In some places in Nevada it
is legal to gamble or sleep with a prostitute,
but it is illegal to give a homeless person
something to eat. Las Vegas made it a crime to
feed a homeless person in the city park. This
law isn't random insanity; proponents of the law
say that there are unintended consequences to
feeding the poor, such as the parks being
overrun with indigents. They simply want their
parks back.
This sounds a lot like Marie
Antoinette saying that the peasants with no
bread should "eat cake." Let the homeless eat in
their homes, not in our parks!
—http://talkleft.com/new_archives/015373.html
Illustration by Jim L. Wilson
Matthew 5:42 (HCSB) [42] Give
to the one who asks you, and don't turn away
from the one who wants to borrow from you.
THE POOR
The Arizona Cardinals did
not win Super Bowl XLIII, but some people still
think they are champions. The dramatic twist in
the final minutes of the game gave the
Pittsburgh Steelers the world championship, and
made the pre-printed Arizona Cardinals champion
gear unsellable in the United States. After the
game, the unused Arizona gear was shipped to a
distribution center; then, through a partnership
between the NFL and relief organization World
Vision, distributed to poor children and
families in El Salvador.
For over 17 years, World
Vision and the NFL have teamed up to make sure
no apparel is wasted. Nearly one million dollars
worth of Super Bowl gear will be given away to
people living in extreme poverty around the
world this year. Families in the Central
American nation gratefully received t-shirts and
hats produced by Reebok, and trophy towels
manufactured by McArthur, even though they
incorrectly proclaim the Cardinals football’s
world champions. For many of the children, the
NFL t-shirts are the first piece of new clothing
they have ever owned. Senior Director of
corporate relations for World Vision, Jeff
Fields said the need in El Salvador is huge. He
added, “We work in those very deprived areas and
it’s amazing to see how much need there is. They
are living in very poor conditions - no
electricity, no running water - and to get a new
article of clothing for them is a huge
difference in their lives.”
--Arizona Cardinals Super
Bowl Apparel to be Donated;
http://www.christianpost.com/Society/ngo/2009/02/arizona-cardinals-super-bowl-apparel-to-be-donated-02/index.html;
February
2, 2009; Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim
Sandell.
Proverbs 14:31 GNB “If you
oppress poor people, you insult the God who made
them; but kindness shown to the poor is an act
of worship.”
POVERTY
In License to Pawn: Deals,
Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver,
Rick Harrison says, “That’s why I laugh at some
people in this country who say they’re poor. I
deal with people who consider themselves poor
but have these elaborate collections of niche
stuff. This is the only country in the world
where you can be poor and have a vast collection
of something.”
--License to Pawn: Deals,
Steals, and My Life at the Gold & Silver
(Kindle Locations 3293-3295). Illustration by
Jim L. Wilson
Deuteronomy 24:17 (CEV)
Moses said to Israel: Make sure that orphans and
foreigners are treated fairly. And if you lend
money to a widow and want to keep something of
hers to guarantee that she will pay you back,
don't take any of her clothes.
POVERTY
A Swedish newspaper aimed at helping people
live on the streets has come up with a unique
way to raise funds. The paper has launched a
website featuring what they call the “Faktum
Hotel”, named after the paper. The hotel does
away with beds, bathrooms, and the roof,
allowing patrons to spend the night like
homeless people do. The paper
selected ten places around the city where area
homeless people often spend the night. The
“accommodations” options on the site show places
like a park, a highway overpass, and a path
beside a canal. Each location gets the kind of
write-up found on other hotel websites, and even
highlights features such as proximity to
attractions, and the history of the old builds
nearby.
When a guest books a room, they are making a
contribution to the paper in order to help the
local homeless population. The site states that
it cannot guarantee guests their preferred
location in case someone really did want to
“rough it” for the evening. The editor of the
paper said, “This is a reminder of poverty and a
way to get involved in an easy manner. There’s a
lot of confusion and wrong ideas about who gets
to be homeless.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.
'Hotel' offers nights as a homeless person,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9885278/Hotel-offers-nights-as-a-homeless-person.html
,
February 21, 2013.
Proverbs 14:31 (ESV) Whoever oppresses a poor
man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to
the needy honors him.
POVERTY
In his 2014 annual letter, Bill Gates makes an
amazing claim: there will be almost no poor
nations by 2035. The renowned co-founder of
Microsoft, the largest personal computer
software company in the world, is one of the
world’s wealthiest philanthropists. The Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation, “guided by the belief
that every life has equal value,” exists to help
“all people lead healthy, productive lives.”
—Jim L. Wilson and Elijah Tafoa
Proverbs 29:7 (NIV) The righteous care about
justice for the poor, but the wicked have no
such concern.
