat in the meals they make. However, the vegetarian aspect isn’t just due to animal rights, but health concerns. Ecological and economical reasons also play a role on the decision not to serve meat.

The Akron group has several events aside from a biweekly event on Saturdays where the group feeds the homeless in Grace Park. A complete list of events can be found on the groups Web site, www.akronfoodnotbombs.org.

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