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By Richard Hamilton, April 6, 2010 10:32 am

Get more info about New Name Pictures (creators of this video) at socialjusticechristian.com.

Comments (4)

By Richard Hamilton, March 31, 2010 2:14 pm

Rather than keeping you guessing about my lawbreaking exploits, I’ll confess my crime. I feed homeless people. [everyone gasp here] “I can’t believe you Richard…I am so disappointed! Wait. What??” [everyone scratch your head now] You read correctly; my crime is taking food to homeless people.

San Antonio has is home to about 25,000 people each year. At anytime, you can go downtown and encounter a few thousand people living on the streets. Over the past year and a half, I have been privileged to meet and serve some of these people. This past fall, the church I work with launched a college ministry with the expressed purpose of connecting college students with those in need locally (namely the poor, hungry and homeless).

San Antonio has been blessed with a new project providing homeless individuals and families with the training, skills and assistance needed to help them become self-sufficient. This project is Haven for Hope. And it is amazing! I believe it will make a difference in many lives. Haven for Hope is structured in a way that allows (even encourages) community organizations, like churches, to partner with them to help hurting people in San Antonio.

The reality is, that Haven for Hope is not for everyone. There are some (admittedly often by their own choosing) who will not benefit for Haven for Hope. This is compounded by the fact that Haven for Hope’s downtown campus has experiences some delays and is not even fully opened.

Here is where the illegality begins.

The opening of Haven for Hope has given some city officials the opportunity needed to “clean up the streets”. Efforts have already been made to relocate people from areas highly populated by homeless San Antonians (namely and area called “Under the Bridge”). Not sure where exactly they expect them to go. Haven for Hope will only hold about 1,500 when fully opened, which it is not yet. To make matters worse, it seems the city is now restricting the benevolence of individuals and organizations by requiring a permit to give away food, making it effectively illegal to feed homeless in San Antonio. Check out a local news story about the new restrictions.

I understand the complications and liabilities associated with the large homeless population San Antonio has. And, I’m sure that some of these decisions are made by well intentioned people. These new restrictions do however complicate the lives of many benevolent people. Speaking idealistically for a moment, shouldn’t government make it easier for people to help people.

So how should I proceed? What should I do with my new found “criminal” status? For now, I will continue with business as usual. Our college ministry will proceed with its scheduled Serve SA event coming up soon where we will pack lunches for a few hundred of our homeless neighbors. I will look into getting permits to make it all legit and legal and hope the city doesn’t start fining in the mean time.

Comments (2)

By Richard Hamilton, September 25, 2009 11:48 am

-Attended 2 workshops by Mark Moore from Springfield, VA on social justice at Abilene Christian University’s Summit. Malnutrition kills at 3 times the rate of the Rwandan Massacre. You can check out his latest project at mananutrition.org; they are making nutrition packed peanut butter to distribute.
-”In our souls we long for a resolution to the conflict we experience.” Donald Miller at Summit
-Got to hang out with an old friend, David Klein. Things are always more interesting when DK is around.
-I discovered how bad it can be to have an outdated GPS.
-Ordered Donald Miller’s new book, “A Million Miles In A Thousand Years” from Amazon for $11.69.
-Finally finished reading “ReJesus” by Alan Hirsch & Michael Frost. Review coming soon.
-Started reading a little Kierkegaard (”Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing”). Currently wrestling with one of his thoughts.

Therefore, do not raise objection against the confession that there is no point in confiding to the all-knowing One that which he already knows. Reply first to the question whether it is not conferring a benefit when a man gets to know something about himself which he did not know before. A hasty explanation could assert that to pray is a useless act, because a man’s pray does not alter the unalterable. But, would this be desirable in the long run? Could not fickle man easily come to regret that he had got God changed? The true explanation is therefore at the same time the one most desired. The prayer does not change God, but changes the one who offers it…. Not God, but you, the maker of the confession, get to know something by your act of confession.

-I love that Barnes & Noble now has free wifi!