Thanksgiving for the homeless?

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AngieSophia

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I think this is the most appropriate forum to place this thread. This year I will be spending Thanksgiving alone due to school. I have decided that I want to do something for the homeless people, more specifically make bags for them with Thanksgiving meal things in small portions (Cornish hen instead of turkey). However, I have one concern. While I was in high school (Catholic) when we made bags for the homeless we would put Bible verses with the bag. Is that appropriate? I don’t want to “force” my religion upon them. Any advice/suggestions?
 
Are you really forcing anybody by simply adding biblical versus? They are free to not read anything that they may find offensive.
 
I think that would be appropriate, particularly if you focus on verses that speak of hope. If they don’t want to read them, they don’t have to. I’m not sure how a homeless person might cook a cornish hen though. You may want to focus on non-perishable items that don’t have to be cooked in order to be eat, or are already cooked.
 
What a great idea! You might take the meat off the bones if the food is already cooked. Bones can be dangerous and you might be held responsible for any damage that they do. You might also consider using a translation like The Living Bible for the sake of clarity, and keep it short, sweet and powerful.
 
AngieSophia said:
I think this is the most appropriate forum to place this thread. This year I will be spending Thanksgiving alone due to school. I have decided that I want to do something for the homeless people, more specifically make bags for them with Thanksgiving meal things in small portions (Cornish hen instead of turkey). However, I have one concern. While I was in high school (Catholic) when we made bags for the homeless we would put Bible verses with the bag. Is that appropriate? I don’t want to “force” my religion upon them. Any advice/suggestions?
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While your idea is noble you should check with your local laws. You may be required to have a license to do such activity and many states forbid people in private homes from cooking food for public consumption. You might have better luck by providing food or money to a homeless shelter or volunteering at one. The reason for the regulation is because of food poisoning and bacteria making people sick.

good Luck.
 
tjones80 said:
While your idea is noble you should check with your local laws. You may be required to have a license to do such activity and many states forbid people in private homes from cooking food for public consumption. You might have better luck by providing food or money to a homeless shelter or volunteering at one. The reason for the regulation is because of food poisoning and bacteria making people sick.

good Luck.
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That’s true. Some of the members of my former parish in Kansas City were given a citation because they were handing out cookies to the homeless. They were giving out paper bags with toiletries and someone made homemade cookies and put a few in a little baggie in each of the bags. Apparently you can only give the homeless store bought cookies.
 
The odds of anyone you are serving being offended by a bible verse is probably about 0. I wouldn’t worry about that at all.

I would warn against going out alone to do this. I don’t mean to imply that homeless folks are dangerous (most aren’t) but there are many that are mentally ill and stuggle with addiction. I’d be worried about sexual harrasment issues. When handing out food we make sure the women aren’t alone and always have a man with them (I know it sounds sexist but it’s really just smart).

Have you checked the local shelters/church meals? With students on vacation, many places find themselves short on volunteers during the holiday.
 
Preparing a Thanksgiving meal is a generous thought but not very practical unless you have the equipment and extra hands. You will have a hard time keeping food at the right temperature to be safe (even if there aren’t any laws) or even palatable.

I agree with others to look for established programs where you live. But get a move on. 🙂 I imagine there are some places have never have enough volunteers but a couple places I know have so many that they end up turning volunteers away, especially last minute ones.
 
Bruised_Reed said:
I agree with others to look for established programs where you live. But get a move on. 🙂 I imagine there are some places have never have enough volunteers but a couple places I know have so many that they end up turning volunteers away, especially last minute ones.
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Yeah, I put in early for one of the bigger Thanksgiving ones here. They only need about 30 volunteers and the coordinator said it fills up very quickly.
 
AngieSophia said:
I think this is the most appropriate forum to place this thread. This year I will be spending Thanksgiving alone due to school. I have decided that I want to do something for the homeless people, more specifically make bags for them with Thanksgiving meal things in small portions (Cornish hen instead of turkey). However, I have one concern. While I was in high school (Catholic) when we made bags for the homeless we would put Bible verses with the bag. Is that appropriate? I don’t want to “force” my religion upon them. Any advice/suggestions?
Click to expand...
 
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