Hopewell City Council will intervene on dispute over downtown food giveaways
HOPEWELL – Like many of the others in line, Betty Mays had a cart loaded down with the food necessities, such as canned goods and other nonperishable items, to take home to her family.
This, however, is not the typical grocery-store line. There are no cashiers, no barcode scanners, no debit cards, no customer incentives, no buy-one-get-one. Money is not an object here; matter of fact, money is not anything here.
Mays and others had queued up in a parking lot adjacent to the Beacon Theatre in downtown Hopewell for a “Free Food Friday” event put on by Beacon Hill Church. The church has been doing this event for some time now, but Mays said she just started coming “a couple of months” ago.
“Everything I get, we eat,” Mays, who lives across the Appomattox River in the Enon area of Chesterfield County, said. “Very appreciative, and the people here are kind to you.”
All food given out has been donated to Beacon Hill Church, a nondenominational congregation that meets inside the next-door theater venue. It’s part of the church’s food ministry, a ministry that offers hot meals on Sundays and free food on Fridays to the homeless, unsheltered, unemployed, underemployed and others struggling to make ends meet.
While the setting – on state Route 10 in the heart of downtown – and the meaning of Free Food Friday – making sure no one goes hungry – may appear to be not so controversial, it has stirred up a hornet’s nest on social media. Facebookers and other posters are, well, mad as hornets over what they say is a Hopewell City Council member going “rogue” and trying to not have the giveaway as visible as it is.
Rita Joyner represents Ward 1, which covers the downtown and City Point areas of town. Recently, she began questioning the event and its high visibility. Route 10, which carries Randolph Road through downtown and past the theater and parking lot, is Hopewell’s calling card of sorts, she said, and often gives visitors and perspective businesses their first impression of the small city at the confluence of the Appomattox and James rivers.
“It’s our front yard,” she said.
Letters were sent
Late last year, Joyner asked the city attorney to send relocation and/or “cease-and-desist" letters to Beacon Hill, Destination Church and the law firm of Burnett & Williams that sponsor food giveaways downtown. The letters noted that the giveaways are being held on city-owned property, therefore it “creates an incredible liability for the city.”
Destination gave food to homeless people who often are seen camping out around the Appomattox Regional Library downtown. Burnett & Williams’ giveaway was done on a city-owned lot next to the library.
In all three letters, the city asks for the groups to consider either moving their events to private property or setting up shop in partnership with Hopewell Department of Social Services in the parking lot of its downtown headquarters.
Downtown is one of three sites on which Beacon Hill Church holds giveaways ... the others are at Arlington Park in Hopewell’s east end and Thomas Rolfe Court just off Sixth Avenue and City Point Road on the outskirts of downtown.
Michael Moore, pastor of Beacon Hill Church, said the city has not mentioned its other locations merely because they are not as visible as the Beacon Theater. He recently met with a group of city officials, including Joyner and City Manager Dr. Concetta Manker, to discuss a happy medium for the downtown giveaway.
Moore said he asked Joyner specifically why she was against the downtown giveaway. “She said, ‘It doesn’t look good for the city,’” he said. When asked by The Progress-Index what he took from what she said, Moore responded, “I can’t speak for her. You’ll have to ask her.”
In a separate interview, Joyner quickly pointed out that she is not against the concept.
“I am not opposed to free food,” she said. “I do not think that parking lot is the best space for it. But I do not oppose it in any way, shape, form or fashion.”
She added, though, that while she applauds the efforts personally, as the Ward 1 representative on council, “I have to balance the economic development needs of the city with those of the underserved population.”
Moore said the giveaways are Scripturally based on the church’s mission to help all God’s children in need. He noted that not everyone who lines up on Fridays is homeless, and it is not Beacon Hill’s place to question a person’s motive or right to stand in the line.
“We don’t ask any questions,” Moore said. “We just give food out. If people need food, we give it to them.”
As many as 200 people or more show up for the weekly event. Sometimes, it's more or less, depending upon the weather.
As for the letters, both Joyner and Moore said there are some misunderstandings surrounding them.
Late last year, a group of city officials got together to discuss how to address the homeless issue downtown, and that discussion touched on the food giveaways. It was decided to vet the issue more to come up with a common-ground solution. In the meantime, the city would not stand in the way of the groups and their missions.
A month later, Joyner said she saw the food giveaways continuing and thought that the groups had essentially ignored Hopewell’s request to move. So she asked the city attorney to send the letters without first consulting with administration.
“That was on me,” Joyner said.
That was on Dec. 18, 2023. Two of the groups responded, but nothing was ever heard from Beacon Hill.
The reason, Moore said, was not trying to be defiant. He said the letter was sent to an address other than his personal address or the official one of Beacon Hill.
“We never got the letter,” he said. “We would not have purposely ignored it.”
Once Beacon Hill was advised of the letter, Moore said they reached out to the city and requested a sit-down meeting.
Blowing up Facebook
Since news of Free Food Friday broke, local social media has blown up.
While there has been sporadic support for Joyner and the city, the vast majority has excoriated Joyner. Many claim Joyner is trying to push the issue of food insecurity and its effects on low- and no-income families and individuals into the shadows.
Joyner has little to say publicly about the social-media outpouring, only that she understands that so many people “are passionate about this.”
Moore told The Progress-Index that most, if not all, of the talk on social media has not come from him or anyone associated with the church. He said he was trying not to make a big deal out of it, adding that he specifically asked his congregation to refrain from chiming in.
However, Moore makes one point known about those who criticize what the church is doing.
“It’s been my observation that everyone who is against us handing out food where we are doesn't have to worry about where their next meal is coming from,” he said.
As she waited to load her car with what she got from Beacon Hill on a recent Friday, Mays said she was perplexed about the hoopla surrounding it.
“I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be kept here,” Mays said. “I mean, it’s not like they’re out in the streets or anything. It’s a public parking lot.”
Safety and traffic worries
For its part, the city administration has opted not to take immediate action and continues to work toward a solution.
The city said its main concern about the downtown location was not the mission but one of safety and traffic concerns. The parking lot sits at a wide four-pronged intersection of Randolph Road, and Main, Appomattox and Cawson streets. People cross the streets at various angles and sometimes are not cognizant of the changing of the traffic lights.
No one has been injured crossing to and from the parking lot yet, and both the city and Beacon Hill Church say they do not want that to ever happen.
Between now and whenever there is any resolution, Moore said Beacon Hill will be trying different ways to mitigate safety concerns, including the possibility of queuing everyone around the Beacon Theatre rather than the parking lot, which has been the subject of speculation about possibly being sold in the near future.
Tuesday night, City Council will take up discussion about the food giveaways, and social media has been encouraging residents to show up. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers on the top floor of the Municipal Building.
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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 to discuss food giveaways at next meeting
