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September 6, 2012
Skid Row Feedings of Homeless Should End, Argue L.A. Clergy
Clergy group seeks to end street feedings in Los Angeles.
In downtown Los Angeles, four major missions serve 8,000 free meals a day to homeless men and women. However, one group of clergy is urging those missions to stop their feeding ministries, suggesting the effort is "well-meaning but misguided".
The Downtown Clergy Council has issued a paper urging homeless service providers to stop street feedings, arguing the practice "takes away the incentive for people to go into the missions." This echoes a growing debate among homeless ministries amid a nationwide wave of feeding restrictions this summer.
"Please remember that we are not trying to tell you to stop doing your good works," the Council's paper states. "We are urging you to do it in a way that creates an environment conducive for change for the wonderful people of Skid Row whom we have the honor of serving."
L.A.'s Central City area, known as Skid Row, is home to four major missions that are equipped to serve 8,000 homeless people in the neighborhood's 50-block radius, according to the paper. However, many homeless men and women prefer to stay on the streets, rather than go inside and accept the missions' services. As a result, "it is impossible to go hungry in Skid Row."
"They're enabling people to stay in the streets," Kevin Haah, pastor of New City Church of LA and president of the council, told the Associated Press. "It actually backfires in many ways."
Comments
Shouldn't the missions' goal be to help the homeless, rather than recruit them into the mission?
If all a person needs is a meal, and it's being provided, the missions are accomplishing their ends.
Posted By: Skeptic | September 7, 2012 3:48 PM
True, the goal of the mission is to feed the bodies of the homeless, but also, per Jesus' teachings, to also feed their sould through exposing them to God's teaching.
Posted By: Ann Reagan | September 10, 2012 1:35 PM
Not everone wants to be coerced into accepting "help" from the church or salvation. Leave that to the state, meanwhile, let those who are performing their calling to meet the homeless wgere there at continue to do so. Enough with the powerplays. The church really does make Nietzche look like a genius. Smh
Posted By: Thomas | September 10, 2012 6:19 PM
I may be wrong, but I believe the goal of "helping" people on the streets should be to get them off the streets altogether since no one should have to live on the streets. If this is accepted, then feeding the homeless in a situation where you can work with them towards fulfilling the ultimate goal of acquiring adequate housing, through intermediate steps such as job creation/provision, education, counseling/guidance, medical care etc., ought to be the ideal of all who are working with homeless persons.
No one should be "coerced" into joining or accepting anything from a faith-based group in order to receive help. Still, feeding homeless persons on the streets without seeking to ascertain and work towards permanent solutions, does not sound to me like wise stewardship.
All "service providers" working in the same community, who are sincerely concerned about homelessness and hunger and not just about building their own little kingdoms, should work together for the long-term betterment of unfortunate persons. Pooling precious resources and rationalizing services in the interest of the needy sounds more like the Church at work, than several groups of persons
"performing" their own "calling".
Posted By: Steve Skeete | September 11, 2012 8:32 AM
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