A church dedicated to feeding the homeless downtown has resorted to handing out individually wrapped Pop Tarts rather than homemade doughnuts in order to comply with county health codes.
The County Health Department warned the group behind the free morning meals earlier this week that their doughnuts must be made in a commercial-grade kitchen rather than in someone’s home.
Deputy County Administrator Jan Lesher said the inspection by county health officials was prompted after receiving a number of complaints about the free breakfast offered by The Loving Church.
She said the church, which offers coffee and doughnuts six days a week, are not meeting basic county health codes when it comes to feeding members of the public.
The regulations, she said, are designed to keep the public safe by requiring food be prepared in a clean environment that is regularly inspected.
Pastor Amos Joung said he will continue to feed the homeless even as his churches faces possible fines if they again begin to serve homemade food.
One of the core missions of the nondenominational church is to feed the homeless.
Brian Flagg of the Casa Maria Soup Kitchen called the actions of the county “mean-spirited.”
“It is taking the food out of hungry people’s mouth,” he said. “I think it is harassment. The government can use its time to do better things than harass this guy.”
