Alabama Town Says Pastor Can’t Feed Homeless Without $500 Permit
It’s ridiculous to ask a church to act like a for-profit food vendor when that church is doing what churches should do.
Pastor Rick Wood of The Lord’s House of Prayer in Oneonta, Alabama has made a habit out of taking hotdogs and bottled water in his truck to feed the homeless. Awesome, right? A pastor of a church actually doing something that reflects the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Well, as it turns out, the town of Oneonta has apparently passed a new city ordinance that requires “food trucks” to obtain a permit (which costs as much as $500) if they want to sell food. And apparently a pastor of a church giving food to homeless people out of his truck somehow qualifies him as a “food truck trying to sell food.”…
“That makes me so mad,” Wood said in an interview with ABC 33/40 News. “These people are hungry. They’re starving. They need help from people. They can’t afford to buy something from a food truck.”
Pastor Wood claims it’s an effort by the city to drive the homeless away.
