It’s hard to miss the throngs of homeless people swarming around a minivan or truck getting handout food on any given Saturday in downtown Atlanta. It doesn’t matter if it’s Hurt Park or at a so-called vacant parking lot. You will see it.
It happens during the week as well, but most of those who are bringing the food have the weekend off. So there are more on the weekend.
“Feeders” we call them; those who feel called to the city to end hunger. A noble cause, right? God says to feed the poor. What could possibly be wrong with giving food to the hungry?
So many people like to make this a moral issue. If we don’t feed them, we’re depriving them of basic human needs. But isn’t there a greater moral issue at hand? It’s not about if we need to feed the hungry, it’s about how we feed the hungry.
First, we must all step back and try to see more than a bologna sandwich on white bread. The same way we step back and look at a car that has stopped running. Yes, we can put gas in the tank until it’s full, but if the alternator has gone out, the car won’t start anyway. Getting to the real problem is the only way to find solutions.
As the Executive Administrator at SafeHouse Outreach in downtown Atlanta, our staff and I work daily with individuals to get to their real problems. It’s a long and sometimes frustrating process. There are a myriad of reasons why someone is homeless. And I’m telling you, it’s not because they don’t have a bologna sandwich.
Do we feed people at SafeHouse Outreach (SHO)? Yes, of course. We enlist corporate groups, churches, and individuals to provide Night Impact Services on our property; partnering with us to bring food and entertainment to about 125 homeless and poor. This is a threshold service that we hope our guests will walk through; learning what services we provide and then come back the next day to begin a Life Action Plan. We give them more than just a plate of food.
At SafeHouse Outreach, we’re opposed to feeders. There is a way to give to the basic need of hunger. We believe it is orderly and given with dignity. We invite as many of these feeders as we can to join forces with us, to bring their food and their people to SHO. But so many won’t partner; so many only want to do their own thing.
A sandwich cannot be an end unto itself. We believe in a hand-up, not just a handout. We recognize critical needs, but our goal is to offer lasting, life-changing solutions. It’s just like that Proverb: hand out a fish to a man and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and … .
We should be teaching, not just handing out. To echo Robert Lupton: Who is this sandwich for anyway? The person receiving it — or the person giving it?
