Small Feeding Ministry Takes Phoenix to Federal Court

A new city ordinance exempts birthday parties but targets charitable food distribution.

A small ministry that feeds two dozen homeless people in a park once a week is fighting a City of Phoenix ordinance that would severely limit its food distribution.

Photo via Change.org petition on behalf of St. Herman’s Table

St. Herman’s Table, founded by Orthodox minister Lance Brace, goes to Cave Creek Park in Phoenix every Thursday to provide food, water, hygiene products, and Bibles. The group also prays with attendees and shares information about the Orthodox church with the roughly 12 to 25 people who gather.

The ministry —staffed by a handful of volunteers — has never been cited by the city and has never been the subject of a complaint, according to court documents. Nevertheless, the city passed a “Medical Treatment and Food Distribution in Parks” ordinance in May that would severely limit the St. Herman’s Table’s ongoing work.

With the help of the Christian Legal Society (CLS), St. Herman’s filed a federal lawsuit and won a temporary restraining order June 10, preventing enforcement of the ordinance for 14 days and allowing volunteers to continue their feeding ministry.

While CLS and St. Herman’s are grateful for the brief reprieve, they remain concerned about the ordinance’s long-term implications.

The City of Phoenix acknowledged in the ordinance that ministries like St. Herman’s Table “align with the city’s overall aspirations,” but claimed their activities also create “large crowds, increased noise, obstruction of public spaces, litter, and the accumulation of trash, debris, and food waste.”

Because the matter is part of litigation, the city declined to answer specific questions about which parks were experiencing the problems cited in the ordinance or how long those problems had been occurring.

In a court filing, Martin Whitfield, the city’s interim parks director, said, “Recently, departments across the City, including my Department, have received complaints, photographs and other information from residents demonstrating that well-intentioned groups trying to feed unsheltered people in City parks are displacing other park users through their food distribution events. These events can bring large crowds, generate excessive trash, disrupt other park uses, and exclude other park users.”

City Council member Debra Stark also wrote that she has received constituent complaints about “the deleterious impacts” on parks from food distribution events similar to those held by St. Herman’s Table, including at Cave Creek Park.

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A CLS spokesman told MinistryWatch that before the ordinance passed, the city had never asked St. Herman’s Table to stop feeding the homeless, nor had it cited specific problems related to the ministry’s activities.

According to CLS, the ordinance “prevents weekly ministry; requires an unrealistic permit application process; and limits permits for all food events that are charitable or humanitarian to two total per park per month.”

The ordinance requires permit applications to be submitted during three defined windows per year. Each application must identify every volunteer for each date and include proof of a $2 million insurance policy.

The ordinance carves out exceptions for family gatherings such as weddings and birthday parties.

U.S. District Judge Krissa Lanham granted the temporary restraining order, finding that St. Herman’s Table is likely to succeed on the merits.

Lanham found that the ordinance — which affects a religious organization — does not appear to be neutral or generally applicable because it only requires permits for food distribution “for charitable or similar humanitarian purposes.”

Secular groups without “charitable or similar humanitarian purposes” appear free, under the ordinance, to distribute food without a permit.

“Phoenix provides no evidence or meaningful argument explaining why a birthday party providing cake to twenty select two-year-olds is any less likely to strain park resources with noise or mess than a religiously-motivated gathering open to twenty members of the public,” Lanham wrote. “That the ordinance requires permits based on motivation rather than crowd size or trash output undermines Phoenix’s asserted interest for enacting it.”

CLS President David Nammo was sharply critical of the ordinance. “The City of Phoenix has hit the trifecta with this ridiculous ordinance,” he wrote. “First and foremost, they are hurting those most in need in their community — those most vulnerable, those they were elected to protect — by limiting the ability of homeless people to receive food from local ministries. They are also discriminating against religious ministries in clear violation of the First Amendment, making religiously motivated volunteers criminals for serving those in need. To top it all off, they have created multiple carve outs for other members of the community to host birthday parties and other celebrations. The City of Phoenix should be ashamed.”

The city said it will abide by the temporary restraining order.

“The City Council adopted this ordinance to ensure that all residents can enjoy their neighborhood parks, and it applies equally to anyone who wants to hold a feeding event at a park,” said Ashley Patton, the city’s deputy communications director. “It makes no distinction based on religion. The ordinance simply provides an effective tool to regulate and manage the growing competition in City parks between food distribution events and other, more traditional park uses, like children’s play, youth sports, adult recreation, and family outings. We encourage anyone who wants to provide food to people experiencing homelessness to participate in Healthy Giving. Residents can find opportunities to give back to trusted organizations at givesmartaz.org.”

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