[levthedev]

I think you're being too harsh. Sure, there are a number of poorly run soup kitchens. There are also some excellent ones! And even the poorly run soup kitchens ostensibly do good - they certainly use the money that funds them more efficiently than most other enterprises, and they of course provide food to the hungry.

Maybe your choice is to be hungry rather than go back to a soup kitchen. That's fine, you're entitled to that opinion. But I don't feel that your experience should deprive others of the choice - I know some people who rely on soup kitchens so as not to starve, and they certainly would prefer to have soup kitchens than not.

[DoreenMichele]

You are reading in things I did not say and rebutting ideas I did not promote. My statement contains zero suggestion that existing (charitable) programs should be shut down. It only rebuts the suggestion that we need some government run "free food" program of the sort described in the article.

There are also some excellent ones!

I am aware that quality varies. I did a write up of one that didn't completely suck as a potential model for how things should be done. But I wonder how many soup kitchens you have personally eaten at and how many you thought were excellent and would prefer it to most paid eateries (I mean solely on the basis of the high quality of the experience, not on the basis of it being free).