Asked for money on streets, what should Christians do? Modesto clergy on helping poor
.JPG "A man walks along a line of cars on an off ramp of southbound highway 99 at Hatch Road holding a sign stating “hungry” on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019.")
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40-45).
That admonition from the Bible reportedly was among Mother Theresa’s favorites — not surprising given that the Catholic nun and now saint dedicated her life to helping the poorest of the poor.
It also raises a question for Christians in current times of increased homelessness — how do you honor those words from the Bible when increasingly confronted by people sleeping on the streets or seeking handouts on sidewalks, in parking lots and the center dividers at busy intersections?
Modesto area faith leaders contacted over the last several months acknowledge many people have concerns as to whether money given will actually help the recipient or perpetuate an addiction or other problem.
“We say that no one is required to give money directly to someone on the street,” said The Rev. Patrick Walker, pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Turlock. “It is a choice that we make. Certainly they are encouraged to do something other than money, to give some food or provide a voucher for some food.” Or, he added, to direct them to a place that does provide help.
His comments were echoed during interviews with local pastors at other churches. The common agreement was that giving to charitable organizations is among the best options.
But, they said, it’s always a personal choice if one is moved to give money to someone on the streets.
It can be “an emotional issue,” said Rev. Joshua Trautmann of Modesto’s Geneva Presbyterian Church.
“When the topic comes up there are a lot of opinions and a lot of feelings that go with this,” he said. “This is more than just dealing with what the scriptures say or what’s the way that a Christian should be responding to these requests.”
Trautmann said many people have seen drug and alcohol abuse in their own lives. “They look at what’s going on on the streets and it’s not just somebody asking for help, financial help, which they then fear will be used for things that they wouldn’t approve of. But it’s also dredging up their own fears and frustrations and anguish.”
Clergy members said their churches work regularly with several organizations in Stanislaus County who work to help the region’s poor. Some churches also keep gift cards, gas cards and some food items on hand in case someone in need stops by seeking help.
Community members in the greater Modesto area are confronted almost daily — often multiple times — with people seeking help. That’s despite city codes addressing panhandling in Modesto. One outlaws “aggressive” panhandling — using intimidation or harassment tactics, Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll said in an email. The other code regulates panhandling by place and, in one instance, by time.
Turlock also has codes regarding panhandling, as do some other cities in Stanislaus County, particularly addressing aggressive panhandling.
Carroll suggests people politely decline to give on the streets. But if they feel compelled to give in some way, he said it’s best to give to local food banks and other groups such as United Way, Salvation Army, Modesto Gospel Mission, their local church or one of the other numerous organizations that provide for those in need.
Among those agencies that provide assistance across Stanislaus County is United Samaritans, based in Turlock. Recently retired executive director Bev Hatcher said she carries slips of paper with her, listing where people can find help from the organization. She discouraged people from giving cash.
“Personally, if I get hit up, somebody says I need money for food, I always carry a list of where (United Samaritans) stops are, so they can get food,” she said.
That list includes mobile food vehicles that serve lunches five days a week, 52 weeks a year in 11 communities in Stanislaus County (Turlock, Keyes, Ceres, Hughson, Empire, Patterson, Grayson, Waterford, Hickman, Denair and a small part of Modesto,).
New executive director at United Samaritans, Linda Murphy-Lopes encourages those who want to help direct people to one of the many United Samaritans food trucks that she said serves between 1,500-1,700 meals to the homeless and to the working poor from noon to 3:45 p.m. daily. More information about the organization can be found on its website, www.unitedsamaritans.org.
Murphy said the group relies on donors to help pay for its food and to keep the aging trucks on the road.
Tres Adams, Sr. Pastor at Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Modesto, agreed that it’s best to donate to “a local organization that has the wherewithal, the people on staff who are trained to know and to deal with and to help in many ways. That seems to be a better way of handling it.”
Trautmann said he was asked by a congregation member about a Bible passage found in Luke 6:30 that if anybody asks of you, there should be a willingness to give.
“Just because our child asks us for a pony, doesn’t mean we give them a pony,” he said. “It’s a fair question but at the same time we have to draw some lines that are good for us.”
So Geneva Presbyterian members respond in varying ways. Some members carry water or food in their cars and pass that out, Trautmann said. One person passes out blankets, while others carry gift cards for food. They also have a lot of members “who politely say no,” then they give to local agencies, he said.
