Writing a check - just as good?

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billpenn

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Looking for opinions: is writing a check to a charity, e.g., a rescue mission/soup kitchen, of the same merit as buying food and distributing it to homeless people on the street?

When Christ asks me if I fed the hungry - can I resolutely answer ‘yes’ if I financially supported a soup kitchen?
 
there is no guarantee that my money would buy food so I just give the food instead…so much easier too:D
 
This is my opinion only and is not intended as an insult to anyone else. While charity with our money is necessary and important, I don’t feel that it’s the same as getting down in the trenches and rubbing elbows with the needy. Christ said to feed the hungry, not pay someone else to do it. My work with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and donating time instead of money to the downtown soup kitchen has provided me more blessings than writing a check ever could, although I’ve been rewarded for that, too. Again just my opinion based on my experiences.
 
Bob,

I feel this way too - whenever I write out a check, this thought crosses my mind…
geezerbob said:
This is my opinion only and is not intended as an insult to anyone else. While charity with our money is necessary and important, I don’t feel that it’s the same as getting down in the trenches and rubbing elbows with the needy. Christ said to feed the hungry, not pay someone else to do it. My work with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and donating time instead of money to the downtown soup kitchen has provided me more blessings than writing a check ever could, although I’ve been rewarded for that, too. Again just my opinion based on my experiences.
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The good Samaritan didn’t go on to the next town and pay the guy with the donkey cart to go back and fetch the man he found in the ditch. He took care of him himself. The personal contact makes a big difference and gives us the chance to demonstrate our faith by our actions.
 
geezerbob said:
The good Samaritan didn’t go on to the next town and pay the guy with the donkey cart to go back and fetch the man he found in the ditch. He took care of him himself. The personal contact makes a big difference and gives us the chance to demonstrate our faith by our actions.
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Yes, and I did my time at the soup kitchen before I had kids.
Now I write a check. One day I’ll be back in the trenches with my children by my side.

It all depends what one can do at a certain time.
 
netmil(name removed by moderator) said:
Yes, and I did my time at the soup kitchen before I had kids.
Now I write a check. One day I’ll be back in the trenches with my children by my side.

It all depends what one can do at a certain time.
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I agree. I think both are important (where would charities be without financial doners?) Also, charity begins at home. I know of some who love to help everyone BUT their own family.
 
Netmil(name removed by moderator)…
My son (eldest) and I do this…we but food each week for the soupkitchen but then we also work there usually once or twice a month (cooking, cleaning,serving)…
It was a real eye opener for him the first time he worked…and I highly reccommend that everyone does it at least once…but usually if you do it once you want to go back and help more:thumbsup:
 
Donating money is better then donating food. Food pantries are insitutions that need good management to operate, and money gives more flexibility than food. If you spend $10 at the grocery store you buy less food than the food bank would buy by purchasing in bulk.
Donating money can be as a sacrifice as doing other things if you do not limit yourself to the surplus that you have.
I agree with the other posters that giving time is as critical as giving money, and it can be a real humbling experience.
 
Yes, your check is counted as a blessing and is appreciated very much. Each of us gives according to our ability. The volunteers who devote their time and effort would not have any soup to serve without your donation and without them doing their great work you would have nothing to donate to. We all do our share as we can as good Christians; we make a great team, the doers and the givers. God Bless them!
 
geezerbob said:
Christ said to feed the hungry, not pay someone else to do it. My work with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and donating time instead of money
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well, how about donation at the church every mass. Jesus was fine with that too when he saw the widow put in all she had. Jesus did not say that she needed to help the church in doing whatever the church did with the money.

It is good for you to work with St. Vincent de Paul Society, but keep in mind that there are people out there donating money to the society.

While I do not deny that it is great to help them directly, we are called to do different things.
 
billpenn said:
Looking for opinions: is writing a check to a charity, e.g., a rescue mission/soup kitchen, of the same merit as buying food and distributing it to homeless people on the street?

When Christ asks me if I fed the hungry - can I resolutely answer ‘yes’ if I financially supported a soup kitchen?
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A thought that occurs to me as I notice your “baby meter” (hope that is not an offensive way to put it.)

Soon there will be a hungry person in your house who is utterly dependent on you and/or your spouse to feed him/her. To be company when he/she is lonely, to meet all his/her basic needs. Taking personal care of your childs basic needs is at least as “valid” as doing so for a stranger.

Also, I believe there is a difference between “alms-giving” (which is the giving of money to those who ask for it and is part of a healthy Christian life) and meeting the immediate, real human needs of a person face to face. The second action is more important than the first.

Jim
 
I say it is just as good.

There are several other ways to support the needy and show signs of charity.

A great part of today’s society is the number of opportunities to support one another.
 
ricko said:
Yes, your check is counted as a blessing and is appreciated very much. Each of us gives according to our ability. The volunteers who devote their time and effort would not have any soup to serve without your donation and without them doing their great work you would have nothing to donate to. We all do our share as we can as good Christians; we make a great team, the doers and the givers. God Bless them!
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I agree. Not everybody has time to give, especially at the hours during which the soup kitchens are open (I haven’t heard of too many soup kitchens open at 2:00 AM, for example – the ones around here want volunteers during daytime hours, pretty impossible for many people with jobs). If money is what a person has to give, then what is wrong with giving it, and why would that be inferior?
 
billpenn said:
Looking for opinions: is writing a check to a charity, e.g., a rescue mission/soup kitchen, of the same merit as buying food and distributing it to homeless people on the street?

When Christ asks me if I fed the hungry - can I resolutely answer ‘yes’ if I financially supported a soup kitchen?
Click to expand...
Yes it is a charitable act and is certainly an essential component in feeding the hungry. Not everyone is required to be on the front lines of the battle, those working in the background with the supplies and planning are just as important. This is especially relevant given that some people dont have the time or means to be on the front lines handing out food directly. If you can be on the front lines you should and more power to you.

In the end its about intention, from the heart, charity, showing your love for Jesus in any charitable means.
1"Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matt 6
 
the merit in any act of charity lies in whether or not it is done for love of Christ, as described in Matthews gospel, when you did it for one of the least of these, you did it for Me. The purpose of traditional penitential acts, fasting, alms giving and prayer, is first of all conversion of heart so that we become ever more closely united with Christ, leading to the virtues of humility and obedience. The extent to which any charitable works is a source of grace lies in the extent to which we identify the recipient(s) of the act with Christ.

If working in a soup kitchen leads us to be able to see Christ in those whom we serve (especially the most un-Christlike) that is a source of grace. If it leads us to condemn them for their condition, that is an evil.

There are 7 spiritual and 7 corporal works of mercy, not all of us are called, as St. Paul reminds us, to do all of them all the time. Most of us are called to one or two of them most of the time, and the rest on occassion.
 
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