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Praying won?t get you a free meal if you?re the 131st person in line

A Gainesville ordinance which caps the number of free meals at homeless shelters was criticized again by residents at a City Commission meeting.

The city threatened on April 2, 2009, to shut down St. Francis House, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen in downtown Gainesville, if it did not begin complying with the ordinance, which limits the number of daily meals to 130. This made social workers and local church members question the reasoning behind the strict enforcement of the ordinance.

The meal limits have been debated since early 2009 when the city began enforcing the 1993 city code amendment, which limits the number of daily meals a shelter could provide, restricts certain areas from providing meals or shelter and caps the number of people who could stay the night at a shelter.

Read the Independent Florida Alligator report here.

Full post as published by the 13th juror on June 09, 2010 (boomark / email).