Faith-Based Pantry Under State Attack

The Christian Diarist ^ | March 28, 2012 | JP

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

A needful young woman recently visited a food pantry in the southern Indiana city of Seymour, where she applied for emergency assistance.

A pantry volunteer helped the woman complete her paperwork, after which the volunteer asked the woman, with loving-kindness, “Is there anything you would like us to pray with you about?”

“Yes,” the young woman replied, without hesitation, according to a news story published yesterday by USA Today. So the pantry volunteer grasped the woman’s hands and prayed for her.

Community Provisions, the faith-based organization that operates the pantry, has been following the same practice for the past 15 years. And none of the thousands of men and women it has served during that span has ever complained.

But that matters not to the Indiana Department of Health.

It recently declared Community Provisions no longer eligible to receive and distribute groceries through the federal Emergency Food Assistance Program because it asks food recipients – like the aforementioned young woman – if they would like prayer along with their groceries.

A spokesperson for the state-appointed organization that inspects Indiana’s pantries told USA Today, “The guidelines are no religious (activity) or teaching can be required for providing services.”

But Community Provisions does not require the needful women and men visiting its pantry to sing hymns or listen to sermons or be prayed over as a condition of receiving food assistance.

I have no doubt that some of those served by Community Provisions don’t particularly care for prayer. They just want to get their free food and dash.

That’s fine. All they have to say is “no” when a pantry volunteer asks, “Is there anything you like us to pray with you about?”

But I think most are like the young woman mentioned in the USA Today story. When the reporter asked her asked her if she felt uncomfortable being invited to prayer, she was unequivocal:

“It didn’t offend me whatsoever. I think this a great program.”

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

Better that people starve than permit a faith-based pantry to offer prayer along with food.

[MachIV]

This is precisely why I vigerously opposed President Bush’s “Faith Based Initiative”. If churches start working with government, government will dictate what the churches can or cannot say and/or teach.

[stars & stripes forever]

Coming to a community near you. What are you going to do about it?

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

I’m increasingly inclined to agree with you.

[ravenwolf]

This is precisely why I vigerously opposed President Bush’s “Faith Based Initiative”. If churches start working with government, government will dictate what the churches can or cannot say and/or teach.

---

That is exactly right. many people in or out of politics and religion have well meaning intentions but Christians are not of this world.

[struggle]

Ignore the state, and continue your work.

[RobbyS]

Not exactly. It is that many people in government, an increasing number, are ANTI-religious, and they will abuse their power wherever and whenever they can .

[RobbyS]

Christians may be unworldly but we are definitly IN the this world, and need to resist the efforts of the unreligious to push us aside.

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

I wholeheartedly agree. I believe it imperative that Christians “speak the truth to power.”

[Ol' Sox]

Articles of this kind would always be more complete if they contained the contact information for the beloved, paid government officials who administer and oversee the operation of these programs that OUR tax dollars pay for. In this case, the contact information for the TEFAP programs in the State of Indiana are:

Contact Information for Indiana TEFAP:

Sarah Renner, MPH, MBA
Director, WIC Division
Indiana State Department of Health
2 N. Meridian Street, Section 8B-30
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Email: srenner@isdh.in.gov
Office:(317) 234-3513
Fax: (317) 233-5609

Denise Giddens
Farmers' Market Coordinator and Program Director, TEFAP/CSFP
2 N. Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: (317) 233-7871
Email: dgiddens@isdh.in.gov
:)

[Ol' Sox]

and here are the contact names and addresses for the folks in charge of the food bank from which any distributors in Jackson County, IN would be drawing from:

Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana
President/CEO: Cindy Hubert
chubert@gleaners.org
Agency Relations: Bob Evans
bevans@gleaners.org
3737 Waldemere Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46241

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

Thanks, Ol’ Sox. Didn’t know if FR allowed posts to include contact information for government bureacrats and other ne’er-do-wells.

[CHRISTIAN DIARIST]

Thanks, Ol’ Sox. Didn’t know if FR allowed posts to include contact information for government bureacrats and other ne’er-do-wells.

[ravenwolf]

Christians may be unworldly but we are definitly IN the this world, and need to resist the efforts of the unreligious to push us aside

---

Different people think of religion in different ways, in reading the Gospels i see nothing good in religion except in

james 1:27
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

I see nothing at all wrong with a preacher out on the street corner preaching the Gospel, if he really is preaching the Gospel.

But at the same time we also need to realize that we are not serving our Lord by having a better than thou attitude, because that person who we don,t even know or never even seen before might be closer to God than what we are.

In other words a preacher found at a whore house might be some one whom God has taken down a notch because he became to high and mighty and was no longer preaching Gods word but was only preaching religion.

Maybe this was a preacher who would get his group together and stand out side of a beer joint and make fun of the beer joint patrons as they were going in or coming out.

[RobbyS]

If you look at the blogs, they may complain lot about our” attitude,” but they are most angry because They don’t like the idea of a God who holds us all to account for our actions, and so they do what they can to keep Christians from telling them that. They want to be able to do things without anyone questioning their judgement. To kill, to murder, to fornicate, to lie, cheat and steal if they can get away with such things.Of course they don’t wan’t bad things to happen to them or theirs, but it ought to be up to them to decide what is good and what is bad. Everyone a mini-Jove.

[ravenwolf]

If you look at the blogs, they may complain lot about our” attitude,” but they are most angry because They don’t like the idea of a God who holds us all to account for our actions, and so they do what they can to keep Christians from telling them that. They want to be able to do things without anyone questioning their judgement. To kill, to murder, to fornicate, to lie, cheat and steal if they can get away with such things.Of course they don’t wan’t bad things to happen to them or theirs, but it ought to be up to them to decide what is good and what is bad. Everyone a mini-Jove.

---

You,re right, that is called (self righteousness ) and all of those things they want every one to except as normal such as homosexual marriage, unmarried mothers, etc, they want some one else to pay for, they do not want to pay for their own stupidly like every one used to be expected to.

[thouworm]

Mayor Bloomberg to homeless, 'No kugel for you!' (Charities cannot donate 'unapproved' food in NYC)