It warms my heart to read this, especially in light of all the current religious scandals.
You've little idea the problems we've had locally with polygamist kiddie diddlers and
their disgusting assertion that women of all ages in their communes are literally property
of their church whether they like it
or not.
Too often you see people use faith or custom
as a flimsy pretext to break the law and do as they please, but instead here is a
refreshingly genuine and, dare I pun, blessed act of civil disobedience for a just cause.
Bible or no, attempting to aid the unfortunate and sadly unwanted is a good thing to work
towards and I offer my moral support to Bishop Avis Hill. I may not be religious but I
will raise a glass and say a toast to someone giving the correct answer to a question of
"WWJD?" (What Would Jesus Do?)
Homelessness is a huge problem, but a bigger one is that society only seems to be
addressing the issue in terms of how to keep the homeless out of sight where 'good honest
folk' don't have to deal with them. While there are people who've lost their homes and
jobs through their own unrepentant folly such as addiction and criminal activity, the vast
majority don't deserve to be treated as an infestation of vermin. It's all too easy to
wind up in dire straights, and getting back out is like turning sewer water into fine wine,
especially when you consider that realistically nobody wants to hire a vagrant.
A prospective employer assumes several things about someone that walks in the door with no
resume wearing clothes that have been ripened from weeks of continued wear on the streets:
1) They're filthy. 2) They're untrustworthy and likely to steal. 3) They're probably
junkies or drunks or mentally ill. 4) They are too lazy to work, or they wouldn't be
homeless in the first place. 5) They'd
Excerpt: Westgate Tabernacle Church is again facing off with Palm Beach County code enforcement.
The church that opens its doors to all as a shelter as well as a place of worship, is defying a county order to take down a tent on its property where homeless people sleep.
The citation, which says the church west of West Palm Beach is violating county building codes, said that Westgate needed to take down the tent by Monday. Code enforcement officials will send the case to a special master who will decide if the citation should be enforced with a fine of up to $1,000 a day if the tent remains.
Westgate's leader, Bishop Avis Hill, said he put up the 40-by-60 feet tent because the number of homeless people who have turned to the church for shelter has grown too large. In the few weeks since the tent was put up, as many as 55 men have been sleeping in the tent, he said. Women of all ages and men over 55 sleep inside the church buildings.
"My plans are to leave this tent up until there is no longer a need for it, and that means I will leave it up until the county builds a shelter or Jesus comes," Hill said Monday. "At the rate they are going, Jesus will come first."
only work long enough to buy a bottle of rotgut and
that's all their pay will ever go to if they stuck around.
And even if they don't make those assumptions there is the very real matter of a lack of
address for records and taxes, no proof of education for more specialized tasks, no bank
account for direct deposit, no means of contact, no clean clothing to wear to work, and
many homeless are often too weak from lack of food and improper hygiene to perform
physical tasks for extended periods.
Add to all this that it's ironically more expensive
to live on reduced means as they'd need to buy all their food pre-cooked from restaurants,
(usually unhealthy fast food, as most establishments will turn them away at the door if not
call the police), pay for a room by the night if they want a roof over their heads, buy
clean drinking water, etc.
Just this one kindness can make their lives bearable as they try to put the pieces
together again. Hopefully enough people can see that and will support the shelter, perhaps
even offer some help tackling the many problems I've listed above.
