The Myrtle Beach City Council has placed serious restrictions on group that feed the homeless in city (public) parks. Church groups are currently feeding the homeless and hungry in obedience to their faith — weekly in one park and monthly in another. A new ordinance will require them to obtain a permit and restrict feedings to four times per year. The ordinance is a response to neighbors’ complaints, such as perceived safety issues for children in the park, and crimes alleged to have been committed by some of the homeless people in the parks. But those who serve the homeless point out that children are among those being fed (children and families are homeless, too), and that homeless people will be in the parks whether meals are served or not.
Feedings in the parks apparently began because the homeless were already there. The Swash Park Ministry of First Baptist Church serves meals to a group of homeless people that includes some who aren’t allowed at the community kitchen or shelter and don’t have anywhere else to eat. Another church’s youth group serves bag lunches monthly at Chapin Park.
Bruce Crawford, pastor of Myrtle Beach First Baptist Church, asks:
“If Jesus came back and tried to feed 5,000, would he able to do it in Myrtle Beach?  We just need to think about our actions.”
Amen.
» More from Myrtle Beach area news outlets: here, here, here, here, here
UPDATE: Map links to parks where homeless are being fed — with images from Google street view:
- Chapin Park, 16th Ave. N. & & Hwy 17
- Withers Swash Park, off 3rd Ave. S. (Withers Swash Rd.)
Note: I created the image used with this post, using a sign generator. As far as I know, there is not a sign at Myrtle Beach that says “Don’t feed the homeless.” (Yet, anyway.) The image is intended to graphically depict the absurdity of the city’s position and to provoke a reaction in the viewer.
You have got to be kidding me! Really??
no kidding. for reals. kimi is down there now. i left her a message on facebook saying that she should go pass out sandwiches in a city park and get arrested for Jesus. that ordinance is just so much craziness. telling people doing God’s work that they can’t do it. it makes me think of what david said to goliath:
I can’t help but get hot under the coller when I read stuff like this happens. On the other side, when I read stuff like this:
http://homelesstales.com/2009/06/twitters-transatlantic-homeless-love-match/ I get happy again!
Love is the greater power and love will prevail.
Oh my gosh! No way! It’s Bri! I’ve posted about her, here and here. Thank you sooo much for linking me to this. (I’m a little behind on checking RSS feeds and Twitter!) I’m about to post it. Wow! I hope they find a way to continue to be together. How amazing — the power of love and social networking.
Awwwww, thank you guys so much for mentioning me! Matt (over at http://www.homelesstales.com) and I are super happy
As for the Myrtle Beach thing… disgusting. Really? There’s even a SIGN?!?!?!?! Like they’re zoo animals or something?!
So sad, makes me sick.
~Bri
I made the sign, B. And it’s intended to provoke pretty much the reaction you had. It’s pointing out the absurdity of the city’s position, and their inhumane treatment of the homeless.
Ah, OK. LOL, I was confused there for a minute.
Lets be fair, it’s the soup kitchens who are rejecting those people! The city is being generous by allowing any feedings on public property and if they didn’t require (free) permits, control of our parks would be taken away from the taxpaying residents. It’s a bad situation but you have to be fair to everybody.
this is a shame, not to feed the homeless, I work in a homeless shelter for 7 years and i’ve witness some shameful,and scandlist things, but never !!!!!!!!!! don’t feed the homeless NEVER in my 7 years have I seen anything like this, we go to the community and hand out sandwishes to the homeless that won’t come into the shelters,,be very careful what you do to people,cause trust and believe me it will come back to you, if not your children and the congress that signed the bill for the sign to be posted, I hope no one in their family ever become homeless or hungry cause that judgement will be on your head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I’m sooo hurt
lived the life of the homless at myrtle beach,street reach saved my life,and the community kitchen fed me,the little river medical center helped me with health issues,even got a christmas present in chapin park before all this crap,swash park ministries put me on the path,to assure me that god has a great plan for my life. But please lets get the record straight,the community kit.serves both breakfast and lunch-street reach serves dinner,sat.you can get lunch at the community kit.and sunday,swash park min.serves breakfast after service. Bottom line is that i think Myrtle Beach wants everyone to think its a wonderful tourist mecca.Hey its a great place to go if your a tourist,more than enough to do,but its a terrable shame when you see the people that clean your hotel room or work in the service industry,dont make enough,or cant afford to do anything due to the low wages earned,also to consider with any tourist destination;the of the people comming in on vacation,and through no falt of there own,fell on hard times and got stranded.Camon people have we forgotten to be kind to outhers?You know,do unto outhers?