'Food is a human right.' How PLP Rochester feeds the city

They rose early that first Saturday in May to prep for the day ahead.

Prepping means stopping by Tops for 80-plus packages of chicken breasts. Making sure there were enough paper bags, stamped with the image of a black panther. Wiping tired eyes and getting ready for a busy shift of serving the community through the People’s Liberation Program Rochester, or PLP Rochester, and its biweekly Free Grocery Program.

Asia Barry, 22, and Rafael Outland, 39, are at Flower City Noire Collective’s Changemakers House on this morning, packing bags with chicken breasts, fresh produce, canned goods, rice and other essentials. As more volunteers enter, fresh air wafts into the room through an open door, and with it are the sounds of a neighborhood as it awakes: cars pass by, lawnmowers start and music plays.

The floor is nearly covered with over 80 almost overflowing panther-stamped paper bags. PLP Rochester’s Grocery Program is inspired by the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast for School Children Program and bags are stamped with the panther logo as a direct indication of the lineage of the program.

Like the Panthers, PLP Rochester is a youth movement — on the first delivery in May, the average age of volunteers was about 20. The youngest volunteers were middle schoolers. Five were not old enough to purchase alcohol. PLP Rochester’s three co-founders are all 22.

Despite their age, or perhaps because of it, the youth decided to make a change in their community, filling in gaps they see as being left by older people.

Amina N’Gambwa, 22, walks in, greets those gathered and immediately starts helping sort the bags. Fourteen-year-old Shay Stevens shyly says hello to everyone before awaiting orders.

By 11 a.m., PLP Rochester has already divided and bagged most of the 80 grocery bags they will deliver that weekend. As more and more members and volunteers begin to arrive, they introduce themselves and get to work. They might not have known each other before meeting at the Changemaker's House, but the sense of camaraderie comes quickly and easily because it is centralized on a common goal.

With almost a dozen people present, Olu Owoyele, 22, and Barry ask the volunteers to stop bagging for a moment. It’s time for the first of what is ultimately three grounding sessions. Grounding is the vehicle through which PLP Rochester sets the intention of the day and ideologically introduces volunteers, some of whom may not know anything about the organization other than that they run a Free Grocery Program, to the program and its goals.

“Alright, everybody close your eyes, bow your heads, please,” Owoyele says.

Barry counters, saying that people don’t necessarily need to bow their heads. With a laugh, Owoyele tweaks his request.

“However you feel comfortable, just get comfortable — preferably with your eyes closed,” he says.

This is indicative of PLP Rochester’s decision-making process: There is no one clear leader. No one person dictates the functions of the group or the people within. The group makes decision collectively and through discussions.

Owoyele continues, leading those present through guided breathing and movement. When they exhale, they reach their arms above their heads. On their inhalation, they lower their arms. They repeat this process a few times, neutralizing the space, before Owoyele asks everyone present to set their intentions for the day.

“We are feeding the people, making sure that anybody that is on our grocery list has something to sustain themselves for the next two weeks until we make another delivery," he says. "We are doing our part in trying to fight against hunger and against capitalism and what that does in our communities. Think about that, think about the small steps that you’re doing to make changes in your community and, with that, open your eyes.”

Before breaking to continue bagging, members have a discussion of the ideology behind the free grocery program and their goals for it.

Most of the families and households served by PLP Rochester’s Free Grocery Program are Black. N’Gambwa says that this is indicative of systemic lack.

“Thinking about the fact that the vast majority of the people that we do work with are Black people points to the fact that Black people are the most marginalized and the most forgotten or maybe purposefully disfranchised by this government,” she says.

A youth movement

The bags are full of an amalgamation of people’s efforts and donations. Some of the food comes from donations from the People’s Pantry. PLP Rochester runs a donation campaign through Instagram, and they have a Patreon. With the funds they receive, they supplement whatever else they want to put in the bags to ensure recipients get high-quality foods.

The goal is for those who have signed up for the program to be able to make full meals from their groceries. It takes about $750 each grocery program for PLP Rochester to purchase the fresh produce, meat and bread that they give their community for free.

Indy Maring, 22, Owoyele and Barry are PLP Rochester’s co-founders, though the organization now has half a dozen members with an additional number who regularly volunteer. People’s Programs and Neighbor Program inspired Maring to start something specifically, Owoyele says. PLP Rochester started during last year's Black August, and the two aforementioned organizations, both in California, supported them.

The Grocery Program is one of the initiative’s first actions. Right after Black August, on Sept. 4, PLP Rochester held a back to school giveaway, during which they distributed school supplies and books, introduced themselves to the community, and signed up over 20 families for the inaugural Free Grocery Program, which launched later that month.

“We saw that our community wasn’t being fed,” Barry says. “People were going hungry. We recognize that food is a human right and people have the right to have quality food and groceries… We recognize that it’s expensive to do that and that the government isn’t taking care of us in the way that it should and ensuring that everybody has food to eat and that they’re able to lead healthy fulfilled lives in that way.”

In the absence of a governmental group that ensures everyone is fed nutritional, filling foods, PLP Rochester stepped up.

“We recognize that nobody is going to feed us, nobody is going to help us unless we help us,” Barry says. “So we decided to step up and create this program, create People’s Liberation program as an organization as well as the Free Grocery Program itself. (We) started off serving 14 families and now we serve around 80 every two weeks.”

It was important to them that they serve people at the introductory event. Doing so, Barry says, showed the community that they were not only talking the talk, but proving that they would deliver on their promises and continue to deliver on their promises.

