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Feeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC
Posted on August 24, 2013 by Hugh Hollowell
Maggie, Hugh, and our partnering church speak with an officer.

Maggie, Sarah, our church partner, and I speak with an officer.

What Happened

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.
"They will arrest me if I give you a biscuit."

Me addressing the crowd. “They will arrest me if I give you a biscuit.”

Our partner church brought 100 sausage biscuits and large amounts of
coffee. We asked the officers for permission to disperse the biscuits to
the over 70 people who had lined up, waiting to eat. They said no. I had
to face those who were waiting and tell them that I could not feed them,
or I would be arrested.

In the past, we have had a good working relationship with the Raleigh
Police Department. We knew that we could not use the park itself, as
doing so required a permit, but that it was fine if we wanted to set up
on the sidewalk, as long as we did not block the sidewalk and cleaned up
after ourselves. We have operated, unmolested, under this assumption for
the last six years.

By the way, each permit to use the park costs $800. Yes, eight hundred
dollars. That would cost us $1,600 every weekend, and the officer we
spoke to said the City likely wouldn’t approve it anyway.

Now, however, we are hearing that we can’t distribute food at the park,
period. No representative from the Raleigh Police Department was willing
to tell us which ordinance we were breaking, or why, after six years and
countless friendly and cooperative encounters with the Department, they
are now preventing us from feeding hungry people.

When I asked the officer why, he said that he was not going to debate
me. “I am just telling you what is. Now you pass out that food, you will
go to jail.”

What We Will Do

Simple: we will feed people. I am, after all (however imperfectly), a
follower of Jesus, who said himself that when we ignore hungry people,
we ignore him. The only question that remains is where we will do it.

We knew that with the upcoming revitalization of Moore Square, we would
have to find alternative arrangements. We have been working to that end,
but as the revitalization is currently unfunded, and has no start date,
we felt we had some time.

Regardless, we will find a venue in the downtown core to feed people. We
are committed to this and to our people, and it will happen. If you have
a private building or parking lot in the downtown core you are willing
to let us use, please contact me by email at .

http://tinyurl.com/l68gzw3