In college and high school, administrators and teachers would always speak about our community service requirements for graduation. As a socially young person, the idea seemed somewhat absurd to force people to do community service. I saw absolutely no need for it. Growth and social awareness as a person now makes me wish that I had been much more whole-heartedly involved for the last 10 years of my life – a point in my life where I’ve been able to make my own decisions and effectively affect those around me. I often wonder how my actions could have made life somewhat better for those around me.
I am reminded of all of this because of recent developments in the city of Atlanta involving the homeless population. Lately, city government has been pushing to eradicate the images of homelessness in a very popular area of downtown Atlanta. A city ordinance was passed yesterday that disallows citizens to give money to the homeless and it prevents the homeless from asking for money. Instead, they have placed five parking meter like machines in locations around the city and have been encouraging the people to put money in the machines rather than deal with the homeless directly. It hurts my heart because as a Christian, I’m admonished to give to those that do not have. I’m merely a steward of the resources God has entrusted me with and it’s now “against the law” to help those in need. The city would much rather me take the $3 I could give someone, to immediately feed them, and place it in a machine which then turns the aid those people need into a bureaucratic process of applications, approvals, and plain old wasted time. How can you tell someone to go apply for help that could take weeks to get when they are hungry now? I understand that there are organizations in place to help the homeless, but if they were effective, all people that needed help could get it. This ordinance takes away my opportunity to help those that can’t always be helped by organizations.
I said all of that to say that I’m looking for an effective civc organization to join that can keep me close to the people that need help and place me in a position where I can help. If anyone can recommend anything just let me know. Otherwise, I may try to start my own.
