Members from a Christian ministry in North Carolina were threatened with arrest this past weekend for giving out food to the needy, which police says goes against certain restrictions in Raleigh, NC.
In a blog post titled “Feeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC,” the Rev. Hugh Hollowell, the pastor and director of Love Wins Ministries, explained that on Saturday, their partnering church brought 100 sausage biscuits and coffee that were supposed to be distributed to over 70 people in need that had lined up near a city park, but they were stopped by police.
“On that morning three officers from Raleigh Police Department prevented us from doing our work, for the first time ever. An officer said, quite bluntly, that if we attempted to distribute food, we would be arrested,” the pastor wrote.
Jim Sughrue, a spokesman with the Police Department, shared with WTVD-TV that no arrests were made, explaining: “People were simply informed the ordinance prohibits the kinds of actions some groups have been engaged in at the park.”
Hollowell wrote, however, that the ministry knew it could not use the park to distribute food, as that would require a permit, but for the past 6 years it had set up on the sidewalk without a problem, making sure it did not block people’s way, and cleaned up after itself.