Crackdown on Christian soup kitchens

Seven California Christian charities that provide food and shelter to the homeless have abandoned a federal food program rather than submit to a regulation they believe would compromise their ministries.

The issue is over a requirement by the missions that men and women who come to them for assistance attend a chapel service and say a prayer before meals.

The state Department of Social Services, which this year took over the handling of the food distribution program, sent notices in June to the 164 designated “soup kitchens” in California to drop the requirement or be cut off from receiving U.S. Department of Agriculture canned meats and vegetables, rice, oatmeal and other commodities. All but seven charities have complied. These include the Eureka, Richmond, Modesto, Merced and Oroville rescue missions — all in Northern California.

“The state says we can receive the food if we make the service an option and hold it after the meal,” said Mary Magill, associate director of the Eureka Rescue Mission. “But that’s not an option we want to make or can make. The Lord wants us to feed the people spiritually, not just physically. We hold a chapel service every evening and say a prayer before every meal. That will never change.”

The regulation against mandated worship is not new.

“It’s always been a rule of the USDA that people can’t be required to attend a religious meeting in order to get food,” explained Steve Berger, executive director of the International Union of Gospel Missions, a Kansas City-based organization with 260 member Christian ministries, including the Richmond and Eureka rescue missions. “But, historically, the federal government has not made an issue out of prayer before meal, and most missions have worked around the regulation that prohibits mandatory service.”

Ironically, the requirement to enforce a longstanding regulation against required prayer grew out of the changes in the Welfare Reform Act, promoted by Republicans in Congress.

Bill Schmidt, manager of the Emergency Food Assistance Program at the California Department of Social Services, described the changes.

“Under the old program, charities like the Richmond Rescue Mission were called ‘soup kitchens,’ and food was distributed to them through the state departments of education’s Free lunch program,” he said. “The Welfare Reform Act ended the soup kitchen program in 1996 — they’re now called ‘Congregate Feeding Agencies’ — and the program is voluntary at every level. No state, county or organization has to participate in it.”

California opted to continue and reassigned administration to the Department of Social Services.

“Before we took over it was operated like a store,” said Schmidt. “Anyone could get USDA food. But our message is that since the food is provided by taxpayers of all beliefs — that includes atheists, Jews and Christians — a Christian service isn’t appropriate. A service is OK at the end (of the meal), for those who want to take part, but it shouldn’t be required.”

But it’s not a matter of having an optional service, according to Richmond Rescue Mission Director Malcolm Lee.

“As far as the state’s concerned, it’s not enough if we change our policy and make the service and prayers optional for guests who come in off the street for a meal or just for a night. We were told we have to make the service optional even for those involved in our job training and rehabilitation programs. So we said, in effect, ‘get lost.'”

The Richmond Rescue Mission is a major provider of services to the homeless and indigent in the San Francisco Bay Area — with plans to provide over 30,000 Thanksgiving meals today. The decision to quit the free food program wasn’t an easy one to make.

“The program has meant a tremendous savings for us,” said Lee. “By being able to buy the food — we only paid for the shipping and handling — we could provide food to the hungry here in the Bay Area at a very low expense. But we’ll make up the difference some how.”

Indeed they are. Learning of the shelter’s plight, employees of Chevron Corp. in Richmond have pledged to collect 50,000 pounds of food, double their annual gift. That additional 25,000 pounds in itself is well above the 17,300 pounds of food per year the mission received through the USDA. And over 200 people have responded with $11,400 — double what the mission collects from a traditional solicitation letter.

Similarly, the Eureka Rescue Mission has received solid community support. The Carpenters Union is donating turkey for the Thanksgiving dinner — “Something we’ve never gotten from the food program,” said Mary Magill. “And we put out a request for canned vegetable and fruit — and boy, did we get a response.”