"No Soup For You!"

These are strange days indeed. Case in point is this article appearing on line from NBC News:

More American cities are blocking individuals and ministries from feeding homeless people in parks and public squares, and several Americans have been ticketed for offering such charity, according to a forthcoming report by the National Coalition for the Homeless.

To date, 33 cities have adopted or are considering such food–sharing restrictions, according to the coalition, which shared with NBC News a draft of its soon-to-be published study.

Police in at least four municipalities – Raleigh, N.C.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Daytona Beach, Fla. – have recently fined, removed or threatened to jail private groups that offered meals to the homeless instead of letting government-run service agencies care for those in need, the advocacy group reports.

This is a bizarre notion, that providing food for individuals in public places would be considered illegal. Certainly, as the article mentions, there are other issues at play here, but the impact of these ordinances are yet to be fully realized by the people who are involved in compassionate ministries.

At the Rescue Mission we serve, on average, 662 meals each day. For the current fiscal year, we have served 201,148 meals (as of July 31). All meals are prepared and served at our shelter facility located at 962 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. And, by the way, to dine at the Mission, you need only to be hungry, not homeless.