And what, Dickey? Let them freeze until they learn how to do the weaving?

You miss Dani's point entirely.

It is both a shame and completely predictable that you perceive serving the poor by distributing meals as nothing but something to make the server feel good, and as being of no benefit to the people who get those meals.

I am currently on sabbatical from coordinating a multi-church ministry in my little town where we distribute approximately 350 evening meals to both the homeless and the hungry. This is a small town, a village, really. We know who we are serving. And some of them are or have been my clients, so I have intimate knowledge of their lives. Sure, there are a few deadbeats who are just looking for a handout. The majority of those we serve, however, fit in one of the following circumstances"

1. They are disabled, and the Social Security check doesn't stretch to the end of the month.
2. They are employed full time in jobs like the Street Dept., CNA's, custodians. After they pay the rent, the utilities, the care insurance so they can get to work, and the doctor bill from the last time their child had an ear infection, they can't buy enough food to get through to next payday. (Get them more education, you say? We still need garbage men, custodians, and people to help your aged mother to the bathroom in the nursing home. It is all good, honest work. It's a shame you can't live on the pay, no matter how careful.)
3. People on unemployment or whose unemployment has run out who worked at the Burlington Mill for 10 years until it closed down, and then worked at the Flint Mill until it closed down, and then worked at the Haynes Mill until it closed down, and then went and got training and worked assembling high tech parts for Nortel or Lucent Technologies until they moved their operations overseas.

One-on-one service matters, Dickey, whether you want to admit that or not.

Janie