Answered prayers: Hopewell council lets downtown church keep food giveaway in place

HOPEWELL – Backers of Beacon Hill Church’s “Free Food Friday” giveaways had their prayers answered Tuesday night – Hopewell City Council is going to let them stay right where they are.

“I’m very grateful,” Beacon Hill lead pastor Michael Moore said moments after the 7-0 vote. “It was a unanimous vote. We came in here not unanimous, and we’re leaving unanimous.”

The vote came with a caveat that Beacon Hill would have to apply for a special-event permit as required by the city. However, that caveat was sweetened by City Manager Dr. Concetta Manker’s proposal to create a new permit category for nonprofit events and then waive the fees for those permits.

The weekly food drive in the parking lot next to the Beacon Theatre was at the nucleus of a social-media firestorm after BHC and two other organizations were sent letters by the city attorney asking them to relocate their donation zones away from the immediate downtown area. Beacon Hill Church – which meets on Sundays inside the theatre – got most of the attention because the lot where Free Food Friday is held is right on Hopewell’s main downtown corridor, Route 10/Randolph Road.

Ward 1 Councilor Rita Joyner, who represents the downtown area, was the catalyst for those letters. She said while she was not personally opposed to the event, she was concerned about the very public location of it and the effect it could have on drawing economic development to the city.

Much of the social-media vitriol focused on Joyner, claiming she was operating outside of her colleagues on City Council and was more worried about the event’s optics rather than its mission.

Joyner, who admitted after the meeting she was not feeling well, stayed silent during the almost 90-minute round of public testimony. She ultimately joined in supporting the location, declining to comment on the outcome other than to say she was “glad it all worked out.”

‘I’m not grocery shopping’

The unanimous vote followed almost 90 minutes of pleas from residents, all of whom pushed council to keep the event at its current location. The testimonies ran the gamut from highly personal to highly critical.

Several of them pointed out a misconception that only homeless people were benefiting from the giveaway. It is also for families struggling to make ends meet.

“When I show up at the corner, I’m not grocery shopping,” resident Star Beverly said. “I’m getting stuff to help me ... to sustain me until my next payday.”

One speaker, who happened to be homeless, said the folks who staff the event do more than just provide tangible necessities. They also remind participants that they are loved.

“They are people saying, ‘You are a human being. You are important,’” Arthur Crigger said. “’You have rights to live, and we expect something from you.’”

He wrapped his remarks by challenging “everyone in this room” to get a brief taste of what it is like to be homeless.

“When you walk out this room tonight, keep your hands out of your pockets, assume that your keys were stolen, your car is gone, your house is blown up. You are now homeless,” Crigger said. “Are you prepared to handle the next 6-8 hours in the cold? Are you prepared to handle that? Are you prepared to go without food? Are you prepared to try to find a bathroom?”

Church member Chris David said the Free Food Friday event has helped instill hope in people who otherwise had lost it. In addition to the food, the church also gives away clothing and has helped some folks kick long-standing drug addictions.

“By the grace of God, it could be me, so I’m thankful for this church,” David said. “We’re a flawed people, but we’re trying to help others who are down and out because that’s what our Savior’s asked us to do.”

One young girl appeared on the verge of tears when she mentioned how she interviewed Moore about the food giveaway for a school project. “We can see that they are trying to help, and that’s a great thing,” she told council.

City resident Ed Houser, moderator of the Facebook group Hopewell Concerned Citizens, was among the more critical of the speakers. He said one councilor “went through the back door” and got the city attorney to write the letters, and even referred to the scene as “a disgraceful optic.

“If some of you would have taken a little time and done some research, you’d see exactly what these organizations provide to this community as a whole, you would see how valuable they are to Hopewell,” Houser said. He added that in his opinion, the “disgraceful optic” is “this many people in this community need help to make ends meet, and one of our leadership is trying to impede that.”

Two motions, one outcome

In asking council for guidance on the issue, Manker said it was something that city administration had been working on ever since she took the city manager’s job. They formed an advisory committee to work on plans to assist not just Hopewell’s homeless but also its no- and low-income residents and families.

She and others met with Moore after the letters went out and was receptive to keeping things as they were until council got a chance to weigh in.

One of the main concerns about the Beacon Hill event surrounded safety, and both motor and foot traffic. The lot sits amid a multi-street intersection controlled by three sets of traffic lights, including vehicle-heavy Route 10.

Manker noted Beacon Hill Church was willing to work with the city to address participant flow around the area, and so far, there have been no major incidents. However, the possibility of something happening lingers over the issue.

The weighing-in on the matter from council came quickly.

Ward 5 Councilor Janice Denton made a motion to keep the event in its current location, and Ward 7 Councilor Dominic Holloway seconded it. Almost immediately, Ward 6 Councilor Brenda Pelham offered a substitute motion to move the event to a gravel parking lot next to the Appomattox Regional Library, citing that location as safer.

“It’s an accident to me waiting to happen,” Pelham said. Her motion was seconded by Mayor Johnny Partin Jr.

Moore told council that while that lot was indeed an option, the dust generated by moving around created a health-safety concern for the food. Another option of using the parking lot of the downtown Social Services Department building had been taken up by another organization that does feeding, but Moore said that was done on Saturdays when the department was closed.

He said participants felt very safe in the existing location “because it is right across the street from the police station.” He also said that should the city mandate public or private security, “we will pay for that out of our own pockets.”

Vice Mayor Jasmine Gore claimed to be “impartial” on the matter, but she favored keeping the event where it was and putting the matter of fine-tuning the process in the hands of Manker, city officials and Beacon Hill Church. Council should only become involved in the event of any impasses.

She also noted Manker’s proposal to waive the permit fees for nonprofit permits. That seemed to make council feel better.

Pelham’s substitute motion failed on a 4-3 vote, but Denton’s original motion passed 7-0. That vote elicited loud applause and shouts of praise and “Amen” from the almost packed-house gallery.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI. 

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Hopewell council allows downtown church food giveaway to stay in place