Activist group Orlando Food Not Bombs to appeal

You can understand what business owners have to say considering they don't want their customers reminded that while they have money in their pockets and credit cards to use to buy things, there are people right here in Orlando without food or for many, even a place to go home to. After all, would you want to spend over $20.00 for lunch when you know right around the corner there are people thanking God for one good meal to eat all day long?

That really is the point to all of this. The people of Orlando have a conscience and it breaks their hearts to be reminded of so many with so little. It is heartwarming to know there are caring people out there trying to make a difference in the lives of others who have fallen on hard times. Most of us are one pay check away from joining them. Seeing other people doing good makes others feel guilty over what they have to enjoy. Yet instead of businesses encouraging the spirit of generosity and helping people to feel good about themselves, they want to hide the poor away from the shoppers. You'd think that they would welcome the opportunity to have goodwill reputations instead of pulling something like this when they actually want to stop feeding the hungry.

People think twice about spending money in places that are all about themselves instead of customers and yes, even the most needy in the communities they do business in.

Homeless advocates decry court ruling restricting feedings in parks
Activist group Orlando Food Not Bombs will ask full appeals court to rehear the case

By Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel

10:51 p.m. EDT, July 7, 2010
Orlando's homeless community and its advocates expressed outrage Wednesday over a federal appeals-court ruling that allows the city to severely restrict large group feedings in downtown parks — a restriction that has primarily targeted those who feed the homeless.

Orlando Food Not Bombs, a plaintiff in the original lawsuit disputing the constitutionality of the city's feeding law, decided late Wednesday to challenge the ruling by asking the full 11th Circuit U.S. District Court of Appeals to rehear the case. Tuesday's ruling came from a panel of three judges, two of whom ruled in favor of the restrictions.

Eric Montanez, a member of Orlando Food Not Bombs, helped carry on the group's regular Wednesday night feeding at Lake Eola Park as scheduled — and pledged to continue doing so regardless of what happens.

"The city is criminalizing homelessness and poverty and criminalizing individuals and organizations in the community that are trying to address those problems," Montanez said.
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Activist group Orlando Food Not Bombs