The holidays are about sharing love, care, and essentials to help people. So, what happens when the government puts a regulation that makes it difficult for charities to do so? Most charities closed for the holidays to avoid getting tickets or sanctions from authorities.
This is because the Houston Charitable Feeding Ordinance requires organizations to get permission if they serve food to more than five people on public or private property.
Therefore, there weren’t a lot of food options for homeless people, especially as most stores were closed for the holidays. However, the Houston chapter of Food Not Bombs risked it all to feed some homeless people on Christmas Day.
The nonprofit organization ensured none of these people went hungry on that special day. They served vegan food such as Brussels sprouts, vegan banana bread, vegan gumbo, root roast, and salad to hungry Houstonians.
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The organization was always against the rule for a lot of reasons. According to them, limiting the power of charity groups was unfair and caused more harm to hungry people.
A volunteer said, “A hot meal is something that everybody in the world deserves and we’re all glad to be out here giving that to anybody that wants to come and get it.” This is the same ideology the charity group has that made them risk a sanction by the government.
Unsurprisingly, this is not their first bout with the Texas government. In fact, this ticket could have been their 85th violation in 2023 alone! This is because this nonprofit organization has fought against the law all year. They also go out of their way to ensure that they feed everyone who needs help when they can.
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As of today, the government hasn’t yet sanctioned the group for feeding the homeless people on Christmas Day. This is surprising because it usually takes little time before they serve them tickets or fines.
“Thankfully, there’s no police presence, so it looks like we won’t be getting a ticket,” Food Not Bombs member Brandan Walsh told KHOU on Christmas. They also made a post joking about how the city decided to let things slide this time around.
Their post on Facebook read, “For Christmas, the City decided not to write us our 85th ticket. So… saving that for Wednesday?” Without a doubt, the organization knows what to expect after giving out food, and they’re not afraid of the consequences.
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They are one of the few nonprofit groups that still stand up to the government on behalf of others. However, this comes at a cost: multiple tickets since March 2023. The group and its members do not mind and do their best to make people happy.
A homeless man named Bruce Jernigan told KHOU how happy he was to get good food that day. “Here on Christmas day, when everything is shut down, it’s hard to find food. The food energized me,” he added. “Almost makes me want to jump to the sky,” he said with an obvious smile.
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