Food Not Bombs RGV Serves McAllen Without Exceptions

Sunday was brutally cold. Most people stayed inside. Food Not Bombs RGV showed up at Archer Park anyway with hot plates, used clothing, and a small pantry.

Archer Park sits at 101 N Main Street in downtown McAllen. The 1.8-acre space features a gazebo, benches, and sidewalks where the city hosts community events. Online reviews describe it as well-maintained but note "occasional homeless individuals nearby" as something visitors should expect. It's not that the park has a specific homelessness crisis. It's just a regular downtown park that unhoused people frequent, which is exactly why Food Not Bombs RGV picked it for monthly distributions.

Hidalgo County sits at 33.5 percent poverty rate. Nearly half the county's children live in poverty. McAllen and Edinburg anchor the county, and homelessness keeps climbing across the Valley. Economic pressure, combined with people migrating from other parts of Texas and the country, has pushed the numbers higher.

Food Not Bombs operates in over 1,000 cities across 65 countries, recovering discarded food and sharing free vegan and vegetarian meals as a protest against war, poverty, and environmental destruction. The movement has no headquarters or leadership hierarchy. Volunteers use consensus to make decisions and also provide supplies to disaster survivors and protesters. The RGV chapter meets on the last Sunday of each month at Archer Park in McAllen. Service runs from 5 to 7 p.m. January's distribution happened in temperatures that made staying home the logical choice.

Victor "Seby" Haddad, candidate for State Representative District 41, attended the distribution. "Archer Park is my neighborhood," Haddad said. "Supporting this cause is important to me."

Haddad currently serves as McAllen District 5 City Commissioner and Mayor Pro Tem. He announced his candidacy for Texas House District 41 in October 2025 after State Representative R.D. "Bobby" Guerra announced his retirement.

For Haddad, the choice to volunteer wasn't for political points. It's his neighborhood. These are his neighbors. Showing up was a matter of humanity, not a calculated campaign move. He stood in the cold like everyone else, serving neighbors who might never cast a ballot with his name on it.

Food Not Bombs RGV operates differently from standard charity models. Once a month, people choose what they want. The rest of the time, volunteers cook actual meals instead of institutional food service. No paperwork. No questions about circumstances. No conditions attached to eating.

The unhoused population in the Valley keeps expanding. Food Not Bombs addresses it by recovering food from local businesses that would otherwise hit dumpsters. The vegan framework keeps costs down and storage simple.

Sunday's event drew very little media coverage. There weren't any local influencers or members of the press. Volunteers worked in brutal cold serving people already subjected to endless judgment from neighbors with roofs over their heads.

Meals got cooked the way they always do. Food that matters. Home-cooked instead of mass-produced. The kind of care reserved for family, extended to strangers.

@Santitos

@salinasmariasantos

Copyright © 2026 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.

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