POVERTY
A new ordinance in Fort Lauderdale, Florida has
many people asking question the best way to care
for the hungry. The city commission passed an
ordinance that banned public sharing of food and
requires any group feeding people in a public
place to provide portable toilets as well. The
commission maintains the purpose of the
ordinance to ensure feeding people is carried
out in an appropriate, clean and healthy manner.
In the meantime, police have begun arresting
those who violate the new law. They arrested a
90 year-old man for feeding the homeless on a
public beach and three others for feeding the
homeless in outdoor spaces. A seventeen-year-old
who was arrested said, “I was laughing. I
thought, you know, this is a sick joke. They
can’t stop us from feeding people.”—Jim L.
Wilson and Jim Sandell.
Crackdown on Feeding Homeless Gets More People
Arrested, By Geetika Rudra,
http://abcnews.go.com/US/crackdown-feeding-homeless-people-arrested/story?id=26793092
,
Accessed November 9, 2104.
Luke 14:13-14 (NKJV) “But when you give a
feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame,
the blind. (14) And you will be blessed, because
they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid
at the resurrection of the just."
POVERTY
Studies have shown that children who grow up in
poverty do poorer in school than those who do
not. Now, a new study suggests part of the
reason stems from changes in how the brains of
these children grow and work. The study, which
combined the expertise of neuroscientists and
economists, found that the parts of the brain tied
to academic performance were 8 to 10 percent
smaller for children who grow up in very poor
households. Barbara Wolfe, one of the
study’s coauthors said the reason may be that
these children often receive less nurturing from
parents and live in environments characterized by
increased stress from crowded housing,
instability, poor nutrition, limited stimulation
and more exposure to violence. The study suggested
that the gap in test scores for these children
could be linked to slower development in the
frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Both of
these areas develop through adolescence.
While studies of how poverty affects brain
development are new, Wolfe says they suggest the
need to invest in children. She said, if society
doesn’t “they are worse off, and we are all worse
off.”—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell
Severe poverty affects children's brain
development, study finds,
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/08/30/severe-poverty-affects-childrens-brain-development-study-finds.html
,
Accessed August 30, 2015.
Proverbs 30:8-9 (HCSB) Keep falsehood and
deceitful words far from me. Give me neither
poverty nor wealth; feed me with the food I
need. (9) Otherwise, I might have too much and
deny You, saying, “Who is the LORD?” or I might
have nothing and steal, profaning the name of my
God.
Poverty
A study by researchers at the
University of Sydney suggest that people who
sleep more than nine hours a night could face a
greater risk of premature death. The researchers
analyzed the health behaviors of more than
230,000 people. They found that people who spend
their days sleeping and sitting are four times
more likely to die young than other people. They
say one of the reasons is that most people who
sleep too much and live a sedentary lifestyle is
because they tend to drink and smoke more, which
also has a detrimental effect on health. The
final conclusion was that most people need
between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night and
need to keep active during the daytime.—Jim L.
Wilson and Jim Sandell.
Proverbs 6:10–11 (HCSB)“A little sleep, a little slumber, a
little folding of the arms to rest, 11
and your poverty will come like a robber, your
need, like a bandit.”
POVERTY
A Utah high
school teacher plans to be married soon.
Instead of the usual gifts of stemware, crock
pots, and blenders, Rickee Stewart asked guest
to give shoes and backpacks for students at
her school. While working at a food pantry set
up by the school, Stewart discovered the depth
of the need, and decided to register for
shoes, backpacks, and winter coats for
students who needed them. Stewart said
donations have poured in from her guests and
from total strangers who heard about the
opportunity. Stewart has even included food
bank donations into her teaching plan. She
said, “My hope
is that we get to not only have this amazing
wedding and start our lives together, but
that we are able to put some warmth on all
of those kids.”—Jim L. Wilson & Jim
Sandell
James 1:27 (CSB) “Pure and
undefiled religion before God the Father is
this: to look after orphans and widows in their
distress and to keep oneself unstained from the
world.”
POOR
New Mexico
State University is allowing some
drivers on their campus to pay their parking
tickets with a unique donation.
The Las Cruces, New Mexico School announced
that motorists who receive a “No
current permit” parking citation could pay
their fine by donating at least 80
ounces of peanut butter during the last week
of October, 2017.The
peanut butter will be donated to a food
pantry sponsored by the school called the
Aggie Cupboard. The school stipulated
that the offer was limited to the first 100
offenders, and they said that
anyone who chose to appeal their citation
lost the right to pay with peanut
butter.—Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell
New Mexico College: pay
some tickets with peanut butter,
