Rae Beecher and Matt Van Wagner organize free food, hygiene products and winter clothing. The table is available every Sunday from 1-2 p.m. on Market St. in South Burlington. Photo by Sophia Balunek This story by Liberty Darr was first published in the Other Paper on Dec. 11, 2025. For Rae Be echer, a South Burlington resident of six years, helping provide neighbors with access to food isn’t just a labor of love — it is an act of protest against the hunger war that millions of Americans fight every day. Last Sunday from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m., for a third snowy week in a row, Beecher and a small group of volunteers were posted up on Market Street just in front of Goose Park with a table chock full of food, sanitary products, canned goods and winter clothes, waiting to greet any passersby with a smile and, should they need it, a hot bowl of soup, too. On the menu this week was a turkey broth vegetable soup with white rice and buttery roasted squash. “My passion is cooking for people and not getting paid,” Beecher said, letting out a laugh. The table sports a large “Food Not Bombs” banner, which is a national volunteer-run advocacy group that shares free meals — often vegan and vegetarian — made from reclaimed surplus food to protest war, poverty and environmental destruction. And while the ethos of the new South Burlington initiative is similar, Beecher, who has organized the group, said it’s following more closely the Burlington-based mutual aid group, Food Not Cops, which has offered free food of all kinds and supplies in downtown Burlington every day for over four years. “We believe that all food should be used,” Beecher said. “There is an ever-mounting pile of dairy products and meat and stuff that can be eaten.” Beecher had been volunteering with the Food Not Cops group for three years, but before that had been on the receiving side of the table for a year. After seeing the impact the group was making, Beecher decided to become a part of it. Part of the draw was the decentralized autonomy that exists with both Food Not Bombs and Food Not Cops, which makes volunteering an easy step to take without many rules or hoops to jump through. “I myself am disabled, trans, all of these marginalized identities that have made it very difficult for me to be able to go places to volunteer,” Beecher said. “I’ve been all over the United States and it always seems like you have to be part of an organization or you’ve got to be a part of a church or you’ve got to fill out paperwork. But Food Not Bombs has made it so accessible to be able to volunteer.” For Chamberlin neighborhood resident Ali Gitzes, that’s also part of the reason she has jumped on board after learning about the new initiative. “I tried a couple of times to join some other Burlington groups, but I never really felt fully comfortable with some of the groups,” Gitzes said. “But here, it’s been very much a, ‘Hey, come and do what you are comfortable doing.’ And that has been fantastic for me.” But bringing Food Not Bombs to South Burlington is personal for Beecher, who came to the city for one sole reason: safety. South Burlington continually floated to the top of the “best places to live” lists while researching places to relocate. After nearly 50 long hours of travel all those years ago, Beecher and Beecher’s child, Shelby, hopped off a bus in Vermont to begin a new life. Although Beecher had been volunteering in Burlington for several years, bringing the program to South Burlington really began taking shape as Beecher noticed tents and small encampments popping up across the city. “Before we moved here, we were homeless for two and a half years, going from shelter to shelter, so I recognized that struggle,” Beecher said. “I’ve been noticing folks sleeping on the ground on sheets on the concrete in my neighborhood. And I’ve got the knowledge, the skill set, all the connections that I needed to get this started in here.” According to data from Hunger Free America, since the Covid-19 pandemic, an estimated 54 million Americans, including 18 million children, are facing food insecurity. And more locally, a 2022 University of Vermont study showed that two in five people in Vermont had experienced food insecurity in 2021. Despite the program’s success in feeding the community, the Food Not Cops initiative in Burlington faced public pushback in recent months when 100 business leaders drafted a letter in May, saying the program — and those utilizing the program — was having a “negative impact” on the area and should be moved out of its longtime home at the garage just off the Church Street Marketplace, according to reporting from Seven Days. Although the South Burlington initiative is much smaller and still in its infancy, similar cries of concern have bled onto the city council table. Councilor Laurie Smith brought up the topic at the end of a council meeting earlier this month, asking how the city plans to address some resident feedback, more specifically, what he’s heard about South Burlington, “becoming like Burlington” as safety concerns in City Center have mounted in recent months. “What’s the concern?” City Manager Jessie Baker frankly asked. “The concern is that we’re going to open up this food service and then we’re going to have this mass influx of unhealthy behavior,” Smith said, emphasizing that these weren’t his words but concerns he’s heard from constituents. While the volunteer group is technically operating on city land without a permit, Baker said the city is taking a collaborative approach. “We are taking the approach of, we would like to be in partnership with them and understand who they are and what their goals are and provide any support and partnership we can,” she said. “So that’s how our police chief and our community services sergeant are engaging.” In the hour that the group was set up last week, at least four South Burlington residents dropped off donations. The overwhelming generosity from neighbors has far outweighed any pushback the group has received, which they noted has been minimal. “There are a lot more people who want this community to be one that shows love,” volunteer Matt Van Wagner said. “And my feeling is that love begets love, and it drives out fear.” After all, the initiative isn’t a charity or a service, Beecher said, its simply neighbors doing what they should for each other. “It’s like a picnic out here, you know, trying to just help the community,” Beecher said. “Solidarity, not charity. We are out here for each other.” Read the story on VTDigger here: Solidarity not charity: Free food offered on Market Street in South Burlington. ...read more read less