Food Not Bombs

This is a group that meets in our city park every Sunday to give food to local homeless people. One Sunday I cooked a cassarole and volunteered with them.

I met quite a number of homeless and struggling people. Many have jobs, this was essential to my story. They are disabled, or underemployed, or have no jobs skills. The number of panhandlers was low, but perhaps they weren't willing to admit to doing it. Some worked under the table, or were illegal. A few seemed to have a lazy streak, though few admitted to that, of course. For my story, I've had to learn to read people and I suck at it. I was dependant on other volunteers to give me the lowdown on the regulars. I generated some characters from this adventure.

I stayed after the food I brought was served and spoke with a few people eating. The homeless people tend to not trust each other either. They'll steal from each other and when they congregate, the police tend to watch them more closely. This became an aspect of my story, too. My main subplot actually--will the homeless people work together to change their situation, or keep going from one handout place to the next and hope for change?

I learned that some local residents are trying to shut them down even going so far as to claim there are break ins, prostitution, and muggings in the park. The city closed one parking lot while there was an investigation. They didn't find anything in two weeks so the parking lot was reopened. This is a large, well lit and landscaped park with a waterfall, that holds free concerts every weekend during the summer, not a lot with a swingset installed. It's called Findley Park if anyone is familiar with the area. (Columbia, SC). This became fill in for my story that puts more pressure on the characters in order to get them working together.

A few people shared with me how they spend their nights. Shelters when it's cold, under bridges when in town, camping in lots seems to be a favorite. --Every story needs descriptive passages. Details like snakes also like to be under bridges, and a cut on the leg tends to not heal due to poor nutrition but can be ignored until 'suddenly' when it's cold, it's infected and requires a hospital stay with with lots of food and clean sheets and showers. How much is deliberately infected by rubbing dirt in it and how much is real, who can say? Details like this make my story more realistic.

I was in the park about four hours and spent a couple more over the next week following the parking lot closing in the newspaper. There's information from this trip on every page in my story. If you have writer's block, turning on music might might help you phrase what you want to say, but getting out in the world will give you fresh information. Why work when you can have the story handed to you? GO FORTH WRITERS!