The inaugural Free Grocery Program served families in Rochester’s 19th Ward and PLEX neighborhoods. The first grocery delivery in May served 82 families across Rochester with bags that included canned goods, rice, fresh produce and chicken.

People on the delivery list have the option to make special requests. One of the recipients is vegan, so they receive a bag full of fresh produce. Another recipient has a newborn, so they receive formula. Two weeks prior, they received a bag full of baby items including diapers. One recipient requested coffee, so they got it.

After packing and double-bagging the panther-stamped bags, the group divides bags into the four areas marked for each of the delivery cars. They load the packed bags into their cars, and begin making the rounds around 1 p.m. Before departing, Owoyele leads the group in another grounding session.

"Just remember ... we're doing our small part ... to fight hunger... This grocery program shouldn't even be a thing. People are hungry, that's why we're here and that's what we're trying to mitigate in our communities. " he says.

"We're centered in love, we're grounded in love and care, but love for our people," Maring says. "Go out and greet these people. These are our families, these are our neighbors. Make sure that love is pouring out in every interaction.

With that, the volunteers disembarked.

'Sometimes you gotta help somebody'

Four cars and a dozen volunteers deliver over 80 bags of groceries. Rafael Outland, 39, Max-Yamil Cabezudo-Brown, 18, and Owoyele make up one of the cars. Their delivery route primarily includes Rochester’s Eastside and Irondequoit.

Cabezudo-Brown has family and friends in the area the trio is serving today and is eager to find different ways to reach community members there. He says he wants to learn Spanish to help reach more people, and his comrades agree. They brainstorm other ways to get community members and other organizations involved with their efforts and signed up for the grocery program.

The deliveries are simple. In a rotating order, Cabezudo-Brown, Owoyele and Outland get out of the car and check to make sure all of the items are in the bag. Then, they walk to the home’s front door and knock. If someone is home, they have a conversation with the recipient. This, too, makes PLP Rochester’s Grocery Program different.

Unlike a grocery delivery service like Instacart or some food pantries, PLP Rochester is not impersonal. They work to build community not only through feeding the community, but by helping ensure that neighbors know each other.

Other than the age of the members and volunteers and their personal delivery method, the quality of the foods delivered is also different.

Tonya Noel is a co-founder of Flower City Noire Collective.

What makes PLP Rochester’s Free Grocery different, Noel, who has experience working with food pantries, says, is the fact that most pantries don’t offer fresh meat or fresh produce. PLP Rochester does.

“It’s not, like, halfway to the trash already, which is what you get from a lot of pantries, in my experience,” she says.

One of the deliveries leads to a new household signing up for the program.

“We got a new sign up!” Cabezudo-Brown says, beaming as he gets back in the car. “It’s always nice to get a new sign up, man.”

For him, deliveries in this area are personal. He acknowledges where his old home is, where he used to go to the barbershop, where he played on a basketball court. The memories drive home the idea that PLP is not serving an abstract idea of community, something that exists only in an imagined state. Rather, they are serving a tangible community, their communities.

At one of the houses, children play outside. Owoyele knocks to deliver the groceries and a child answers the door. Owoyele and Cabezudo-Brown have a quick chat in the car and remember the planned summer program for children. Cabezudo-Brown returns to the porch and explains the program to the children’s mother. Another woman emerges from the house to ask if she can sign her children up for the program as well. The children, who exchanged whispered smiles between themselves while the adults talked, are gleeful on hearing that they have been signed up for the program.

'Being here is better'

After three hours of deliveries, the trio return to the Changemaker’s house. Many of the other volunteers are already there. The mood is jubilant. The sun is fully shining by this point, adding color and warmth to a day that was already bright.

The Changemaker’s house’s neighbors sit on their porch talking and listening to music. The sounds of their chatting and music, 50 Cent, Tee Grizzley, Pop Smoke, Buju Banton reach PLP Rochester’s participants. As they prepare for grounding, some of the younger members can’t help but bob their heads and dance to the music.

Maring includes this in their grounding. Maring tells the group to close their eyes and deeply inhale through their noses.

“Try to be aware of all the different senses, the sun, maybe what you’re hearing,” Maring says. “What you’re feeling physically and inside. After three deep breaths, open your eyes when you’re ready.”

Around the circle, the group lists things that went well and things on which they would like to work. Mekhi Walker, 13, goes first.

“I gave a bag to an old lady,” he says. “She said she is so grateful that we are able to deliver groceries to her. She said she loves all of us. She is thanking all of us for the groceries and she was about to cry at her door.”

Shay Stevens, 14, is a first-time volunteer. She says she enjoyed the experience so much that she wanted to do it again.

N'Gambwa's brother participated for the first time as he was visiting from out of town. She says his presence and the presence of children at many of the stops were highlights for her. For many of the participants, seeing and interacting with the children was a highlight.

Andre Tulloch, 21, had recently arrived back in Rochester after having spent time in London.

"Being in London for a few months was good, but being here is better," he says.

After everyone in the circle shares their highlights and room for improvement, they each put their hands into a circle. On the count of three, they cheer, "PLP!"

Adria R. Walker is the Upstate New York storytelling reporter for the USA Today Network's New York State Team. Follow her on Twitter at @adriawalkr or send her an email at arwalker@gannett.com. This reporting is made possible by readers like you.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: PLP Rochester Free Grocery Program Feeds the City