NC Police Threaten to Arrest Church Volunteers for Feeding the Homeless - Kubosh Fighting this Insanity in Houston

Throughout the history of Christianity, churches have been involved in helping people who are down on their luck or in a bad situation. Often this help is provided in the form of food and shelter. Apparently local governments are somehow threatened by this philanthropy because it means people are not dependent on the government. Despite the fact that philanthropy and charity are much more efficient and cost effective methods of delivery of services to the needy, local governments are taking action to stop this. To the point now where police in Raleigh, NC have threatened to arrest church volunteers for conducting their ministry to feed the homeless.

Last week, Raleigh police threatened to arrest members of the Love Wins Ministry who gathered on a public sidewalk to pass out 100 sausage biscuits and coffee to homeless people in a park. Pastor Hugh Hollowell told Time Magazine,"We believe the words of Jesus, who in Matthew 25:31-46 said that the way we treat the most vulnerable is the way we treat him. So, when the City of Raleigh is unwilling to feed its most vulnerable citizens, and then prevents us from feeding them as well, it is hard to interpret that as goodwill on their part. And if the City is unwilling to feed those people, the least they can do is not prevent us from doing so."

In Houston, Michael Kubosh, a business owner and candidate for Houston City Council, At Large Position 3, has been leading the fight against Houstons anti feeding ordinance. "I have spent many hours at City Hall meeting with city leaders," Kubosh said, "testifying on a broad range of issues from our fight against the feeding ordinance that denies churches and charitable organization from the free sharing of food to those less fortunate."

Despite the fact that Houston Mayor Anise Parker and City Council, offered no evidence that any homeless person had ever been harmed or made ill from food received from charitable organizations, the City of Houston passed its own anti-feeding ordinance in April of 2012. There was bipartisan opposition to the ordinance from members like conservative member Helena Brown and then Council Member Mike Sullivan who were joined by liberal members like C.O. Bradford and Al Hoang.

Building bipartisan support is critical for conservatives to be able to be effective in either passing or blocking issues before council. Michael Kubosh, through his efforts on the red light camera issue and the anti-feeding ordinance, has proven he can cross party and cultural lines to build alliances of support to get action done. This is critical in a city with a "strong mayor" form of government. It takes a real team builder to be able to mount support for or opposition to a position counter to that of the mayor.

In the coming weeks, TexasGOPVote will sit down with Kubosh to discuss his perspective on Houstons looming financial crisis, his vision for the role of city government, and other issues before the voters in the coming city election this November.