Bozeman's Democratic Socialists of America chapter works to fill gap in community food resources - Bozeman Chronicle

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Socialists and Leftists believe that government should be the source of all compassion, like providing food, housing, income, healthcare, and cell phones. They think government is necessary because people will starve and freeze to death without government. 

The Chronicle thinks that this Socialist food giveaway is newsworthy, but churches and charities have been doing this for decades and centuries. But suddenly it is important when Socialists start doing this themselves. Perhaps this is why the Chronicle did this report, because it was so unusual that a Socialist would do such a thing.

Clearly the Chronicle and these Socialists don't get the irony of them stepping up to meet needs out of their human compassion. It likely feels very strange to them, exciting and innovative, but it's exactly what conservatives do every day, personally meet the needs of those who are less fortunate. They give of their time, money, and labor for the sake of those less fortunate. They do this without coercion, without regard for government programs, and solely motivated by human compassion.

We welcome these Socialists to our side.

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Sundays can bring uncertainty for some hungry Bozeman residents. Many resources, such as the Gallatin Valley Food Bank and Fork and Spoon, the pay-what-you-can restaurant, are closed.

For the past three months, Bozeman’s chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has been working to fill this gap. They offer free meals to people experiencing food insecurity every Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon in front of the Bozeman Public Library.

Community organizer Abra — who did not wish to share her last name with the Chronicle for privacy reasons — said the program started in response to recent federal changes and pauses to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

“(We thought) let's just get food to people,” she said. “We realized a lot of people want to do that in the community. It's not just food distribution, but we want to do mutual aid in total. I think we have to ask ourselves all the time: how do we serve the most amount of people and where is need?”

Abra said she moved to Bozeman last August from Vermont, and wanted to find a community volunteer organization similar to Food Not Bombs — a national volunteer movement that does not have a Bozeman chapter. She joined DSA in October and, after their community garden season ended, worked alongside other members to start Sunday’s free meal program.

“Basically we just made it a mutual aid working group out of DSA,” she said. “It's totally not limited to DSA — we want anybody, and everyone, from anywhere, to join in and tap into the network. Everyone is contributing this, (there is) awesome energy into the whole.

“I think it's a really great example of an alternative way of getting food and getting assistance and having support in the community,” she said.

Abra said before joining DSA, she thought they primarily did voter outreach and campaign advocacy.

“That's never really been my place in communities,” she said. “I've really been more of, ‘How can we do stuff here and work on (reaching) person to person.”

According to Matthew Thomas, DSA’s secretary, the ultimate goal is an anti-capitalist group working to “try and bring power back into the hands of the people by any means necessary."

“The ultimate goal is to try and create a democratically-run society so majority rule,” he said. “I think a lot of people are scared of the word socialist — and I think in some ways, mainly because of the Red Scare era, and because it's just kind of been used as a very, it's kind of used in a derogatory way.

“I don't think people are actually familiar with the values of Socialism — of literally socializing. It's even a concept, I would say, I've kind of come around to in the past three or four years.”

Thomas said DSA is a chapter of the national branch and members pay dues. The chapter does not have a typical hierarchical structure, but has a steering committee comprised of five people.

“(The) steering committee, we don't tell our members what to do,” he said. “We vote on items that need to be voted on. We try and make it as bottom up as possible, because that is the ultimate goal of Socialism — especially Democratic Socialism. From the ground up, build the society and the world they would like to live in.”

Abra said Sunday’s program is funded in part by the chapter, but largely from donations. Volunteers meet Saturday’s her house to cook and prepare.

“I think where it's shined is seeing people walk into my kitchen and just taking it upon themselves to (organize),” she said. “And then seeing people come out, and being like, ‘Oh my God, yay, free food. I want to partake in that.’ ”

According to Abra, the initiative is not a food drive or charity, but a collective effort aimed to foster community. On Sundays, she said, everyone involved — from volunteers to organizers to visitors — gets a chance to eat.

“Being able to support people like that makes people more able to support others — in assisting them, they have the power to assist others,” she said. “So it's a more foolproof way of being able to meet people's needs in the community. Way more so than charity — it’s basically the antithesis of charity.

“It doesn't want to rely on those same values, and it also doesn't want to rely on the very short-term benefits that charity can produce.”

For Thomas, joining DSA has changed his own perception of the unhoused community.

“They are literally just you and me in a horrific situation — in a system that purposely pushes them down, and then they're scapegoated by saying, ‘It's their fault,’ when it is the capital system's fault,” he said. “People are a lot more similar to one another than they think.”

Thomas said people are often curious about the program.

“I think it shocks some people,” he said. “It's like, ‘Well, why?’ Because it's for people — this is for people, you know. I think it's a great way to show people that this is a good way to start getting to know new people in your community.”

Both Abra and Thomas said they hope this initiative inspires further mutual aid efforts in the community, such as starting neighborhood food programs or skill-sharing groups.

“It can all be activism,” Abra said. “We can connect beyond monetary exchange.”