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Why You Should NEVER Support Regulating the Public Feeding of Homeless People

RLF

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A spirit is circulating around the leaders and charities which serve the homeless and those who attempt to defend their constitutional and civil rights. They claim our giving is hurting and not helping the homeless, and instead of giving food to the homeless it would be better to give the money used to purchase that food to established charities and homeless shelters where that money could be put to "better use".

Of course you will find no such spirit or directions in the Bible, the Christian community called the Church is to help as Jesus says "the least of these My brethren", "for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."

You are the Church...

Christians must interact with their fellow humans and have fellowship with the poor and homeless, and those given the grace to see realize that giving a sandwich or an article of much needed clothing is an opportunity to minister to those hurting and lost on a much deeper spiritual level.

You see GOD LOVES TO USE HIS PEOPLE !, and through the Holy Spirit and your faith, love, and interaction, the Lord can plant the seeds to spiritually feed and cloth those in need, and through the believer pour forth the "Living Waters" to those who so desperately thirst.

Not only that "God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him."

You may receive a powerful and suprising blessing from those whom you are serving !

Read More:

Redding Homeless Blog: Why You Should NEVER Support Regulating the Public Feeding of Homeless People
 
That video is one of the saddest things that I've ever seen.
 
There is obviously no Biblical admonition against helping the poor yourself. In fact it's totally the opposite of that. However, a couple of things to consider.....

1. Not all of us are followers of the Bible.
2. Not all of us believe that every homeless/poor individual deserves assistance.
3. Not all of these panhandlers and beggars are really as down as they want you to think.

I go out of my way to donate only to charities that I believe do the right work. That means giving to those who actually deserve the assistance, not just anyone on the street. I can't count how many times I run into people in Worcester, MA (new england's second largest city) who don't want actual HELP, just MONEY. It's things like that which make people less willing to just hand out their hard-earned cash rather than going through a legitimate charitable organization.
 
Anybody who says I'm hurting the homeless because I give a gaunt man on the corner my leftovers can kiss my ass. (And I already donate to food pantries and nutrition-based charities).
 
Anybody who says I'm hurting the homeless because I give a gaunt man on the corner my leftovers can kiss my ass. (And I already donate to food pantries and nutrition-based charities).

tessa, probably not; but I would most definitely be hurting the last "homeless" man I ran into if I'd done what he wanted....

Three weeks ago I took my gf to a local hot dog shop for lunch on a Friday. As we walked from the car to the entry, we encountered a middle-aged man asking if I could spare some change/money for food. Instead of offering him cash, I offered to take him inside and buy him lunch. He didn't want to have anything to do with that idea. He just wanted the money. I think we're both intelligent enough to know where that money was going to be spent; either at the liquor store or the dealer. So he got nothing.

We have at least a handful of panhandlers in Worcester, MA who have been proven to be total frauds. One of them drives his very nice SUV in from a suburban town each morning and parks it in the Worcester Public Library parking lot before walking to his first corner of the day. The local news media has followed and confirmed several such individuals in the area. That's why I'm not interested in giving through anything other than accredited charities that meet MY standards.
 
A spirit is circulating around the leaders and charities which serve the homeless and those who attempt to defend their constitutional and civil rights. They claim our giving is hurting and not helping the homeless, and instead of giving food to the homeless it would be better to give the money used to purchase that food to established charities and homeless shelters where that money could be put to "better use".

Of course you will find no such spirit or directions in the Bible, the Christian community called the Church is to help as Jesus says "the least of these My brethren", "for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."

You are the Church...

Christians must interact with their fellow humans and have fellowship with the poor and homeless, and those given the grace to see realize that giving a sandwich or an article of much needed clothing is an opportunity to minister to those hurting and lost on a much deeper spiritual level.

You see GOD LOVES TO USE HIS PEOPLE !, and through the Holy Spirit and your faith, love, and interaction, the Lord can plant the seeds to spiritually feed and cloth those in need, and through the believer pour forth the "Living Waters" to those who so desperately thirst.

Not only that "God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him."

You may receive a powerful and suprising blessing from those whom you are serving !

Read More:

Redding Homeless Blog: Why You Should NEVER Support Regulating the Public Feeding of Homeless People

So - your point was "why you should never support regulating public feeding homeless people" . . . so on with that. Why not? You lost yourself.
 
tessa, probably not; but I would most definitely be hurting the last "homeless" man I ran into if I'd done what he wanted....

Three weeks ago I took my gf to a local hot dog shop for lunch on a Friday. As we walked from the car to the entry, we encountered a middle-aged man asking if I could spare some change/money for food. Instead of offering him cash, I offered to take him inside and buy him lunch. He didn't want to have anything to do with that idea. He just wanted the money. I think we're both intelligent enough to know where that money was going to be spent; either at the liquor store or the dealer. So he got nothing.

