Florida Couple Fined For Feeding Homeless ~ THE 5TH ESTATE ASIA

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Florida Couple Fined For Feeding Homeless

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Daytona Beach authorities angry homeless will not die on command, aid and abet genocide of poor and dispossessed, criminalise charity at behest of corporations

LATIN TIMES
By Susmita Baral
05/13/2014

The age-old idiom that "no good deed goes unpunished" has never been more true: In Florida, a couple has beenfined for trying to feed the hungry.

Chico and Debbie Jiménez, who run Christian outreach group Spreading the Word Without Saying a Word Ministry in Daytona Beach, have been feeding the hungryfor a year. Every Wednesday, the couple will serve meals at Manatee Island Park with volunteers and funding from private donations.

Last week, on May 7, local authorites served the couple and their volunteers with citations, as Daytona Beach prevents people from serving food in public.

According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the park has a sign stating that "social services activities including, but not limited to, food banks and feeding programs are prohibited."

"The ordinance is there, so if we catch you, we're going to cite you," said Police Chief Mike Chitwood to theDaytona Beach News-Journal. "If you want to feed people, and you want to do a good, Christian act, we encourage you to coordinate with the social service agencies."

Chico and Debbie Jiménez

The individual citation came out to $373 a person and a total lump sum of $2,238 for the group. Additionally, the organization is banned from the park with a trespassing warning.

"We both have made a lot of good friends in the park and are devastated that we are banned the Manatee Park forever. I am heartbroken," she said.

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