By Ash Martins (Outreach & Admin for Burrito Brigade)
Burrito Brigade is a hunger relief nonprofit organization based in Eugene, Oregon. While our primary goal is to help feed our community where there are gaps in access, we also strive to reduce landfill waste and be as gentle on our environment whenever possible.
The project that we’re best known for around the community is The Weekend Burrito Brigade, which we’ve been doing since 2014. The WBB distributes anywhere from 500-800 nutritious, hot, fresh, and handmade vegan burritos to houseless camps and hungry folks each weekend by car and bicycle. While some volunteers may use a vehicle for distribution due to factors like distance or mobility concerns, many of our volunteers distribute via bicycle. For areas of town that are not as accessible by car, like houseless camps, the ability to bike has been imperative, especially on the weekends when community services are closed, and food insecurity rises.
We use our Burley Nomad bike trailer to pick up fresh tofu from a local supplier, which is a staple ingredient in our vegan recipe. For the Weekend Burrito Brigade, about a dozen volunteers help cook and hand roll the burritos with fresh, nutritious, vegan ingredients. The burritos are then packed into insulated bags, loaded into our Burley trailer, transported to various houseless camps and other high-demand locations around town, and handed out to those who need a meal. Using a Burley bike trailer during this process has been great.
