COLUMBIA, S.C. — A charity organization in Columbia, Be Kind Be Great, is feeding people as a form of protest after the city council held discussions last year about potentially regulating the number of food giveaways in the city.
Leaders in the Columbia Task Force to End Homelessness proposed organizations share with the city what they are planning to give out 24 hours prior to serving food.
That ordinance was introduced but pushed to the city's public safety committee and has yet to be discussed again.
Councilman Howard Duvall said the city's intention is to make sure downtown is not crowded with people in need and for the area to stay clean.
"What they are doing is creating an attractive nuisance. They are bringing the homeless population to a single place, feeding them something, and then leaving it for the city to clean up," Duvall said.
Be Kind Be Great served about 100 people on a sidewalk in downtown Columbia on Friday morning.
Ericka Brown founded Be Kind Be Great and said her organization has been feeding people for years. She used to host a fish fry in Finlay Park for those in need of food until one day in May.
"Three officers met us there [Finlay Park], and when we arrived, they just pretty much said we couldn't serve anymore. It was against the law. We were made to pack up, they made us discard the food, and they wouldn't even let us go around the corner to fix the plates and come back to pass them out," Brown said. "Since then, I have been to a few city council meetings to talk to the Mayor, to try to find a median because we didn't want to break any laws."
Be Kind Be Great intends to keep feeding people and confront the Columbia City Council about the problem this week with other charity organizations like "You Are the Power" by their side.
The group plans to rally outside city hall at 3 p.m. on Tuesday and will speak in the public comment portion of the city council meeting at 4 p.m.