Think before you give to the homeless this holiday season, Phoenix pastor asks

Rebekah L. Sanders | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption Phoenix pastor: Don't feed the homeless Maricopa County is encouraging churches and do-gooders to change the way they help people experiencing homelessness.

Jerome Parker used to bring teenagers to downtown Phoenix to give out blankets and sandwiches to people experiencing homelessness.

He wanted to teach the youngsters to give back to their community.

But Parker, a community pastor at First Christian Church, doesn't do that anymore.

He noticed the trash left behind. He learned street donations can hinder charities from helping people permanently escape homelessness.

And so, before the holidays and the giving season begin, he's begging fellow pastors — and their congregations — to stop.

"We don't sugar coat the fact that churches are the main culprit of street giving and street feeding. And it's because of that nature of wanting to give and wanting to better someone's life," Parker, 41, said.

But he wants parishioners to ask themselves: "Are we doing something to make ourselves feel good? Or are we helping these people get closer to not being on the street anymore?"

Giveaways on the street can lead people experiencing homelessness to not seek food or shelter at agencies that can find them long-term housing, shelter officials said. And mounds of trash left behind can stoke neighborhood hostility.

Parker wants faith leaders to encourage a "healthier" form of giving.

"We're not telling people to stop giving or stop being nice or having a heart to serve," he said. "But we're saying there's a better, more effective, more impactful, more lasting way to give."

Parker recommends volunteering, donating food to food banks or giving money to homeless organizations throughout the year.

He helped form a coalition of religious leaders, homeless charities and government officials to spread the word called the Healthy Giving Council.

"If we can get pastors on board, then they have influence with hundreds or thousands of people every Sunday," Parker said. "It would be huge. It would ultimately cause the numbers of homeless people we see in Maricopa County to dwindle if people started giving in a healthy way. The agencies that actually serve those experiencing homelessness would be in a position to expand their services."

Target giving to be most effective

Churches and do-gooders have passed out meals, gifts, clothing, blankets and hygiene kits to people on the street for years, but city and county officials are trying harder to discourage it.

Last year, Phoenix police shut down an event right before Christmas. Volunteers were handing out burritos, water, blankets, clothing and hygiene items on the street outside the Human Services Campus.

Giveaways have caused so much trash from discarded donations that the city of Phoenix had to clean up outside the campus with a front-loader truck one year, officials said.

After another event, hundreds of meals went uneaten at St. Vincent de Paul's soup kitchen.

Street donations also may perpetuate homelessness,charity officials said.

People in need may not be motivated to visit the agencies that provide services like job assistance and long-term housing along with free meals and clothing, if they can get the food and clothing elsewhere.

Donors at Thanksgiving and Christmas have good intentions, St. Vincent de Paul's Chief Program Officer Jessica Berg said.

But homeless agencies are desperate for help at other times of the year, she said.

"If you're motivated to start now during the holidays, please let that be a start," Berg said. "We need you so much during the summer, when the temperatures are so high, and it's harder to find volunteers."

If people don't want to serve in a shelter, volunteers can still enjoy the experience of helping on the street by joining St. Vincent de Paul's outreach missions, she said.

In the summer, for instance, charity volunteers drive around handing out water to people experiencing homelessness.

A controversial request

The number of unsheltered people in Maricopa County has more than doubled since 2014.

Of nearly 9,000 people experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County in 2018, two in three were living on the street instead of a shelter, according to the Maricopa Association of Governments.

As the number of people asking for money on the corner or sleeping at a park increases, the idea of banning or discouraging street donations remains controversial.

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty found at least 32 cities have restricted handing out food to homeless people in public, but total bans have been overturned in court.

In 2009, Phoenix used zoning laws to stop a church from serving breakfast to people outside its building, according to the law center. The church sued and later agreed to move its meals indoors in a settlement with the city.

The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty called local attempts to block street food donations "immoral" and potentially against federal and international law.

"Food sharing programs that reach out to people in public spaces may be the only way for some people experiencing homelessness to have access to healthy and safe food," the law center wrote in its 2007 and 2010 reports. "People do not remain homeless because of outdoor food sharing programs."

Some Phoenix residents also have criticized government efforts to reduce street giving.

Donors fill the gaps left by overburdened agencies, and volunteers make sure to pick up trash after events, organizers said.

"I belong to a Christian group that does 'street feeding' (a slur, in my view), and I have been nicely asked by City of Phoenix reps to cease and desist," Glendale resident Susan Long wrote in a 2016 letter to the editor in The Arizona Republic. "If the government and private charities ... know what they are doing, why is the problem bad and getting worse? ... I should have a right to show the homeless I care. It takes a village!"

Coordinate with local agencies

Parker said he believes volunteers can do more good for the community by coordinating with agencies.

A minority of people he talks to push back, he said. Most say they weren't aware they could be causing harm.

"There's all kinds of things you don't think about when you're making a sack lunch. .... The chaos it can cause, the trash it can cause, the problems for the residents," he said. "Most people have that 'Aha' moment, and they say, 'Wow, I thought I was doing a good thing, but I'm really not.' So that forces them to change their behavior."

Gaining participation will take time, Parker said. But he calls the push "a marathon, not a sprint."

"I would be elated if churches in the Valley started grabbing a hold to this message and started saying, 'We're going to do the heavy lifting. We're going to help people out of their homeless, instead of just giving them a meal,' " Parker said. "It has far-reaching and exponentially positive effects when people start giving in a healthy way."

How to help the homeless:

Volunteer events happening now: https://www.givesmartaz.org/helpnow/.

More places to volunteer: https://www.givesmartaz.org/volunteer/.

Donate food, clothing, hygiene kits and other items: https://www.givesmartaz.org/donate/.

Organize a food drive: https://www.stvincentdepaul.net/give/organize-drive.

Donate money to a homeless organization: https://www.givesmartaz.org/donate/ Taxpayers can claim a $400 tax credit per person by donating to a qualifying charitable organization: https://azdor.gov/tax-credits/contributions-qcos-and-qfcos

Educate your congregation or community group: https://www.givesmartaz.org/toolkit/.

Join the Healthy Giving Council: https://www.givesmartaz.org/about.