Area residents respond to law against feeding the homeless
Pastor Jesse Kemp serves passes out information to those who attended the outdoor Jesus Bread of Life Ministry, which is held Sundays in the Municipal Gardens between 25th Street and 26th Street on Grant Avenue. The ministry is available to all who attend but is designed to be an outreach to the homeless residents of Ogden.
Volunteers serve lunch to those who attended the outdoor Jesus Bread of Life Ministry, which is held Sundays in the Municipal Gardens between 25th Street and 26th Street on Grant Avenue. The ministry is available to all who attend but is designed to be an outreach to the homeless residents of Ogden.
Volunteers serve lunch to those who attended the outdoor Jesus Bread of Life Ministry, which is held Sundays in the Municipal Gardens between 25th Street and 26th Street on Grant Avenue. The ministry is available to all who attend but is designed to be an outreach to the homeless residents of Ogden.
People relax after having attended the outdoor Jesus Bread of Life Ministry, which is held Sundays in the Municipal Gardens between 25th Street and 26th Street on Grant Avenue. The ministry is available to all who attend but is designed to be an outreach to the homeless residents of Ogden.
A volunteer serves a lunch burrito to those who attended the outdoor Jesus Bread of Life Ministry, which is held Sundays in the Municipal Gardens between 25th Street and 26th Street on Grant Avenue. The ministry is available to all who attend but is designed to be an outreach to the homeless residents of Ogden. Photo taken Aug. 9, 2014.
Javon Kemp serves water to those who attended the outdoor Jesus Bread of Life Ministry, which is held Sundays in the Municipal Gardens between 25th Street and 26th Street on Grant Avenue. The ministry is available to all who attend but is designed to be an outreach to the homeless residents of Ogden. Photo taken Aug. 9, 2014.
Some area residents who have put their focus on helping the homeless have a hard time believing that such acts could get them arrested in other states.
Pastor Jesse Kemp of Jesus Bread of Life Ministry said he was shocked to hear about pastors going to jail in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for feeding the homeless.
“This is something that’s very good, very positive and very wholesome and they are going to jail for it,” Kemp said. “We the people have to rise up and voice our Constitutional rights. It’s not like anyone is twisting anyone’s arm. They are adults and they have the right to receive or not to receive.”
A 90-year-old man and two South Florida ministers have been accused of breaking a new ordinance that severely restricts public feeding of the homeless in Fort Lauderdale, according to the Associated Press.
Police arrested homeless advocate Arnold Abbot and ministers Dwayne Black and Mark Sims Sunday as they handed out food to homeless people in a Fort Lauderdale park. The city ordinance took effect Friday.
In Ogden, Kemp’s church has no walls and is focused completely on feeding the homeless of Ogden Sunday morning at the Ogden’s Municipal Gardens. When bad weather comes, Kemp’s group also will feed the homeless in a nearby building but Kemp said there are those who are too afraid to even go inside and he’ll still be bringing them food no matter what the temperature.
Kemp said he feels like Americans have the freedom to try to help someone.
“Hopefully, this law can be overturned,” he said. “In my eyes, this is a blatant disregard for our Constitutional rights.”
Dotti Wilkerson of Ogden, who oversees a new distribution center for homeless youth at Summit Chapel, 585 39th St. in Ogden, said she talked to a number of people about the new law in Fort Lauderdale.
“Most people feel that we are a Christian nation and that our values are being attacked” Wilkerson said.
“Someone said: ‘If Jesus came and fed the people like He did during the Sermon on the Mount He would be arrested.’ “
Wilkerson said she and those she spoke with believe it is each American’s duty to feed and clothe the poor and under-privileged. But that as a society, we need to remember that if you give a man a fish he has food for a day, if you teach a man to fish he has food for a lifetime.
“We should be working towards bringing these people off the streets and help them get the help they need to rise above their current predicaments,” Wilkerson said.
She also understands another side to the problem of feeding the homeless in public.
There were a few people she talked to that believed the business owners who have depended on tourism have rights too.
“It is reported that hundreds of homeless come for these meals and take over the beach area and defalcate and urinate on and near their businesses,” she said. She expressed a need for a “genuine conversation” about the needs of the homeless and places for them to be fed and cared for.
“It is wrong to arrest a 90-year-old man and several pastors who want nothing more than to feed the homeless,” she said. “I am proud of the efforts of our little town of Ogden and how we have been reaching out to the homeless of all ages. We have been setting an example for the rest of the country. I can imagine that in Florida where there are countless more homeless, it may just be so much more difficult to find the answers.”
Jo Egelund of Ogden said she is in awe of rules that prevent people from feeding the homeless.
“This is America,” she said. “No one in this country should ever be hungry or die from lack of medical treatment. I am not sure what we are turning into.”
Angela Urrea of Farr West said she can see why property owners don’t want homeless people around.
“But good grief — the city law of inhumane,” she said.
Debi Fletcher McEntire of Huntsville said she thinks it’s disgusting that in this country a “religious” group can “legally” protest a military hero’s funeral shouting that the hero is going to “hell.”
“But someone trying to feed the homeless and save lives faces prison time and huge fines,” she said. “That makes absolutely no sense to me!”
The Standard-Examiner Young & Homeless Initiative is an effort to find ways to get the community to come together and lift up youth who are at risk of becoming homeless or who become homeless.
The Standard-Examiner is donating $1 for efforts to fight youth homelessness for every donation made online as part of the Standard-Examiner Young & Homeless initiative, up to $10,000.
To donate, visit https://cares.standard.net/young-homeless/.
You may reach JaNae Francis at 801-625-4228. Follow her on Twitter at JaNaeFrancisSE. Like her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SEJaNaeFrancis.
