Can we feed the homeless?
(Jenn this is in no way meant to belittle the kind and generous feelings towards those less fortunate that you expressed in last week's Culture Flash.)

I have been involved, both in Canada and abroad, in humanitarian work and so can speak from experience with the very difficult conundrum of feeding the hungry.

The suggestion of a yearly rotation of restaurants, each taking one day a week as feeding center for the homeless, is fraught with legal, financial and logistic difficulties. The vast majority of restaurants are Franchises and must follow the Franchisers' rules. These restaurants are carefully monitored from their head offices. Image is a key factor in sales and a large number of homeless people getting free food at the likes of McDonald's or Dairy Queen would be difficult to imagine. Virtually all restaurants work on a very tight profit margin and, often, it will be the alcoholic drink sales that keep a restaurant afloat. Portion cost control is a prime concern and wasted food can put you out of business in short order. Staff are not generally highly paid and depend on tips to supplement their incomes. Theft of utensils, pepper and salt shakers, and the like and damage to washrooms is more common than you would think and not always by those you would suspect.

If a group of willing restaurants was found, then the logistics problems would surface. Which restaurant provides food on which day and at what time? How many meals are available? Is the staff paid or does volunteer staff come in? How are the homeless invited? How do they get to the restaurant if it is not close to their downtown core? Who decides at what "need level" each client is? What if a person is drunk or high? How do you handle any trouble? The homeless often lack sanitation facilities and may carry a variety of parasites that your staff does not want and your restaurant does not need. Many homeless are mentally challenged because our governments have closed facilities needed to give them minimum care. A large percentage has served time in jail and most have been ejected from their own family group.

There is a law, generally referred to as "The Good Samaritan Act," which basically protects you from being sued as a result of a good deed if you take reasonable care. If your province does not have an act protecting "Good Samaritans," you could be sued personally. This sort of thing is generally very involved, so see a lawyer for a clear understanding.

The hungry, whether homeless or not, are already fed as the primary purpose of various different charities. The Salvation Army comes to mind, but there are many more, The Mustard Seed, Catholic Centers of St. Vincent De Paul, and many other Churches that have organized downtown core eating facilities.

The best way I can think of to feed our homeless cooked meals, is to donate my charity dollars to organizations that are based on hot meal provision. If a person has volunteer time to offer I am sure their assistance would be welcome at any of these groups of Good Samaritans.

Food Banks have been set up to distribute surplus or donated food to those in need. I complained once, about people going to the food bank in better cars than mine. Another time, I noticed the ex wife of a doctor, with a paid-for condo and car and receiving $1800.00 a month as alimony, using the Food Bank. When I again complained, an elderly lady friend told me, "If ten people go to the Bank and nine cheat, we have done our community duty, because we have fed the one who needed it." I now agree with Ruth's reasoning.

Many families depend upon the Food Banks. This brings us back to "The Good Samaritan" law. Donated food can cause donors some unwanted legal problems. Here is a story about what happened in Calgary with donuts.

A Franchised dealer allowed his day old donuts to be picked up by the Food Bank. His staff would dump them into the big paper flower bags and off they went. At the Food Bank, they were packed, a dozen to a bag, by volunteers wearing plastic gloves. The Health Inspector stopped this because the volunteers were not tested for Hepatitis A/B. The Food Bank then asked the donor to have his staff put them in dozens. The donor refused because of his staff costs. The donuts ended up feeding pigs. Better that than an outbreak of Hepatitis. A donor can only go so far before the hassle outweighs the altruism.

A friend in Ontario was director of a Food Bank. Her staff was finding discarded food in the parking lot. She started a "If you do not want it, give it back." window. They soon found out that Turnips, Parsnips, Cabbages and Carrots were being returned and that potatoes were often being refused. After speaking with people coming to pick up their supplies, my friend found out that Potato CHIPS is how they wanted their potatoes and that most did not know of scalloped, mashed, or oven roasted potatoes. All the other hard vegetables were a mystery to many of the young mothers. They preferred pasta, Fruit Loops, Alphabits etc. in place of the vegetables. When the Director made it mandatory for recipients to spend two afternoons receiving basic vegetable cooking instruction, she was charged in a class action suite for interfering in the clients' human rights. She ended up being fired over the issue.

I had a very large building for my NGO some years ago and was asked to store about 150 tons of potatoes for the Food Bank until the Christmas baskets could be organized. There were some delays and the potatoes started to sprout. The Food Bank supervisor came down and told us that people coming to the Food Bank would not take or eat SPROUTING potatoes and that these would have to be dumped. We did not want the potatoes to go to waste. First, we got as many to the Women's Shelters as they could use. Then, the Sally Ann and others who served street people took all they could safely use. My sidekick, Griff, spoke with the Mormons (Church of Latter Day Saints), who organized a cooking Bee at the Bishops Food Bank. They had over a hundred volunteers, who washed peeled and canned in excess of 125 tons of potatoes, which were sent to all the Food Banks in Calgary for the Christmas/NY food baskets.

An immigrant German lady worked in a small business. She had limited income, but every week when she shopped she would buy an extra can or two of soup or beans etc. and donate it to the Food Bank. She had suffered hunger as a teenager in Germany and felt she had a duty to help others in need. One day, she happened to be in a parking lot near a Food Bank and saw people go through the bags given them and throw out the food they didn't want. She was heartbroken and never donated again.

Yes there are discouraging stories, but almost all Food Banks have established a "If you do not want it give it back" policy. Also, those caught discarding food are cut off. The homeless cannot carry much, nor do they have a place to cook. There are a few Hobo Jungles left, but any fire in the city is instantly reported, so, until accommodations for these sad people can be provided, they will have to find prepared food via some Charity.

The sight of the homeless has hardened us. We say that Panhandling is offensive and should not be supported.

We in Canada have funds and systems in place to help those in need. We also send many millions in aide to the Third World. There are grave problems in Foreign Aid too.

Let us not overwhelm ourselves with grief. There are statistics to prove that:

If all the worlds' excess food was gathered together and distributed to those in need, this distribution would allow the equivalent of one extra bowl of rice every 13 days to each of those who are hungry.

Feeding those in need is probably the most complex task at home and abroad. Keep in mind the Chinese's saying. You cannot drive a nail, no matter how small, into a log, no matter how big, without weakening it. If we each continue to drive our small nail into that huge log of poverty and ignorance, one day, you and I will split it asunder!



Jack C. Downey CD
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