In light of my series on urban Cincinnati, I found this blog post interesting. This guy lives in near Washington Park in OTR, a place where many church groups come to pass out food. It's become so popular that the city actually banned groups from giving out freebies in the park, as 1) they usually leave a huge mess behind and 2) there are plenty of organizations/churches with whom they could partner to do this ministry. Of course, the groups chose instead to work around the letter of the law and now give out stuff on the sidewalks.
Makes you wonder (or at least me):
1. What kind of message does it send to people like Joe who live in the community everyday?
2. What kind of message does it send to the organizations/churches in the community who minister there everyday?
3. Who do these acts of "kindness" benefit more: the local community or the volunteers?
4. Am I being objective and accurate or a heartless SOB?
Or, maybe it's just me.