Posted on 08/25/2013 9:16:55 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright
This morning we showed up at Moore Square at 9:00 a.m., just like we have done virtually every Saturday and Sunday for the last six years. We provide, without cost or obligation, hot coffee and a breakfast sandwich to anyone who wants one. We keep this promise to our community in cooperation with five different large suburban churches that help us with manpower and funding.
Today officers from Raleigh Police Department prevented us from doing our work, for the first time ever. An officer said, quite bluntly, that if we attempted to distribute food, we would be arrested.
(Excerpt) Read more at lovewins.info ...
I work with the Matthew 25 Ministry in Columbia, SC. There the homeless are being threatened if they are not in shelters. There are at least 1,300 of them and not enough shelters to house them all. But that is not the point. The point is they can be arrested for being on the street. Reminds me of the fate of the Jews in Nazi Germany!
We are still allowed to feed them at a warehouse donated for that use but yesterday there were a half dozen squad cars waiting for them to leave the warehouse. I do not know how many if any were arrested.
This just makes me sick.
Matthew 25:35-40 is very specific in what the Lord expects us to do for these. And in doing for them, we are directly serving our Lord. He is a also a recipient of whatever we give them. It says so in that scripture.
Hey, I have an idea.
Why don’t you NOT assume they don’t also give stuff away at other places?
OR
Would that excuse the RPD for acting the way they did.....???? That perhaps this group is not making the best choices?
OR
Maybe they will be arrested (not a bad idea).
OR
Do you think its okay for cops to arrest charity groups simply because they are not making the wisest choices on where to do their charity work?????
Actually, you are referring to government, not “places” - so to be clear, you are siding with Mayor Bloomberg. Thanks for exposing....
I was being Christianly generous to the poster, and I realize your comments are valid.
Little did I know, I was such a clueless doofus becaue I could not read the poster’s mind (like God can) that the mayor is a religion hating liberal and his jackbooted police thugs were really trying to stamp out Christianity (I don’t think I saw ANY of that in the article).
Nonetheless, I play his “game”. He ‘thanked’ me for it and the proceeded to tell me (again, condescendingly) what I should have read in his mind.
We can’t all read what’s in your mind, dude. Show me in the story where the mayor is a religion hating zealot and his police force is ‘out to get religion.’
If you need to be told that cities are run by liberals, and that by definition they are all those things, then perhaps you shouldn’t play along.....its going to move fast for you.
“If you want to feed them why not open your church?”
Wait! What? And have the poor, homeless people have to walk? Are you crazy? /sarc
“Absurd, embarrassing, outrageous, evil - I am ashamed this happened in my town.”
Charity denies jobs to bureaucrats. Civil servants need the poor to be hungry and homeless so they can justify their 5 and 6 figure salaries.
Compassion is the job of liberal government. Expressions of compassion by anyone in the private sector is a violation of the public trust.
See post 28 for someone who “got it” on their own......
It is a game to you, boardmaster. The truth is you put untold emphasis in your bleat over a story that was documented in no way as you seem to think. I only asked your a couple of questions and because I didn’t agree with you over something not even remotely documented except in your head, you very condescendingly criticized me. You’ve done it each time you reply to me and now you tell me I should know it because ALL cities are liberal and I have to know they all hate religion and are out to get you, personally.
No thanks. Next time when you post a thread and have some nebulous ulterior motive, why do you tell us it’s a game and if we answer wrong, you’ll come back and jump us. Yeah, real nice...I don’t need to talk to you any more, you’re a lost cause.
There you go again.
Listen DUDE, I see your feel-good kind in my city too. Cops have a DUTY to keep the vagrants out of city parks. You feeding them there only makes the problems worse. I applaud their actions and wish they did it more often.
Open your pathetic church if you feel you must feed them.
‘Hey, I have an idea, how about serving breakfast at one of the 5 churches?’
What?! Have ‘these people’ in their neighborhoods? That might lower the property values!
The reason why they ‘moved them along’ is because the residents and property owners in the area probably got sick of the weekly collection of beggars and vagrants in their local city park congregating for a free meal.
As for laws: there are numerous laws and health regulations against the regular and scheduled distribution of food for human consumption without a permit. I can think of several violations of food safety ordinances off the top of my head including proper temperature regulation of prepared foods to name just one.
If these five churches wanted to help the poor and ‘homeless’ with food, a regular weekly donation to the local food bank, a feeding center, or private mental health organization that treats drug dependency and mental illnesses of the homeless is in order, not the disruption of a public park.
Mostly to protect union labor, and the government revenue generated by permit sales, but some people like living in a world where everything is regulated and controlled by government. Good thing that they weren't trying to hand out farm eggs, they'd still be behind bars.
Wonder how many drug deals went down while the police were handling this affront to society?
Well-meaning groups who bring food to people gathered in public places do what other well-meaning people do when they feed pigeons or Canada geese. Need I explain why?
A community has a right to say whether this situation should continue. College students at a local Jesuit-run university were encouraged to bring food to homeless who gathered at a certain site in downtown Baltimore. That area became a dangerous area for the homeless and a no-go area for the rest of the residents of the city. Finally the police had to enforce some civic code or other to get the students to stop. There are plenty of ways to reach out with charity, and the students efforts were redirected. The 'homeless' were interviewed on tv to learn about their reactions.
No! Mostly to protect against Botulism, E-Coli and other food bourn illnesses that sicken and KILL people. Not all regulations are bad. Many are in the interest of the public.
Oh yeah, and the other sound public safety arguments already stated.
If they get people sick, arrest them for it. If the food is clearly ill-prepared, then stop them.
This is a great example of "preventative" law, where we arrest people not for doing something wrong, but because it is possible they might do something wrong.
Sure, it sounds great when someone first gets sick, and the government says "hey, we should do some inspections and provide "security" that the food being served is OK."
But power corrupts, and the government inspectors need to prove their worth, and the laws get stricter and stricter, and you end up shutting down the kid's lemonade stand. And the monied interests donate to politicians who will protect them by shutting down these "non-traditional" means of providing food. I'm sure they'll be happy to sell the churches food that has been "properly" blessed by our government masters.
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