Letters from our readers-May

LETTERS: Faith based ministries hurt the homeless

As this essay is being written, I am the only announced candidate for the Office of the President of the United States of America who has actually been homeless. I have been homeless in San Antonio, Dallas, Atlanta,

Newark, Hackensack, Washington DC, San Francisco, Hollywood, and Santa Anna. I have stayed in homeless shelters in most of these cities. I know from my own personal experience that faith based ministries are not the solution to the homeless problem. They are, in fact, part of the problem.

None of the faith based homeless shelters that I have stayed at met my needs as a homeless person. The faith based homeless shelters did meet some of my needs as a homeless person, but they left so much undone that their good deeds did more for their public image than they did to get me off of the streets.

Some of the faith based ministries were very bad. In Newark, New Jersey, I stayed at the Goodwill homeless shelter that had no stall around the single toilet. And the single toilet did not even have a seat, just a rim to sit on. They made everyone stay awake until after 10 pm listening to a preacher yelling through a loud speaker system. The homeless shelter employees would walk around the room waking people up who were not listening to the service. After the service, everyone was given a mat for the floor and allowed to sleep until 4 am. Homeless people who became deciples got much better treatment. It is my opinion that this was straightforward brainwashing by a cult.

This is how faith based ministries hurt the homeless. People who may have been motivated to help the homeless do not do so because Goodwill is on the job. But Goodwill is not on the job of helping the homeless. Goodwill is on the job of helping people continue to believe that Goodwill is on the job.

The only homeless shelter that I stayed at that actually met my needs as a homeless person was the Community for Creative Non- Violence (CCNV) in Washington DC. The CCNV is also the only homeless shelter that I stayed at that was not a faith based ministry. I believe that the CCNV is the model that can be used to solve the homeless problem in the United States of America.

As President of the United States of America, it will be my job to promote the general welfare of the American people. I believe that the general welfare can be promoted by assisting homeless shelters that actually meet the needs of the homeless. Faith based ministries do not meet the needs of the homeless and should not be funded by the federal government. However, the federal government can assist the homeless shelters that are based on the CCNV model.

Charles Henry Schoonover

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