True Charity
- What’s Justice Got to Do With It? How Justice Works With Charity to Uplift the Poor
- After The Storm: How to Shape Our Mercy Ministries for Long-term Success
- Second Chances: Helping Returning Citizens Reintegrate
- Is Healing From Childhood Adversity Possible? A Review of the Book Created to Heal.
- Is Your Mission Statement B.I.G. Enough?
- How to Locally Support Refugees
- How Do I Truly Help Panhandlers?
- Civil Society Crowded Out in Missouri
- Exchange Models Done Right: Eight Ways to Empower Without Exploiting
- Questions to Ask Before Starting a Supportive Housing Ministry
Researchers Gave $5,700 to Homeless People. Misunderstanding Ensued.
“Researchers gave thousands of dollars to homeless people. The results defied stereotypes.” “Cash transfers help homeless to find stable housing and jobs.” “Trailblazing study gave homeless $7,500 [CAD] – and it worked.” These recent headlines and articles about a new Canadian study are a cringeworthy — and destructive — distortion of reality.
Subsidizing Isolation: Unintended Consequences of the FCC’s ‘Lifeline’ Program
Volunteering provides ample opportunities to meaningfully connect with people, a truth I was reminded of while serving with Watered Gardens’ overnight shelter as I listened to a man share about his romantic relationship. Though he confidently shared about the relationship’s quality, I noticed some red flags, so I attempted “truth in love” — I asked him how he knew their relationship was as healthy as he said. Immediately, his eyes glazed over and, wordlessly, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and began scrolling absentmindedly.
Where Did All the Poor People Go?
“We normally see 30 to 40 clients a day,” said the manager of a Joplin, Missouri food pantry. “Since the pandemic, we’ve seen a sharp decrease in number of clients, sometimes as few as four a day.” This is not what I expected to hear when I visited this food pantry to learn about their programs. But their experience is not an anomaly.
Why Should Government Mandate What We Can Do Ourselves?
James Whitford Executive Director Versions of this article were also published by The Federalist and The Joplin Globe. Face masks are “all we’ve got right now to fight […]
How the CARES Act Could Be “Helping” That Hurts
By Savannah Aleckson, published in the Joplin Globe on May 3rd, 2020 It’s been a historic year already, and we’re not even halfway through 2020. From the onset of the COVID-19 […]
James Whitford: Could government welfare be undermining compassion?
I love our fight for civil society. It’s not just Joplin. Communities throughout the Midwest fight to retain hospitality and restore neighborliness while volunteers care for their community members struggling […]