Is Feeding the Homeless a Crime?

Yes. In many places.

Here's one story:

More laws target feeding the homeless in public, but advocates say it won't stop their work
By KELLI KENNEDY Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- To Arnold Abbot, feeding the homeless in a public park in South Florida was an act of charity. But to the city of in Fort Lauderdale, the 90-year-old man was committing a crime.

Arnold and two South Florida ministers were arrested last weekend as they handed out food. They were charged with breaking a new ordinance restricting public feeding of the homeless, and each faces up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

"One of the police officers said, `Drop that plate right now,' as if I were carrying a weapon," Abbott told South Florida television station WPLG (http://bit.ly/1qpgywd ).

The arrests haven't deterred the group. Ministers Dwayne Black and Mark Sims were back at church Wednesday preparing meals for a feeding at a public park later that night.

Read the whole story here.

A prayer:

Heavenly Father, in your Word you have given us a vision of
that holy City to which the nations of the world bring their
glory: Behold and visit, we pray, the cities of the earth.
Renew the ties of mutual regard which form our civic life.
Send us honest and able leaders. Enable us to eliminate
poverty, prejudice, and oppression, that peace may prevail
with righteousness, and justice with order, and that men and
women from different cultures and with differing talents may
find with one another the fulfillment of their humanity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (For Cities, BCP)