I’m sometimes asked why do we keep feeding the poor when sometimes they are so ungrateful, it may help create dependency and it isn’t very profitable?
In a recent article by Conor Freidersdorf entitled “The Liberty To Feed the Poor” we read...
On the night she was ticketed, Chef Joan Cheever’s menu included fresh vegetable soup, lamb meatballs over wheat pasta, braised Southern greens, and a salad with roasted beets. She plans to appear in a San Antonio court to contest the $2,000 citation. Her offense: serving food to a line of grateful homeless people.
She’s been donating similar meals every Tuesday for a decade. But neither the commercial kitchen where she prepares her food nor the licensed food handlers who serve it nor a food truck that meets all health codes nor her status as a local celebrity excused her apparent failure to obtain a special permit for giving away food free of charge. “Do Good Samaritans get tickets in San Antonio?” she asked the police officer who wrote her up, as she recalls the exchange. “Yes,” he replied.
What makes the encounter a matter of national rather than local concern is the fact that it is not an anomaly. All over the United States, local governments are coercing individuals and organizations to stop helping their least-well-off neighbors.
I can understand when neighbors have safety concerns about their neighborhoods, but I think they are taking it a tad too far when we are told we can’t help someone out.
As a Christian, not only do I find many Bible verses about helping the less fortunate, but morally it’s just the right thing to do.
Sure, there is sometimes ingratitude and in a few cases we might be creating dependency, but when I look back on my life in the long run I want to be able to say that I made a difference and helped ease the load of someone else.
Our Senior Food Pantry is today (Wednesday, Aug 19th) at the Knights Of Columbus Hall. If you would like to lend a hand, please drop by between 12 and 1:15 pm.