Joe has pointed out one of the real problems with things like Faith-based Inititives.

Years ago in Canada's richest province (and I DO mean rich. No provincial debt and about 8 BILLION sitting in the bank (we hope, because the Heritage Trust Fund is a kinda difficult thing to keep track of here)) the government of the day decided we had to get out of debt, so cuts were made to the big three: Education, Health, Social Programs. Within a year, we had developed not only more 'welfare' recipients, but also had begun the establishment of another group called 'the working poor'. Many churches and community groups stepped up to the plate and thus we began 'food banks' in Alberta. Today, when we have more friggin' money than Carter had liver pills, we STILL have food banks, working poor and about 1 in 5 children living below the poverty line. Government very cleverly (and very clearly) dumped its responsibilities onto the general public who were already supporting the damned government through the one of the highest taxations in Canada.

Damn, it's wonderful to be rich.

The problem Joe has parenthetically drawn attention to is still with us today. Government doesn't HAVE to deal with the problem--so, it won't.