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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Coalition protests meal limit during mayor’s speech

Abby Mena, 6, chants with her mother, Victoria Mena, at a protest designed to get the mayor and Gainesville Commission to repeal the limit on the amount of meals a Gainesville soup kitchen can serve.
Abby Mena, 6, chants with her mother, Victoria Mena, at a protest designed to get the mayor and Gainesville Commission to repeal the limit on the amount of meals a Gainesville soup kitchen can serve.

You expect a performance when you go to the Hippodrome State Theatre, but typically the show happens inside the building.

About 30 protesters chanted rhymes such as, “When did compassion go out of fashion?” and gave away meals outside the theater Tuesday while Mayor Craig Lowe gave his State of the City speech inside.

“While he’s giving his State of the City, we want to make sure this aspect of the state of the city is projected,” said Joe Cenker, a member of the Coalition to End the Meal Limit Now!, a group dedicated to repealing the limitation on how many meals the St. Francis House, a soup kitchen, can serve a day.

Volunteers gave away homemade cornbread and vegan chili to remind others about the meal limit.

Pat Fitzpatrick, a homeless advocate, said that the protest was symbolic, but if the Gainesville Commission doesn’t repeal the meal limit, the group is going to start boycotting the Hampton Inn.

Fitzpatrick said that the limit, which has been in place since the 1990s but wasn’t enforced until last year, was enforced because downtown businesses like the Hampton Inn were complaining that there were too many homeless people around the shelter, which was bad for business.

“We’re not the type of town and we’re not the type of country that will let people go hungry,” he said in an earlier interview.

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