At church this morning, a representative from a soup kitchen spoke to us.
I
thought that the lady from the soup kitchen made valuable points. She
talked about the type of people who come to the soup kitchen: refugees
from other countries, full-time workers, people who cannot work, elderly
people, veterans, etc. She said that having a place where people can
come to eat allows them to spend money on other things that they need,
such as medicine and rent, since their food is already covered. She
also said that people can hang out at the soup kitchen, which is
especially helpful to them when the weather outside is extremely hot, or
extremely cold. The lady said that soup kitchens are busy these days,
with unemployment, and also the fact that there are many who earn wages
that do not stretch particularly far. I think that soup kitchens are
important, for I cringe when I try to envision what my options would be
if I were homeless, or if I were alone and did not earn enough money to
pay my bills. Where would I go? What would I do? It would be good for
me to have a place to go. It's also important for people to have
access to food while they are attempting to get on their feet (assuming
that they can get on their feet, for there are disabled people who can't
work, and there are people who do work yet their wages are low).