A snub for the homeless

The University City Hospitality Coalition started in 1984 in response to the death of a homeless man by the name of Stanley Biddle, who froze to death after falling asleep outside on Penn's campus. Now it is a federally recognized non-profit that serves five hot meals a week on and near the University's campus. Some of their funding comes from private and church donations, and they get some supplies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's surplus food program.

Lee Ann Draud is not paid for the 25 hours a week that she spends, on average, serving the poor of University City. Rather, in addition to her work with UCHC, she maintains a full-time job at a medical publisher downtown. Her reason for taking this second job is simple: "There are all kinds of things that make changes in people's lives, but food is pretty basic."

It might be fair to think that with apparent political support for faith-based programs, the government would be quick to shower a program like UCHC with federal dollars. However, the reality is that poor-serving faith-based groups see more strain, not more money, under Bush's current budget proposal.

"We used to get a lot more food from the USDA," Draud said. "If Bush gets his budget cuts, the surplus food program will be cut even more." But it's not just cutting this specific food program that adds strain to faith-based organizations that serve the poor. As a result of cuts in medical aid and drug rehab programs, among others, there are likely to be more homeless on the street and more working poor who turn to institutions like UCHC to make ends meet. Said Draud, "People living on the margin won't have a margin anymore."

Draud isn't the only one saying it.

Speaking at Penn last Friday, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell identified other poor-serving programs on Bush's chopping block. Offering one example, Rendell said, "We shouldn't be reducing benefits under the WIC program. The WIC program -- Women and Infant Children nutrition program -- absolutely works."

While it may be hard to believe that a politician who came to office trumpeting "compassionate conservatism" would do so, by cutting WIC benefits, George W. Bush is very literally taking food away from poor mothers and children.

Like Draud, Rendell recognized the effect -- and the intrinsic immorality -- of Bush's new budget, as he said, "It's unconscionable to balance the federal budget on the backs of poor people." But that is what Bush is doing.

"If you look at where the cuts are coming, the people it affects are the poor people of America," said Rendell. "The poor people of America don't have lobbyists, don't have PR people, don't have people to represent them," he noted grimly. As a result, programs that benefit those at the bottom are at the top of Bush's list of cuts.

So who do America's poor have? They have Draud, for one, along with the many others who donate their time and share their income with UCHC and other similar programs. But it's not enough. As a community we bear responsibility for each other, especially our poorest members. True, this responsibility is realized through both private and government spending, but the politicians are not holding up their end.

In his first inaugural, George W. Bush spoke of "failures of love" as a basic cause behind such social ills as poverty and child abandonment. If Lee Ann Draud's commitment teaches us anything, it is that if there's love lacking, it's lacking first in Washington, not on the streets of Philadelphia.

Kevin Collins is a junior Political Science major from Milwaukee. ...And Justice For All appears on Tuesdays.

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