To the editor:

I’m responding to David Holroyd’s letter to the Journal-World of July 5. He believes the First Christian Church should stop its participation in a program called LINK (Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen), which provides food for the poor and homeless population of Lawrence. He scorns those who help because it makes them “feel good.”

He claims that the “do-gooders” don’t have to clean up the urine and mess which a few homeless leave behind them in the streets and near the church. Of course, if they leave the city or quietly suffer starvation, we shall have cleaner streets if that is all the critics care about.

I wish those who are so critical of LINK and its efforts to help those in need would spend at least one day helping feed these who come for a decent meal. My experience is that they are almost always cleanly dressed individuals who are most grateful for whatever food they are given.

It is possible that a few may not really deserve a meal. But how do you discriminate between those who don’t and those who really do?

I hope those who complain about LINK will be fortunate enough to never need assistance or a free meal. They might not be so quick to criticize those who are doing what they can to help. They might also read the parable of the “Good Samaritan” to give them a different perspective of “do-gooders.”

Harold Piehler,

Lawrence