"Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you...?"

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Michelle
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"Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you...?"

Post by Michelle » Sat May 07, 2011 8:50 am

Last Saturday, at the Orange County gathering of Narrow Pathites, a question was raised about extending the admonitions to take care of widows and orphans to include single mothers. That discussion took an interesting direction when a question about the accountability of the ones on the receiving end was raised. How much do we scrutinize the finances of one who is in need? It was a good question and a great discussion.

Coincidentally, I have started a stewardship project (I'd explain it, but I fear it's only interesting to me) and my goal is to share money that I save with people in need. There is a food bank in my city, which is run by a church I used to attend, and was, in fact, started by a good friend of my sister and brother-in-law.

The GAP

Is this a good way to give my money to the poor? Is it better or worse than approaching those asking for donations on the street? Will you help me think about this?

steve7150
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Re: "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you...?"

Post by steve7150 » Sat May 07, 2011 3:37 pm

Last Saturday, at the Orange County gathering of Narrow Pathites, a question was raised about extending the admonitions to take care of widows and orphans to include single mothers. That discussion took an interesting direction when a question about the accountability of the ones on the receiving end was raised. How much do we scrutinize the finances of one who is in need? It was a good question and a great discussion.




I think giving to single mothers is of the same spirit as giving to widows and orphans. There certainly s/b some verifying the need of any recipient who is in need to try as best we can to confirm they are in need , within reason. I guess a lot of this can be verified by visually observing their living conditions and perhaps talking with neighbors or associated folks. I think giving food and medical care and other services would be safer then handing over cash which may be used for other things.
Also i think giving to a trusted organization experienced with distributing food makes a lot more sense then giving cash out to strangers.
I saw John Stossel dress up as a begger claiming to be homeless and holding a sign but not even directly asking for money, he was making over $100 per day in cash.

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Michelle
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Re: "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you...?"

Post by Michelle » Sat May 07, 2011 4:29 pm

Thanks, Steve, for your response. I agree with what you've said. This food bank can stretch the dollar, as well, because they get stuff in bulk from distributers. It just seems sort of distant and hands-off. I dunno...

Jacob
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Re: "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you...?"

Post by Jacob » Sun May 15, 2011 12:58 am

It looks good to me. I personally believe anything is better than giving money to people on the streets. I might be jaded though. I worked with homeless people in LA for a few years and one of the rules of the organization I worked with was not to give any money. The high risk involved that it will go to drugs or more likely alcohol just makes for a bad scenario. Thats not something I want to finance. I only think that way for here though. In mexico I don't think twice about giving money.

I was just recently thinking about the problem of where to give and I am interested in helping in Haiti. I was thinking if I knew someone who was going over there, I could give them money to hand out to people at church, since everyone is poor there. Maybe even get a group of people's money together and send someone to give it out.

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Michelle
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Re: "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you...?"

Post by Michelle » Sun May 15, 2011 8:31 am

Thank you for your response, Jacob. I agree with you about the fact that it is more prudent to give to an organization than to hand out money to individuals. I think that this food bank is a good way for me to give because it donates food instead of money.

God bless you with your desire to help the people of Haiti. If you don't personally know someone who is traveling there to minister, how do you decide who is trustworthy to handle this for you?

Jacob
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Re: "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you...?"

Post by Jacob » Fri May 20, 2011 5:00 pm

I was hoping that Steve could give me some tips because he mentions in his audio lectures quite a few times about a father in law who helps in Haiti. When it comes to giving, I don't really know how to trust a ministry to give to where I would like it to go. For instance, in the ministry your talking about, obviously some of the money is going to be used for administration. would it be the same amount you would consider acceptable for administration? Also, How many people handle and are trusted with your money? The more people who handle the money the more chance for risk, I would assume. Organizations like The Sheepfold were started by wonderful people of God, but now that their founder is gone, is it the same? I don't know, because I haven't spent any time with them. I think like in your case, you have to have a personal experience with an organization in order to know that you can give to them.

I think it is probably best to give money directly where you want it to go, but since that seems rarely possible, The instances that I've thought about that make an individual more likely to be trustworthy to me are 1. Someone like Steve who has chosen to remain poor. I think it would be much rarer to find someone like Steve who is skimming money. 2. Someone who is giving to the cause they are supporting. If I found 5 other people who wanted to give to people directly in Haiti and one of them was able to take the time off to go actually do it, I would trust that person because they have already shown where their heart is by giving to that cause. 3. Like in your case, personal aquaintences that you already know are trustworthy.

I'm interested what other people's thoughts are on this.

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