I do not under any circumstances give money to beggars. I do, however, give food. This law is immoral and illegitimate, and I will ignore it. Government derives its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, and as with so many disgusting laws these days, they do not have my consent.
If they want to run a soup kitchen they should partner with a local church that already runs a program for feeding them, or obtain their own space, get the proper permits and run a proper soup kitchen in an area more suitable for such an activity. Setting up in a public park, a park BTW that was recently renovated with taxpayer dollars to make the park a safe and attractive place for the taxpaying residents; families and children to enjoy is being ruined by this couple by making into and promoting it as gathering place for alcoholic and crack and heroin drug addicted vagrants to gather and, no, not just on the Wednesdays that the Jimenezs and their volunteers are handing out free food, but now 24/7.
It is not the police hassling them for no reason, but in large part it stems from complaints by the local residents who are tired of being run out of their own park by the intoxicated and drugged homeless, who urinate and defecate where ever they want, leave trashed booze bottles and drug needles all over, not only in the park itself, but now in the surround residential neighborhood, and these homeless are now also harassing and begging for money from the park goers and committing car and home break ins and other petty crimes.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood said Mr and Mrs Jimenez had been warned a week earlier to stop throwing their so-called 'birthday parties' for the homeless at the park after nearby residents complained about vagrants relieving themselves on the ground and stumbling around drunk.
In this picture, notice that these so called homeless dont look like they are hard core and or actually homeless or starving, but they are type of people who want to stay drunk or high all the time and spend most of whatever money they have to stay that way and expect hand outs of food and money to support their habits. Also notice the play ground equipment in the background. Would any of you take your children to this park now?
If any of you think that what they are doing is such a great thing, I suggest you contact Debbie and Chico Jimenez and invite them to come and set up the same in your local park and childrens playground.
I will also mention that Debbie and Chico Jimenez named their ministry - Spreading the Word Without Saying a Word. So in other words, they seem to think that by just feeding these alcoholic and drug addicted vagrants, these leaches on society without saying anything about how they might not be in the position of needing a free meal or living on the streets in the first place (no judgments on why they are where they are) that by just handing out a meal to them, that will change how they are living or lead them to God.
No. what they are doing is called enabling. And I say that as someone whose ex-husband is a now recovering alcoholic so I am not without compassion. I got to know through AA, NA and Al-Anon meetings, a lot of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts who got clean and sober and now live very productive lives, are now fine upstanding and productive citizens who also try to help their fellow addicts. But in nearly all cases, they only got clean and sober by tough love and by hitting a hard bottom where they were no longer being enabled by well meaning people who fed and supported their addictions. Many I know are actually grateful that at some point, when they actually couldnt find a free meal and warm place to sleep it off that this was their wake up call that led them to getting clean and sober.
The problem of the homeless who are mentally ill, schizophrenics for example, is a whole other question. We as a society decided to close most of our mental hospitals and we no longer forcibly commit the seriously mentally ill to mental institutions, not only for our protection but also for their own good. Granted many state mental hospitals were poorly run and rife with abuse, real snake pits if you will, but on the other hand, turning these people out on the streets to fend for themselves is no better as a solution and IMO even crueler. For them, those who really cant help their illness; there has to be a better answer.
I agree that giving money directly to beggars is the least efficient form of charity and may actually make things worse. I almost never do it. Some cities have actually done ad campaigns to that effect. The city of Berkley had a clever one.
One problem as I see it is homeless activists. It’s too long and complicated to go into here( I will if you want) but I can pretty much prove that so-called homeless activists and their organizations do not sincerely care about helping people, especially if you define help as assisting them to move into better circumstances permanently(for example, a job for those capable of working)
So far we don’t have these activists and organizations in Everett yet. Watch out if they come to your city. They’re very antibusiness and often in bed with the hard left, in fact may be leftist front groups.