Letters to the Editor

• My soup kitchen experience

  [Read the article: I feed the poor but eat with the rich]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  I volunteered in a church run soup kitchen a number of years ago. Like the LW, it prepared a sort of brunch for the homeless, which was served after the religious service -- presumably the hope was that at least some of the homeless would attend the service, but few did.

  Like the LW, I had a lot of problem with the idea of stuffing myself and then serving crap to the poor. So one thing I did was show up early and without having eaten. I worked for several hours in the kitchen and serving -- hungry, like our clients -- and then served food until everyone was fed. Then, IF there was anything decent left, I ate some of that. I didn't forcibly ingratiate myself with anyone, just ate as if I was another person attending the soup kitchen.

  My personal feeling was that it was not an very sincere act of charity to show up well fed, or to decide that the food I was offering was such garbage that it was beneath me to consume it. (Sometimes though, there was simply no food left for the workers. In that case, I went home to eat.)

  I am lucky enough that I have never had to turn to a soup kitchen to survive. However, I imagine that people who are forced to do this are not comforted by the idea of fat-cat white suburbanites whipping up some cheap, barely edible crap for the poor, then taking their money to gobble up mimosas and brie at a fancy restaurant.

  A big part of charity is giving with grace and dignity. I think this is what your friends are violating, in spirit. What they are saying is "I am only giving crap -- junk I don't want myself. The really good stuff I am hogging for myself." I don't think this is the spirit of charitable giving that is exemplified by Jesus, Mother Theresa, etc.

  The way I was raised (Jewish), I was told there are different levels of charity. The highest is when you give anonymously, and when you give things of such value that you would want them for yourself. The lowest is when you only give in situations that bring you credit, pats on the back, public acclaim, or when you receive something (fancy benefits where you eat and drink by way of a donation, or receive swag gifts). By this standard, I would say that feeding bargain basement cheese to the poor, then slurping down $30 mimosas is a very, very low (but not non-existent) form of charity.

  I suggest that you ask your fellow phonies from the 'burbs to cough up the brunch money, pool it, and donate it back to the shelter. Or give it to another sort of charity. Anonymously. It might be nice if you backdated the checks to cover all those brunches, too.

  The prime reason we still NEED soup kitchens, the reason we have so much poverty and people without food or healtcare is exactly THIS....that the affluent think these diddling gestures, followed by personal indulgence, are ENOUGH help to offer the poor. The reason I no longer work in the soup kitchen is because I came to feel it was a worthless gesture, and that the poor recognize it as such. What poor people need are good paying jobs, health and disability insurance, & safe housing and neighborhoods. Those things cost REAL MONEY, like your mimosa brunches, and providing them to everyone would involve real pain and sacrifice, not cheese strata made with Velveeta.

  Permalink Tuesday, August 21, 2007 08:28 AM