TheChowTrain

I am Catholic ( born and raised) and I take the Bible seriously. So when Jesus said: "When I was hungry, you fed me" Matthew 25:35, I take that to mean, when people are hungry I have a moral and religious duty/responsibility to feed them. He also said, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." The Bible makes it pretty clear.

1. I would suggest to the government that they look to other communities like nearby Austin and Salt Lake City and look at Housing First. 2. No, I do not think they should be served a meal in a designated area. "The poor they will be be with us always." There are many faces of homelessness and hunger. Some chronic, some temporary. It's hard for us to teach our children compassion if they are do not see who they need to help. Homelessness and working poor are in every part of town. We need to go to them. 3. No. We are not there for very long and neither are they. They are always looking and worried about where they can sleep that night --safely.4.There is a panhandling law in this city which the police use frequently. I'm doing something so they don't have to panhandle for food. I'm giving them a hot meal. That's why the SAPD have been so supportive of The Chow Train. Serve them dinner reduces/eliminates the panhandling those nights when we serve dinner. 5. Yes, Salt Lake City. $16,670 per person for ER and jail time versus $11,000 to provide each person with an apartment and a social worker. thanks for your questions.

Housing FIRST. Housing FIRST. That should be the top priority. That is the best way to alleviate the problem. Get the homeless into housing and only THEN can you work on the other problems. Austin is doing it with Community First (thank you Alan Graham and Mobile Loaves & Fishes !) and Salt Lake City. It is more cost effective to house them than to send them to ER or jail.

I had a very good teacher in my mother, Sally. So when we moved back to SAT, it was during our kids' tween years and I just heard a little bit too much …."I want I want I want" When I'd heard enough, I put on a pot of chili or spaghetti, grabbed them and any of their friends, threw them in the car with the hot food (along with plates, napkins, forks & water) and we drove around San Antonio serving people who had nothing and were NOT complaining. I think they understood my point.

When we first started, it was out of our own pockets. We depend on donations to continue to serve hot, healthy, delicious meals to not only the homeless/working poor here in SAT but also to the newly homeless in federal disasters like the Joplin tornado, Moore, OK tornado and hurricanes and the Bastrop Texas fires. A lot of the vegetables come from the very generous farmers at Olmos Basin Farmers market and we have partnerships with other vendors. I also ask a lot. If you don't ask, you don't get. And I am passionate. So I'm always asking. Thanks for the nice compliment.