Never Again!

Rainy days and Saturdays have rarely been an issue for the weekly Food Not Bombs meal serving at Roeding Park, here in Fresno California. Perhaps the beneficiaries of a long-term drought situation, even on rainy days those clouds tended to part when the time came to gather, serve meals and whatever aid and comfort could be provided to our friends living on the street or simply suffering from hunger in hard times. It always seemed like a minor miracle that the meal itself rarely needed shelter, as opposed to the many cold and wet homeless residents of that area over the last few decades.

This year has been different.

Numerous rainy Saturdays have kept us reliant on the single covered picnic shelter at Roeding Park when those raindrops kept falling. That area is subject to reservations, and when a party is in place, not always are we welcome to seek shelter from a storm.

One of the best memories I have of such a situation occurred maybe ten years ago, when a minor deluge, combined with unsympathetic party goers left us all wet. The always quick thinking of Pat Haun produced some clear plastic trash bags to serve as fashion accessories, while the meal containers were packed beneath the lifter tailgate of a trusty Ford Explorer that did far more work for FNB than most volunteers. We prevailed that day and what I saw was maybe the pinnacle of determination and service. Please excuse the "I's" in this reflection of teamwork, but a worm's eye view is all I can offer.

As unusual as that rainy day challenge was, in the last year or so, lacking the liftgate equipped Explorer, we have needed an option that kept volunteers and hungry folks drier than Mother Nature wanted.

Those scheduled reservation conflicts have been fewer, as we do serve at 11:30 AM, most of those parties are probably a little later in the day, and we are typically in and out within 20 to 30 minutes.

That doesn't mean we have easy access. Park employees have notified us of the reservations and we need to be quick before any paying customers arrive.

This last Saturday was yet another wet one.

Participants know full well where we will be on days like that, so they are already under the sheltered picnic location when we arrive. This time the park employee was very concerned that we were in the wrong place as we began serving. With a little discussion and assurances, we were able to finish what we started. That is no guarantee we won't wind up wet and miserable on some future Saturday, trying to sustain an unbroken string of Saturday meal servings that is over 29 years long. It almost guarantees it. Hopefully, when that day arrives, a supply of clean clear plastic bags will manifest. Without the ingenuity and determination of Pat Haun, who passed away a few years back the day after her last serving, Someone else will have to solve the problem.

If only the loss of dedicated volunteers and participants was never a factor.

This possibility could not have been clearer on the way to the serving last week. The heavy rainfall and heavier traffic conditions on the freeways to the park left no doubt as to how dangerous the situation was, just trying to make the same trip one particular rainy Saturday.

Arriving on time and alive, we convened beneath the shelter, and some foolish driver who could not locate a real raincoat helped move the food while raindrops kept falling on my head. Previous admonishments prevented the truck from being pulled up close to the shelter, and positive relations with park staff are paramount, so that walk was in no way a short one, with several trips required. Once all was moved into place, the rain drizzled away, and the park employee arrived to inform us that we could not serve there, as the location was reserved. It was a very busy park the previous Saturday as reasonable weather broke through suggesting Spring may yet spring forth and no one wanted to wait. The extremely heavy traffic in very wet weather the following Saturday indicated people were dead set on doing things and rainfall be damned.

After offering to stop the serving and relocate, with a few assurances as to our haste, speed and consideration of any reserved tenants who may shortly show, the employee allowed us to proceed. That was very much appreciated.

Extra effort for no particular reason would be a painful cost in addition to those associated with volunteering on a regular basis every Saturday. Ideally, all the actions taken during those hours should be efficient and not burdensome or more difficult than necessary.

Two months previous, on the last Saturday of 2023, was one for the books.

Rainy. One person on hand for the meal prep and transportation to the shelter. No contest over using the shelter that day, but the ultimate surprise awaited. No one came. Well, that would be a huge lie. Volunteers assembled. A few people were sheltering underneath, but they did not want any food.
Literally, no one came.

The reasons for that became clearer when it was explained that two other meal servings occurred that day, as early as it was, with perhaps one taking place right outside the park at the entrance where most people come to reach our meal. Those competitors cut us off every time they do that. Which is rare, unfortunately. Or fortunately. But combined with a presumed early disbursement of benefits over a holiday weekend, lousy weather and other options, we literally saw no one show.

Which meant we had at least two dozen containers of food to contend with.

Coincidentally, and fortuitously, that was the last day for the Needle Exchange to occur across the street after the serving time. We were able to take a record number of food containers to them and call it good enough. But knowing that option would no longer be available, as they relocated downtown and at an earlier time of day.

Fairly traumatic experience for the participants. The possibility of discontinuing the meal serving due to reduced demand, or trying to anticipate conditions like that and deschedule a serving before wasting effort and resources was very difficult to imagine. The next few weeks and months would tell the tale of what should happen.

All of this playing hard through my thoughts as traffic and weather conditions combined to threaten last Saturday's meal.

First weekend of the month. That is a truism recited before most meals that fell on those days. One that cannot be relied upon, as often a large crowd appears to put the lie to it.

Is there such a thing as a lieism?

Maybe.

Despite all of these challenges, changes, difficulties and successes, we still have an unbroken string of meal servings, which is a motivation all it's own to continue and perhaps find ways to make it all work out.
We have to plan carefully and find ways to make sure what we do is used by those who need and want it.
Despite tremendous anxiety about another December 30th washout, once the food was delivered, unloaded and obstacles neutralized, this last Saturday's meal was well met with a large and hungry crowd.

Because you never can tell.

You can only try until you can't.

As much as I swore ceaselessly on the way to the park, that oath became a lieism, which I repeated on our way out.

"Never again!"

See you next Saturday.