We have at least a handful of panhandlers in Worcester, MA who have been proven to be total frauds. One of them drives his very nice SUV in from a suburban town each morning and parks it in the Worcester Public Library parking lot before walking to his first corner of the day. The local news media has followed and confirmed several such individuals in the area. That's why I'm not interested in giving through anything other than accredited charities that meet MY standards.

That's why I never give money out. If they don't want my food/water they don't get anything. Ever. They can't profit off of panhandling if they're not receiving cash handouts.
 
That's why I never give money out. If they don't want my food/water they don't get anything. Ever. They can't profit off of panhandling if they're not receiving cash handouts.

I can't speak for your area, but in the area (Southern New England) where I have lived my entire life, you would be rebuffed probably 95/100 times. They want the money. Nothing else. Not food, water, shelter, etc.... They just want the $$$$.
 
There's nothing wrong with giving to charities. I do prefer giving to the local ones that don't have such huge overheads. I really don't like giving to the huge national ones that supposedly have large salaried executives running them. And in recent years, when money has been tight, I've done some volunteering at times.
 
I can't speak for your area, but in the area (Southern New England) where I have lived my entire life, you would be rebuffed probably 95/100 times. They want the money. Nothing else. Not food, water, shelter, etc.... They just want the $$$$.

I do run into that about 50% of the time. But the other 50% I tend to get nothing but gratitude and acceptance of my offer, so for me it's worth it.
 
If you've managed to work your way through that pseudo-religious rant (and congratulations to anyone else who did get all the way through), I recommend reading the much better written and thought out article that the rant appears to be aimed at.

Mark Horvath: Why You Should Support Regulating the Public Feeding of Homeless People

After reading both, the OP clearly missed the point, and the Huff Poo opinion piece somewhat oversimplifies homelessness.

There are many reasons people become homeless, and many reasons people stay homeless. For some, homelessness is a rational decision, for others, it is the end of their choices and they are forced to do it, and some sad individuals who are mentally broken and who can't make rational decisions for themselves.

No matter how hard you try, it may be impossible to get some people off the street. It's a good idea to start the homeless on a path to economic re-integration with society, but that can't be the only plan we have available for them. Showing mercy sometimes is simply giving to someone who will never be part of society again, but will always be in the brotherhood of man.
 
I do run into that about 50% of the time. But the other 50% I tend to get nothing but gratitude and acceptance of my offer, so for me it's worth it.

That's great. It would be wonderful if we could get anything close to 50/50 around here. I've been turned down when offering to take people into chain restaurants and let them order whatever they wanted off the menu.
 
No matter how hard you try, it may be impossible to get some people off the street. It's a good idea to start the homeless on a path to economic re-integration with society, but that can't be the only plan we have available for them. Showing mercy sometimes is simply giving to someone who will never be part of society again, but will always be in the brotherhood of man.

The problem that some of us have with that ideal is the fact that in many cases we already know that all we would be doing is donating to the continued degredation of their life. I'm not in the business of helping people destroy not only their lives but their immortal souls by providing them the cash to buy liquor, drugs, or cancer sticks. Sorry, but my own soul doesn't need that blight on it.
 
A spirit is circulating around the leaders and charities which serve the homeless and those who attempt to defend their constitutional and civil rights. They claim our giving is hurting and not helping the homeless, and instead of giving food to the homeless it would be better to give the money used to purchase that food to established charities and homeless shelters where that money could be put to "better use".

Of course you will find no such spirit or directions in the Bible, the Christian community called the Church is to help as Jesus says "the least of these My brethren", "for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me."

You are the Church...

Christians must interact with their fellow humans and have fellowship with the poor and homeless, and those given the grace to see realize that giving a sandwich or an article of much needed clothing is an opportunity to minister to those hurting and lost on a much deeper spiritual level.

You see GOD LOVES TO USE HIS PEOPLE !, and through the Holy Spirit and your faith, love, and interaction, the Lord can plant the seeds to spiritually feed and cloth those in need, and through the believer pour forth the "Living Waters" to those who so desperately thirst.

Not only that "God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him."

You may receive a powerful and suprising blessing from those whom you are serving !

Read More:

Redding Homeless Blog: Why You Should NEVER Support Regulating the Public Feeding of Homeless People

Seeing how facilities that aid the homeless attract the homeless then those things should be regulated. I don't want a soup kitchen to open up as the church across the street. I don't want a homeless shelter to open up a couple blocks down the road. Contrary to popular belief not every homeless man is just some guy who has fallen on hard times and is trying to get back on his feet.Many of these people are alcoholics and drunks and will do things to support their habits other than just panhandling and many of these people squat in empty homes thus causing unnecessary expense to the property owner.So its not that much of a burden to designate a scarcely populated area of town to where the homeless can be aided.
 
