Public Feeding Programs In Santa Monica Could Be Charged A Fee

If you are homeless in Santa Monica, every day of the week (except Monday) you can find a free meal at either Reed Park, Palisades Park, or on the City Hall lawn. Groups from around the city, and from other parts of the County set up public feeding venues for Santa Monica’s homeless.

Unfortunately, it costs the city of Santa Monica about $40,000 per year to provide park rangers to patrol and clean up costs after the feeding programs pack up and leave. City Council Member Bob Holbrook says, “Why should residents pay for that?”

So Holbrook is proposing a city ordinance that would charge the group a fee to set up a public feeding program in city parks. Click here to read article.

Advocates for feeding the homeless state that there will be legal action to stop such an ordinance. They say that such laws would be criminalizing homelessness.

Santa Monica city officials are looking for indoor space for the feeding programs, as a compromise.

Clearly, feeding the hungry is a charitable, and even a spiritual act. However, to line them up in public feeding lines is not the best solution.

St. Joseph Center, based in Venice, has a dignified alternative. They have a program called, Bread & Roses Café, where they have a restaurant, run by volunteers who serve the homeless with dignity. The homeless sit at restaurant tables, and the volunteers are the cooks and waiters. Link to their website.

Making sure everyone in our country has access to a balanced meal is a God-given right. How we provide that food is the running debate in our communities.