Court: Ministries can feed the homeless ... for now

Charlie Butts   (OneNewsNow.com) Monday, July 16, 2012

Several ministries can resume feeding homeless people in Philadelphia parks after a temporary order issued by a federal judge.

Effective June 1, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter virtually shut down programs to provide food for the homeless in parks -- and several ministries took him to court.

Brian Jenkins heads Chosen 300 Ministries, which operates an outreach center in the City of Brotherly Love. He explains why the ministries made the lawsuit.
"It's significant because there's a lot of hungry people out there, and the city of Philadelphia does not have the resources it needs to even conquer the problem, nor do I think they want to, but that's another issue in itself," he tells OneNewsNow. "But the taking away of food from people, regardless of where it's served at, is really a horrible fate for a city to be in." Jenkins says at stake were the human rights of the homeless and the religious right of ministries to serve them. He says he is willing to go to jail if need be. He admits that stance is hard for some people to understand. "But when you read the 4th chapter of Acts, even Peter and John -- after they healed the man at the gate and 3,000 souls were saved because of them preaching the resurrection of Jesus -- they were arrested, and then they were released and warned not to preach again," he explains. "They preached again, and then they were arrested again. The angel released them the second time, and then they were arrested a third time, and they still preached the resurrection." Unless the city reaches a settlement, the ministries will go back to court early next year to retain the right to feed the homeless.