GRATEFUL READER writes:

On Sunday night, my family served a meal (prepared at our church) at a homeless shelter for women in a wealthy suburban town. My husband and son worked in the kitchen while my daughter and I took orders and served and chatted with the women. Of the twenty-four women who slept there last night (and most of them seemed to be regulars who have decorated their bed areas with their few belongings) several held jobs and seemed quite able, while others were clearly mentally and emotionally troubled, and two were outwardly deranged psychopaths. Most of them spoke of being grateful for the tasty meal and our service. To one blonde lady, who works at a local church, I had given the cross around my neck after she had admired it when we served for the first time last month; she still wore it and remembered us. During the meal, three black ladies spent their time comparing “apps” on their iPods and discussing which recording of the Holy Bible they liked the best. Some of them have an inkling of goodness, truth, and beauty.

Unfortunately, most of the women were obese. When we fed them helping after helping (with the approval of the two ladies on the staff), I felt as though we were not helping them to control themselves, as though we were doing them harm by allowing them to indulge in gluttony. Our church prepares food for the poor in their “Feed the Hungry” program, but these women seemed to be hungry all of the time; indeed, one staff worker told us that many of them spend their entire day eating at various charitable organizations. I wondered how we were feeding their souls as we allowed them to stuff their bodies.

Still more troubling than the indulgence of the mouth was the indulgence of the eyes. On the wall hung a large-screen television, blaring from the time the shelter opened at 7:00 p.m. until the lights went out at 10:00 p.m. Perhaps it is because we do not own a television set and I have not watched anything in years that I was taken aback by the rapidly moving violent, prurient, cacophanous scenes on display. Two of the shows were American Idol and The Apprentice, in which all of the people looked artificial, even inhuman, and spoke to one another in impolite tones. Surely, viewing such sewage hurts the women who watch it; they come for shelter, yet, they cannot get away from hearing and seeing bad and ugly characters moving jarringly on the wall.

The son of a friend of ours spent a semester caring for the poor of India, and he observed and participated in a more reverent care of the downtrodden than we participated in here in a wealthy American suburb. Oddly enough, this town is filled with Asian and Hispanic immigrants, but all of those who came to the homeless shelter were black or white. The Chinese, Indian, and Hispanic immigrants seem to care for their own – until they, too, become the mass man of whom Jose Ortega Y Gasset spoke and which modern Americans have become.

I am torn as to whether we should do this again. Could we persuade those who run the shelter to turn off the TV (perhaps replacing it with a large poster of Da Vinci’s Last Supper) and give but one serving of food to each woman (perhaps praying before and after the meal and reading a worthy text aloud during the meal, or having a roving violinist play music during the meal), then such service would fit the Biblical exhortation to “Love thy neighbor.” As it is, we seem to be scandalizing the poor.

— Comments —

Lisa writes:

Biblical provision for the poor included “gleaning,” which let the able non-lazy poor help themselves while retaining dignity. With the industrialization of agriculture, a loss of appreciation of another’s private property, and any sort of work ethic, how can the results listed above be improved? Suggestions?

Laura writes:

At a bare minimum, the women who are able-bodied in this shelter should make the meals and even the women who are mentally disturbed could help with meal preparation and clean up. It is wrong for the church to prepare these meals in advance and come in and serve them to the women as if they were children. It is infantilizing and probably adds to their tendency to overeat.

Mrs. P. writes:

The homeless shelters in our area are all under an umbrella organization started in the 80’s as a grassroots effort. These shelters provide more than just a meal and a safe place for patrons to sleep. They also provides access to an array of services that help these patrons put their lives back together and become self-sufficient. The churches in our area do their part as well with regard to feeding the souls of these patrons. Surely the shelter Grateful Reader wrote about does something similar. If not, then it should.

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