What happens when you do what you can to help take care of the homeless, but then get overrun by those you are seeking to help?
For more than 10 years, parishioners of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in West Palm Beach have enjoyed free coffee and donuts after their 8 a.m. service lets out, but not anymore.
sourced in part from CBS12:
The church usually serves the homeless, but now members say, they need to protect their members from them.
“Some confrontations ensued. So we decided to discontinue it in the meantime,” says Pastor Nestor Rodriguez of St. Ann Catholic Church.
Violence has forced this complimentary service to come to an end.
“It’s not fair the kids come out here for donuts and stuff. Then you have some unseemly people over there creating problems,” says church member Chris Gallo.
The church says the growing number of homeless attendees have equated to bigger problems.
“It was becoming a service for the homeless it was no longer for parish families. They would come and they would take their seat and or be asking for money.” says Pastor Rodriguez.
The church says when things turned for the worse parents became scared for their children.
“I had a restraining order for one of them two weeks ago got very very loud and violent,” says Pastor Rodriguez.
St. Ann’s says it will continue to serve the homeless in other ways, but safety for church members comes first.
“We are committed to continue to work for them but we can no longer do it in this setting without feeling a bit threatened,” says Pastor Rodriguez.
The Pastor of the church says they are in the process of reviewing their decision. In the future they hope to offer the service monthly in a more secure location.
What do you think about this?
