If you came across a starving, homeless person on the street, wouldn’t you give that person some food, if you could? I think most of us would. But depending on what city you live in, you might be breaking the law.
There has been a growing trend in cities across America of banning ordinary citizens from giving food to the homeless! Why? The “official” story is that governments are concerned that without “proper oversight and regulation” the food that a would-be good Samaritan might give to a homeless person may pose a health risk to them.
A greater health risk than malnutrition and starving to death?
Other cities are passing these laws because they don’t want homeless people congregating in areas where they know they will be fed.
Yeah, if too many homeless people congregate together, the tourists might see them.
Of course the real reason – as with everything in America these days – is that governments don’t want anybody doing anything without first acquiring the requisite permission (permits) and paying the appropriate fees. Also, people helping other people directly is in opposition to the culture of dependency that the government is trying to perpetuate. The idea is that everybody should rely on the government and ONLY the government for help.
It’s not like the government is doing an especially good job of fighting poverty and homelessness. Homeless shelters throughout the country are turning people away every night due to lack of space, funding, etc.
But we’ve got plenty of PRISONS though! Boy Howdy! And they keep building more of THOSE every day.
This is just another example that shows that our country is being taken over by control freaks. In America today, you need a “permit” to do almost anything. This is supposed to be a land of liberty and freedom, but every day, bureaucrats turn more of our rights into “privileges” that they can generate revenue from and revoke at any time.
Are we really living in a free country when police resources are used to prevent people from helping each other?
The following are some of the major U.S. cities that have attempted to ban feeding the homeless with links to other stories – Courtesy of PrepperCentral.com
Philadelphia
Mayor Nutter recently banned feeding homeless people in many parts of Philadelphia where homeless people are known to congregate….
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has announced a ban on the feeding of large numbers of homeless and hungry people at sites on and near the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Mayor Nutter is imposing the ban on all outdoor feedings of large numbers of people on city parkland, including Love Park and the Ben Franklin Parkway, where it is not uncommon for outreach groups to offer free food.
Nutter says the feedings lack both sanitary conditions and dignity.
Orlando
Last June, a group of activists down in Orlando, Florida were arrested by police for feeding the homeless in defiance of a city ordinance….
Over the past week, twelve members of food activist group Food Not Bombs have been arrested in Orlando for giving free food to groups of homeless people in a downtown park. They were acting in defiance of a controversial city ordinance that mandates permits for groups distributing food to large groups in parks within two miles of City Hall. Each group is allowed only two permits per park per year; Food Not Bombs has already exceeded their limit. They set up their meatless buffet in Lake Eola knowing that they would likely be arrested as a result.
Houston
Down in Houston, a group of Christians was recently banned from distributing food to the homeless, and they were told that they probably would not be granted a permit to do so in the future even if they applied for one….
Bobby and Amanda Herring spent more than a year providing food to homeless people in downtown Houston every day. They fed them, left behind no trash and doled out warm meals peacefully without a single crime being committed, Bobby Herring said.
That ended two weeks ago when the city shut down their “Feed a Friend” effort for lack of a permit. And city officials say the couple most likely will not be able to obtain one.
“We don’t really know what they want, we just think that they don’t want us down there feeding people,” said Bobby Herring, a Christian rapper who goes by the stage name Tre9.
Dallas
Dallas has also adopted a law which greatly restricts the ability of individuals and ministries to feed the homeless….
A Dallas-area ministry is suing the city over a food ordinance that restricts the group from giving meals to the homeless.
Courts dismissed Dallas’ request for a summary judgment last week, saying the case, brought up by pastor Don Hart (in video above) may indeed be a violation of free exercise of religion, as protected by the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the blog Religion Clause reported.
In the court filing, the ministry leaders argue that their Christian faith requires them to share meals with the homeless (Jesus did!) and that the requirement that even churches and charities provide toilets, sinks, trained staff and consent of the city keeps them from doing so.
Las Vegas
A few years ago, Las Vegas became the first major U.S. city to specifically pass a law banning the feeding of homeless people….
Las Vegas, whose homeless population has doubled in the past decade to about 12,000 people in and around the city, joins several other cities across the country that have adopted or considered ordinances limiting the distribution of charitable meals in parks. Most have restricted the time and place of such handouts, hoping to discourage homeless people from congregating and, in the view of officials, ruining efforts to beautify downtowns and neighborhoods.
But the Las Vegas ordinance is believed to be the first to explicitly make it an offense to feed “the indigent.”
That law has since been blocked by a federal judge, and since then many U.S. cities have been very careful not to mention “the indigent” or “the homeless” by name in the laws they pass that are intended to ban feeding the homeless.
New York City
New York City has banned all food donations to government-run homeless shelters because the bureaucrats there are concerned that the donated food will not be “nutritious” enough.
Yes, this is really true.
The following is from a recent Fox News article….
The Bloomberg administration is now taking the term “food police” to new depths, blocking food donations to all government-run facilities that serve the city’s homeless.
In conjunction with a mayoral task force and the Health Department, the Department of Homeless Services recently started enforcing new nutritional rules for food served at city shelters. Since DHS can’t assess the nutritional content of donated food, shelters have to turn away good Samaritans.
Can you believe that?
The bureaucrats are officially out of control.
In America today, it seems like almost everything is illegal.
One church down in Louisiana was recently ordered to stop giving out water because it did not have a government permit.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I sure am going to give a cup of cold water to someone if they need it whether I have a permit or not.
It is as if common sense has totally gone out the window in this nation.
Over in New Hampshire, a woman is being sued for planting flowers in her own front yard.
This is the kind of thing that makes me glad that I have moved to a much more rural location. People in the country tend to be much more relaxed.
Sadly, those that love to micro-manage others continue to get the upper hand in America. Back in January, 40,000 new laws went into effect all over America. The politicians continue to hit us with wave after wave of regulations and laws with no end in sight.
All of this is making America a very unpleasant place in which to live.
April is Earthquake Preparedness Month (or “Disaster Preparedness Month” in the state of Washington). Are you ready for the unexpected?
