Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Neal Trotter. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Neal, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?

The Memphis chapter of Food Not Bombs was very active in the 1990’s up until the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when gathering limitations were severe. It was during the height of the lockdown restrictions when the chapter went defunct. When restrictions began to ease new members revitalized the chapter, making it what it is today. Today, we do a mutual aid feed every first and third Saturday afternoon of the month in Downtown Memphis. We glean food from the Memphis Farmers Market that would otherwise be thrown away and prepare it to serve as meals for members of the community, particularly those in need. We also provide hygienic products, contraceptives, and clothes. The resources we receive for distribution are either from donations or are recovered from surpluses slated to be thrown away. We also coordinate with another organization, 901 Community Fridges, where we assist in setting up refrigerators publicly accessible, 24/7, for anyone to drop off or take food. We also host teach-ins with Mid-South for Abolition where we do public educational workshops about social activism and political philosophy. It really helps to form coalitions and alliances with organizations that have similar political alignment, as the work of activism is very demanding so the more mutual effort toward a cause the more support each organization will have.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Food Not Bombs is an all-volunteer international organization dedicated to nonviolent social change. Food Not Bombs has no formal leaders and strives to include everyone in its decision making process. Each group recovers food that would otherwise be thrown out and makes fresh hot vegan and vegetarian meals that are served in public spaces to anyone without restriction. Many Food Not Bombs groups also share groceries and organize other efforts to support their communities. Each independent group also serves free meals at protests and other events.

There are hundreds of autonomous chapters sharing free vegetarian food with hungry people and protesting war and poverty. Food Not Bombs is not a charity. Rather it is an all volunteer grassroots mutual aid movement. It is active throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. For over 30 years the movement has worked to end hunger and has supported actions to stop the globalization of the economy, restrictions to the movements of people, end exploitation and the destruction of the earth and its beings.

The first Food Not Bombs group was formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1980 by anti-nuclear activists. They shared their first full meal outside the Federal Reserve Bank on March 26, 1981 during the stock holders meeting of the Bank of Boston to protest the exploitation of capitalism and investment in the nuclear industry. From the very beginning, Food Not Bombs has been a political activist movement.

The Memphis chapter of Food Not Bombs is explicitly political. We are an anarchist organization in that we reject hierarchal authority. We believe power should be shared by all, where all members are leaders. We are an abolitionist organization. We believe in the absolute abolishment of policing, prisons, and surveillance. We believe in nonviolence and reject punishment and violence as a means to deliver justice and provide safety. We believe in transformative and restorative justice and reject punitive justice. We do activism in the form of mutual aid where aid is focused on dismantling the root cause of social problems and reject models of charity that ultimately sustain societal oppression with band aid and pseudo solutions.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The Memphis chapter of Food Not Bombs is rebuilding the reputation it once had in its community. We do not serve a market. We serve our community. By serving our community, our community serves us. It is this ongoing reciprocal relationship, where we give as well as receive, that is at the heart of mutual aid. The people we serve are our friends and our loved ones. They are not our customers. Our aid is not a business transaction. Nor is it a one time, one directional, give/receive interaction. Rather when we provide aid we are forming long term, meaningful relationships with community members. These are people we get to know, share our experiences with, have joy together, and help each other out in numerous ways. The people we aid, aid us in return, and this mutual interaction forms community.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

We do not have clientele. The people we serve and work with us are our friends. We care for each other and love one another. This is how our member base grows. The resources we receive are also used to help each other because several of us are in need of resources too. And it is not just material needs, many of us need kindness and compassion. Often the biggest need is friendship or someone who cares. This is something we try to provide as well. And it is a very effective growth strategy because people don’t just expect to receive material resources from us but also find emotional and mental support with us. We are not a business organization but a group of friends. In this way it is easy to grow our member base. This is mutual aid. As to the amount of people we serve, that amount is potentially enormous. We serve the homeless, the poor, the mentally ill, the formerly imprisoned. There are more people who deal with these issues than we can serve. But we also serve the able bodied, the rich, the housed, and the well resourced. We serve so many people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/memphisfoodnotbombs
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/memphisfoodnotbombs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Food-Not-Bombs-Memphis/61550605255530/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/food-not-bombs-volunteer-b6b31b285
• Twitter: https://x.com/foodnotbombs901
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@foodnotbombsmemphis