City of Birmingham cracks down on organizations donating food to the homeless

Birmingham city officials order local ministries to stop serving the homeless, citing the new food truck ordinance.

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25: 37-40

When asking the question “what is the purpose of government,” you will receive a variety of answers, depending on the political ideology of the person you ask.

Anything from “nothing” to “defending the country” to “building roads” to “providing for a certain minimum standard of living.”

Apparently the City of Birmingham has different standards.

Birmingham city council passed an anti-small business food truck ordinance last year which favors brick-and-mortar restaurants and punishes the growing market of mobile vendors such as Birmingham’s Melt and Spoonfed Grill.

They are now trying to extend these onerous regulations to the good men and women who bring truck loads of sandwiches and other food to downtown Birmingham’s homeless population.

Don Williams of Bridge Builders Ministries was told by Birmingham Police last week that the ordinance applied to him, and he would no longer be able to distribute food to the homeless in Birmingham unless he applies for street vendor and health permits. These permits can cost hundreds of dollars, not to mention the miles of red tape to obtain.

The new restrictions do not currently apply to other missions who serve from their premises, such as Church of the Reconciler, or Firehouse mission.

While some missions are able to provide meals 7 days a week, many are not able to feed the homeless on weekends, which is where Mr. Williams sought to step in.

Bridge Builders works with 17 churches in the community to serve three meals a week to the city’s homeless population. The organization has been providing the service for the past 15 years, and last Thursday was the first time they’d been ordered to stop by the city. ACMA spoke with Mr. Williams Monday morning to get his side of the story.

“It was like a meth bust, there were so many [police] there. They ordered us to vacate and checked all the homeless for warrants [for arrest].”

Mr. Williams is now seeking a way to continue the ministry through legitimate channels.

“They told us that in order to continue we’d need to get a permit from the city, but the City of Birmingham doesn’t even know how to issue a permit to give food away.”

Until they are able to get a permit from the city, Bridge Builders will be serving the homeless out of the Church of the Reconciler’s fellowship hall.

Mr. Williams wasn’t the only one who earned pushback from the city last week. According to an ABC 33/40 reportRick Wood of the Lord’s House of Prayer was also stopped last week for handing out sandwiches under the 20/59 overpass. The new food truck ordinance was also cited as the reason for the police department’s shutdown of the ministry.

Birmingham’s homeless population is above average for a city its size. There are over 3,000 homeless men and women on the streets of Birmingham, according to Pastor Matt Lacey at Church of the Reconciler. The vast majority are African-Americans, and many of them are veterans. Is this how the Birmingham city council and police department would thank them for their service?

“Organizations that serve the homeless are in a constant dance with the city. Most of the time we are able to work together to best serve the community, and we [Church of the Reconciler] will continue to do that” Pastor Lacey told Alabama Citizens for Media Accountability Monday morning.

Birmingham officials have yet to return any requests for comment.

We’ve seen this happen before, often in far away cities. When it happened in the San Francisco area we just shook our heads and said “Well, that’s California for you.” Then this year when similar measures were taken inColumbia, SC we raised our voices and shook our fists, decrying the cruelty of their local government, but were ultimately powerless to do anything.

But now it’s here, in our back yard.

No matter your politics, we can all agree that taking the food out of the mouths of the hungry is not the role of government in any circumstance. Birmingham city officials ought to be ashamed, and we should be the ones holding them accountable for it.

However you choose to make your voice heard, make sure you take action. The homeless in Birmingham and across the state need our help, and this story of government overreach deserves all the media attention it can get.

Elizabeth BeShears is the Executive Director of Alabama Citizens for Media Accountability, a non-profit watchdog group dedicated to exposing bias in the Alabama and national media. For more of her articles, visit MediaAccountability.org.