While many students enjoyed their summers on vacation or caught up with their friends at home, many Millersville students served meals at the Brunswick Mall once a week during the summer and continue to do so during this school year.

The students, along with several members of the Lancaster city community, collect food from the Lancaster Central Market to cook for anyone hungry at the Brunswick Mall across from Binns Park in Lancaster.

The service is due to a global organization helping people everywhere named Food Not Bombs.

The group serves food every Monday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in a picnic style.
They serve only fresh fruits and vegetables because the global Food Not Bombs organization promotes the vegetarian lifestyle.

“We’re not going to turn people away because they can afford a meal,” said senior Josh Redd, a member of the Lancaster Food Not Bombs.

“Probably three fifths of the people are from Millersville, the rest are from Franklin and Marshal and the community,” said Redd.

The Lancaster group serves an average of 10 to12 people per week. The group has no presidents or hierarchy in an attempt to promote a community atmosphere.

The Lancaster group relies on donations from the Lancaster Market, but when they need to purchase something for their weekly servings, they steer away from big-name companies that promote things opposite from the values of Food Not Bombs and also try to use eco-friendly products like recycled napkins.

Last year, the anti-war walk hosted by the Students for a Democratic Society served food and raised interest in Keith McHenry, the co-founder of Food Not Bombs who presented information and history of the organization on Tues. Oct. 21 in the Student Memorial Center’s room 161.

The funds to get McHenry to present were also raised by the Lancaster Food Not Bombs group.

McHenry also discussed his experience in Africa as well as his 500 day imprisonment for serving food.

Amnesty International proclaimed McHenry as a “Prisoner of Conscience” and worked for his liberation from prison.

McHenry has also visited other groups involved in the campaign for peace in places such as Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, Australia, and the Middle East.

Food Not Bombs continues to feed the hungry globally and have branched into other areas such as Home Not Jails and Food Not Lawns.

Food Not Bombs is promoted to increase awareness on issues of peace, anti-war ideas and vegetarianism.

The Food Not Bombs campaign have opened animal shelters and helped to feed hungry peace camps globally as well.

Food Not Bombs asks individuals interested in giving to the cause to either start their own group (as students from Millersville have) or to donate one dollar to their Cooking for Peace campaign.

Within a matter of days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans the Food Not Bombs supplied people with food.

Over 1,000 communities globally are supplied food by the campaign.

For more information on the Lancaster group e-mail, lancasterfnb@lists.riseup.net.