For the last nine years, the Wesleyan/Middletown chapter of FNB has been a meeting ground for campus activists, students from neighboring towns, and community members. The volunteers who organize FNB each week are concerned with redistributing the wealth of food that would go to waste (particularly at Wesleyan) to people who live in downtown Middletown. Giving away free food and having a community picnic on the block every week is also a lot of fun and gives students and residents a chance to meet and talk. As a sustained project, FNB helps create community, trust, and friendliness among Wesleyan students and Middletown residents.

Food Not Bombs meets at a location on Wesleyan’s campus—usually a student house—every Sunday between 11 and 11:30 AM. FNB currently meets every Sunday at 11:30 AM at 202 Washington Street to cook food. FNB serves food to between 15 and 35 people each week in front of St. Vincent DePaul’s Place (the soup kitchen) at around 12:45 PM. The meeting time and place may change with the new semester and the influx of new members to the group, so look out for flyers and announcements later this month.

FNB receives donations from students, left-overs from catered student and faculty events, and donations from individuals, organizations, and businesses in downtown Middletown. FNB also collects extra boxes of fruits and vegetables from Wesleyan’s student-run Fruit and Veggie Co-op each week. FNB stores donated and salvaged food at 202 Washington Street. The food FNB redistributes comes from many sources and whenever the group collects too much, it takes it over to St. Vincent DePaul's Place to donate it.

Think about joining Food Not Bombs this semester. It may be hard to get up before noon on Sundays, but as someone who went regularly over the last few years, I can tell you that it's worth it to get your arse out of bed at 10:30 am and walk over for some good cookin' and great company.