Politely — as also mentioned by Chief Carroll — brings up another point made by pastors. They remind that everyone should be treated with humanity, no matter their situation.
“What I always say to people in our congregation is that no matter what you do, be compassionate, treat each person with dignity and respect,” said Rev. Michael Schiefelbein of Modesto’s College Avenue United Church of Christ. “If someone is asking me for money, whatever my response is, I owe them the respect of looking at them and giving them an answer and being kind.”
A lack of respect has been experienced by a man in a wheelchair holding a cardboard sign outside an east Modesto grocery center last week. “Sometimes people come by and tell me to ‘get a job’,” he said, declining to give his name. “Some throw things at me. I don’t deserve that.”
The man’s sign includes a request for food, and he said he would prefer if people gave him food, although he admitted most who stop do give him cash. He said he’s not on drugs or alcohol, just unable to find work, having lost part of a leg in a hunting accident.
As for advice to give food or gift cards for food rather than money, he agreed with clergy members, saying that in the past 10 months seeking help on streets here and in Arizona he’s met only one other person who isn’t an addict or alcoholic.
Two homeless men in their 50s who were packing up their possessions laid out on a sidewalk in downtown Modesto on a recent evening said there is nothing wrong with giving to charity and directly to homeless people.
They declined to give their names, and one said people should use caution when giving to panhandlers.
“If someone has a sign or panhandling, they have an agenda,” he said. “Most likely not a good thing.” He suggested it is better to give to someone who is not expecting anything. “The best blessing you can give a homeless person is out of the blue.”
Both said homeless people don’t need food because that is readily available. One suggested money is best because he can buy cigarettes and soda and the second suggested offers of work.
“Offer a job,” said the second man. “A lot of time you feel worthless when you are homeless.”
At Shelter Cove in Modesto, Ed Kelley, executive pastor, said there are two sides to the issue:
“One is, God calls us just to be servants of other people and to do what we think is right. Well, when someone needs socks or a meal or whatever the case may be, you just normally would err on the side of ‘OK, well I’m going to step out here, not 100 percent sure I’m doing what is right, but I’m hoping God blesses what (I) do’,” he said.
“On other side of that coin there’s another group of folks who think if you continue to give to them in whatever quantity, then it enables them to stay in a situation that’s highly dangerous and, as far as I can see, is not very healthy.”
“It’s up to the individual, really,“ he said of giving money.
But what about church members who make the choice to not give in any way?
“If I’m talking to a person of faith and asking why they’re not giving to a panhandler, fine we can have that story, we can have that conversation,” Adams said. But to not even give to a charitable organization, he would respond “where’s your faith? Do you recognize that God first loved you, you’ve been given gifts to have your home, to have your life, to do what you want to do, all those gifts that you have all come from God and it’s a joy to respond to that by helping others, it’s a joy to give back. He calls us to do that.”
Schiefelbein said he would talk to a person about not giving at all. “Yes, I would be concerned, yeah, because as followers of Jesus we’re supposed to love our neighbor and loving our neighbor, Jesus defined that as anybody who’s in front of you.”
Trautmann said he would pray for those who don’t give at all. Yet he also understands that “there’s a reality of compassion fatigue ... I wonder in those situations, is that a person who is just uncompassionate or is it somebody who is just to a point where they’re beyond knowing how to handle the situation.”
“I don’t think there’s any perfect solution,” Schiefelbein said.
“I know that people in our congregation all struggle with it, because they want to be able to help, they don’t want to give money to someone who’s going to be using it for drugs or alcohol or whatever,” he said.
“We do not judge anyone in terms of their need,” Walker said. “They’re a child of God and we respond to that need the best that we are able to do that, regardless whether we think they are worthy or not.”
Some said that people can be concerned not just about what cash given on the streets might actually be used for, but also at times worry for their own safety in some situations.
“We know that you can do more good by giving to Catholic Charities, St. Vincent de Paul and Catholic Relief Services,” Walker said. “By giving to those three organizations you’re doing more good than giving someone a dollar on the street once in a while.”
So, Walker continued, by giving to such organizations, “we believe that that is satisfying the biblical injunction, ‘when I saw you naked, I clothed you, when I saw you hungry I fed you’.”
Bee staff writer Kevin Valine contributed to this report.
