It sounds like I belong to the same organization you do-—a wonderful church that generously helps its members in need. I agree with everything you said and am stunned and dismayed by people’s sense of entitlement, especially when members of our organization have been taught over and over again how important it is to be self-reliant.
A local leader of our church told my husband once that people don’t understand that such a program is meant to sustain a life, not a lifestyle. I thought that was very interesting.
Perhaps we do. It is an unusual program. What probably galls me is the program relies on private donations from families in the congregation. This welfare family wanted to eat better than ninety percent of those families who were donating to the program. Too many people come to the local pastor and ask for help with credit card payments, boat payments, mortgage payments when they have clearly overspent their resources and are now in too deep. I would have enjoyed that cruise, that trip to Walt Disney World, that big-screen tv, that late-model SUV, that latest whizbang technology but when we do indulge, we make sure to pay in cash without jeopardizing our only debt, which is our mortgage. Then these people want me to contribute to support their unrealistic lifestyle choices. The problem is only going to get worse before it gets better but some church leaders are becoming more aggressive about making people sacrifices their toys in exchange for help on basics.