By Melissa Nordell
Every month The Los Angeles Dream Center feeds over 40,000 people who are lacking food and adequate nutrition. But now, the L.A. City Council is considering a proposal to end all that.
Some would like to ban public feeding. If that happens, many lives will be affected, including single mothers, young families, elderly, and homeless individuals who depend on The Dream Center, as well as other outreaches, for their meals.
“The recent motion that was filed to explore alternatives to non-commercial public feeding… violates the spirit of our Constitution,” says Pastor Mathew Barnett, Dream Center director. “Neighbor helping neighbor is what makes this country great. We house hundreds and have invested millions of dollars raised from people of this nation and around the world to help our community and not depend upon the government to provide the solution. We are self-sufficient and feeding is a major part of what we do and what many other wonderful organizations do in our beautiful city. In fact, it’s foundational,” he notes.
This comes at a time when the City of Los Angeles’ homeless population has grown by 15 percent from 2011 to 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“The last thing our city needs, in the midst of rising homeless, is to restrict the goodwill of people… We pray that the city of Los Angeles reconsiders this as they continue to push this reckless agenda further. Compassion is not something to be regulated but celebrated without harnessing the free will of citizens,” Barnett says.
The Dream Center started a petition to submit to the L.A. City Council in an effort to stop the proposed ordinance. The Dream Center also asks for continued prayer for this issue. For more information and to sign the petition go to: http://www.dreamcenter.org/dontrestrict
