TOLEDO, Ohio — Inside an Old West End home, the chopping and preparing has already been underway for hours for Toledo organization Food Not Bombs.
"It's really important to provide food to people that does not require any barriers to access," Food Not Bombs volunteer Monika Perry said.
Food Not Bombs has been around for decades, using a mutual aid approach to fill the need for fresh meals for the community.
The people here want to make one thing clear: this isn't a food pantry, nor is it a charity, and they have a different approach in deciding what's in everyone's meals.
"Mostly food donated from local grocery stores - we also get a lot of food from community gardens and people's home gardens, things like that," Perry said.
Each Thursday, those donations are turned into a meal that can serve around 100 people - all cooked, prepared and delivered by volunteers.
The organization's approach has even drawn people to Toledo.
"We were looking for a place to move to and we were like 'oh, those people in Toledo who do Food Not Bombs are really awesome, and it's just this beautiful community," volunteer Emily Abel said.
Abel and Laine Evans came from a rural part of Eastern Ohio and have kept volunteering, excited about the idea of limiting food waste while helping others.
"It feel like even here in the urban area, there's more local food abundance and that's really amazing," Evans said.
Food Not Bombs is now looking for more people and businesses to donate fresh produce to feed more people. If you're interested in donating, they can be contacted through their Facebook page.