For more information, pictures, videos and to share your thoughts please check out the following link:
lifnb.com/report_back/discussion_thoughts_thanksgiving_bonanza_2010

The 2010 Hempstead Food Share Bonanza was the largest Food Not Bombs ever and the largest vegan Thanksgiving ever! On that day over 30,000 pounds of food was shared with thousands of people, and Long Island Food Not Bombs followed this with nearly a dozen consecutive Thanksgiving events throughout the rest of the week, sharing a total of nearly 55,000 pounds of groceries in 5 days! It was solidarity, it was incredible and it was inspiring. So we invite you to learn more about what happened, watch videos, see photos, read thoughts, see our special thanks, check out media coverage and share your thoughts.

What the 2010 Thanksgiving Bonanza Looked Like:

At 1:30pm a caravan of nearly 40 vehicles overflowing with groceries, hot vegan meals, clothing, books and other goodies pulled into the Hempstead Train Station parking lot and was greeted by hundreds of excited community members.

A line of vehicles stretched across the quarter mile lot. One car at a time would pull up, hundreds of volunteers would help unload it, that car would pull away, another would pull up in its place and the unloading process would start all over again. After about 45 minutes of this we were ready to begin.

The Hempstead Food Share Bonanza encompassed over two city blocks and we had items spread across 35 tables set up in specialized areas similar to what you’d find in a food store. (You can see lots of great photos in our Slideshow)

On the east end of Station Plaza people organized and shared thousands of pounds of clothing, books and apparel. There were warm weather jackets, brand new sneakers, pants & shirts of all sizes and awesome folks like Alex Reisner who helped people find what they were looking for.

More to the north on Station Plaza, there were four tables of awesome hot vegan food. With over 70 meals there was something for everyone, coconut rice with Thai style tofu, potato skins, pasta with red wine soy protein, stuffed peppers and incredible desserts like tofu pumpkin cheese cakes, apple cider cupcakes, peanut butter cookies, brownies etc… We even had a latte table with coffee, apple cider, hot tea, syrups and soy whipped cream.

Off W. Columbia St. we had nearly half a dozen tables set up with a vast array of fresh produce and breads; things like whole wheat baguettes, tortillas, muffins, sweet potatoes, apples, cauliflower, grapes, bananas, squash, salads, etc… Awesome volunteers like Julia Hernandez made sure everyone got five or six filled bags of really healthy stuff.

On the West end of the Hempstead Train Station parking lot we had another half dozen tables with Thanksgiving groceries. There were pies, scones, cakes, juices, Vegan Raw Ice Creams, cereals, milks, canned goods, teas, root beers, dried fruits, flowers, mixed nuts, etc.

Finally, in the middle of the pedestrian island in parking lot, Keith McHenry the Co-founder of the international Food Not Bombs movement, who joined us for the day’s event, set up an information table and educated hundreds on the incredible history of Food Not Bombs.

For more information, pictures, videos and to share your thoughts please check out the following link:
lifnb.com/report_back/discussion_thoughts_thanksgiving_bonanza_2010