People’s Freedom Farm celebrated three years of providing fresh ingredients for People’s Free Kitchen and an educational experience for visitors.
People’s Free Kitchen and People’s Freedom Farm are both part of the Revolutionary Education & Action League and are efforts to further the goal of food sovereignty, said Cali Muñoz, farm lead for REAL.
“Freedom Farm produces fresh produce for People’s Free Kitchen,” Muñoz said. “Also, we wanted to specifically develop agricultural skills within the community and build people’s ability.”
People’s Free Kitchen is a multi-aid program that provides 100–150 meals weekly to the unhoused community of Orlando, according to REAL’s website, Build-Real.org. The program was originally based in Kaya’s, but the organization is looking for a new kitchen to prepare meals weekly.
“There is a lot of joy we see from people when we are distributing meals,” Muñoz said. “They’re, you know, pretty surprised and amazed that so much food can grow in Florida.”
REAL also hosts “Solidarity Hubs” where volunteers go out to the corner of Al’s Food Store and provide things like bike repairs, haircuts and free hygiene products.
“We actually reached that spot while we were doing our usual rounds of distribution,” Lila Diaz, People’s Free Kitchen program leader said. “A community member straight-up told us this side of town never gets to see any of these things.”
(NICK GEORGOUDIOU)
When the community’s need asked for more than just meals, REAL began designing creative ways to provide aid.
“The majority of the population in Parramore actually moves through bikes,” Diaz said. “So that was one of those initiatives that we ended up looping into our Solidarity Hubs.”
Diaz, who uses they/them pronouns, said that there is more to come at REAL, and they are incredibly proud of the work that has been done over the past few years and how that work is still being done.
“We’ll only be able to serve the community better,” Diaz said. “That’s really just the end goal.”
