I’ve worked in kitchens all my life. While I loved making delicious food for people, I hate seeing so much of it go to waste. It seemed like there was so much opportunity to feed people, so during lockdown in 2020 I started volunteering with Food Not Bombs in New Jersey. When I moved to Providence a few years ago, I joined the local chapter here. Everything in Rhode Island is a little closer together, so connecting, organizing, and resource-sharing is that much easier. Because a lot of my work is in food recovery anyway, it’s easy for me to spend time picking up donations for Food Not Bombs. Sometimes we get palettes of prepared foods and restaurants, with whom we have established relationships. If the donation is from a farm or if it's raw ingredients, I distribute it to our volunteers. We really pride ourselves on the food quality and taste, which is important to me. Cooking isn't just my background -- it's an art form, and it's important to build relationships with the people I'm feeding. Our Providence Food Not Bombs, or PVD FNB, serves around 300-350 people a week across three food shares. One of the neighborhoods we serve is downtown, near the main bus hub and city hall called “Kennedy Plaza” where a small homeless community spends a lot of time. The food's for everybody, and we always give away regardless of need because we think that food is a right, not a privilege. And it does make a difference to provide for folks who are struggling to show them that the community does care, and that there’s people who are trying to serve them lunch, connected to other folks trying to show up for them in the fight for housing rights and utility rights and so on. Food Not Bombs is an easy gateway into that network of care, because most people can make a meal! For me, the small-batch personal cooking with a ton of flavor is the best way to connect with people.