There's nothing wrong with giving to charities. I do prefer giving to the local ones that don't have such huge overheads. I really don't like giving to the huge national ones that supposedly have large salaried executives running them. And in recent years, when money has been tight, I've done some volunteering at times.

There is nothing wrong with giving to charities; though I think that a lot of people would be much happier if they would pay a bit more attention to what sort of organizations they are giving that money to. If they took the time to do a little research into what the organization does they would likely find that there are other charities with ideals much closer to their own that would be more than happy to take their donations.
 
So - your point was "why you should never support regulating public feeding homeless people" . . . so on with that. Why not? You lost yourself.
not the OP, but let me step in and respond
regarding that article, i like everything he suggests except for the regulation of those who feed the non-paying public
and i do acknowledge the very legitimate reason horvath uses to espouse such a position. it would be great to make sure the food served the non-paying public was of the same quality as that served to the paying public
but we should not allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good. and that would be the outcome if that perfect regulation were to be imposed on those who feed the poor
those who feed the public at no cost usually have few resources to be able to comply with the myriad of regulations imposed on those vendors who receive payment for the food they serve

besides being costly to comply with the food service regulations, enforcement would provide authorities who are opposed to the operation of our soup kitchen with a weapon to be used to shut us down
now, if you are wondering why the authorities (local police) are opposed to the operation of our soup kitchen, it is because they view it as a magnet for those who are more inclined to commit crime. and i cannot say that they are wrong in that assessment. but that is a price we are willing and able to pay in order to feed the massive numbers who come to us for a good, free meal. if we had to comply with the food service regulations we would have to have an income to cover those costs. since we are providing free meals we are without that income
so, the trade off for those who come to eat with us is that they risk eating food that is prepared unhealthily as the cost of having it made available to them without payment. if your choice is to eat with us or go hungry, or eat with us or eat something you picked out of a dumpster, then our meals offer a good choice. not the optimal choice, but the better among the options available to those who are without the means to pay for their meals

in our instance, in operation for three years and nine months, we have never had an incident where we have served bad food. we are very attuned to that concern. we serve food which has been donated to us from food vendors and restaurants. in many instances, we receive it once the 'sale by' date has expired. but know that the 'sale by' date does not mean that the food is inedible. it does mean that we must closely monitor the food we serve to make sure it is safe to prepare and serve. our volunteers know that if it is not something they would be willing to eat, then it is something that we are unwilling to serve. so, we cull what has been donated to us
we are fortunate, our cooks are trained chefs, we have a doctor on site most days (often two and occasionally three), and other volunteer staff ranging in age from nine to 90, from all walks of life. the common denominator is that all who come to volunteer arrive with a good heart. people who are not going to knowingly serve bad food to our guests. the same people who would bake cookies or send a meal to a sick neighbor, and no one is arguing they need to have those donated foods subject to food service regulation. our situation is no different ... other than magnitude; we have feed up to 283 people in an hour, in a place that seats 126
so, do the math and you will be amazed at the number of meals we have provided - at no cost - over 45 months. meals that would be lost to those who need it if we were made subject to the food service regulations imposed on for-profit food vendors
 
My opinion: most people who are very "bleeding heart" about needing to help the homeless and needy are only seeing the surface level of the situation, which is the immediate suffering. It is very difficult to see that sort of suffering and begging and it compels many people to feel a need for something to be done about it. I encourage ANY such person to find a very desperate person and take it upon yourself to help them significantly. And I mean significantly. Buy them some meals, get to know them a bit, maybe offer for them to pitch a tent in your yard or stay in a spare room, and give them some spending cash for a while.

You will likely learn a very valuable lesson if you do this. The lesson is that many many people who end up in such extreme and desperate situations are stuck in a pattern of impulsive and/or destructive decisions that don't work, and that, at best, you are throwing money and resources into a place where it will be squandered, and you may even risk some serious disruption to your life, you may open yourself up to exploitation or theft, and it will not be long before you want the person you intended to help out of your life altogether.

Mistakes are very necessary things. Their consequences are the only real way we can learn and grow. For help to be true help (not enabling), and to actually work to improve people's lives, I think it has to be provided with the utmost thoughtfulness and careful consideration of each and every individual's circumstances. This means that to administrate help from a governmental level is a setup for failure, because there is no way imaginable to apply that close and careful of consideration to each circumstance from any centralized department or building. Charity will not solve all the world's hunger and everyone's problems everywhere. No one claims that. But at least it's voluntary, and it can be up to the individual GIVER to apply that critical thought to who is really ready and able to receive help and turn it into something good and lasting, rather than turn it into a way to support their previous, self-destructive behaviors and decisions.
 
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Hasn't regulation already shown itself to be a double-edged blade when it comes to the poor in general. The abuses of the welfare system are part of the problem the good, logical conservatives are complaining about. There are already regulations in place for helping the poor but the lack of quality oversight is allowing abuses in the system to run rampant.
 
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