Should charity be afforded at food banks to people who waste money on cigarettes?

Question

and before you say "think of the children"---isn't this something that should be posed to the parents?

ya know I actually agree with all of you that say yes because it is like the question of "Should Salvation be offered to those who sin?"

I also understand that because a question is asked, one thinks the opinion of the asker is of a negative slant but---not always

Answer 1

I see where you're going dear.........I myself am not a smoker and understand what you're saying.......but...#1, we must ALL think of the children who are innocent and might need something to eat...it is everyones responsibility to make sure that no child goes hungry......#2, what about people who bring their kids to the food banks or soup kitchens but they drink, should we not feed those children either.......and #3, which I would say most people would have a harder time with.....what about those people who spend all of their money on junk food....so the kids don't have any healthy food to eat.....should the kids not eat either? I mean the list can go on and on........

And for gosh sakes, it's bad enough that these dear little ones have to breath in the cancer causing agents from their parents cigarettes.........let's not refuse them the right to nourishing food also.

Answer 2

My husband and I have both been homeless or with a home but too poor to buy much food (even with foodstamps) and we went to the food banks for 'donated food' ... MOST OF IT WAS NOT GOOD FOOD ... people give 'outdated' cans they should throw away, broken (smashed) pasta, mixed dried beans that need different amounts of soaking and cooking time ... even vegetables they don't want to eat because they are wilted and dried out. When I give to a foodbank (which we do regularly) I go to the store and buy NEW basics ... boxes of pasta (the best they have, too), NEW cans of food, fresh flour, fresh vegetables, canned meat and canned juices, baby food in all varieties ... then I take it and drop it off with a 'I hope this helps' and a big smile ... if I hang around, I tell the people that we once were where they are, and we have money now, so we are just 'paying back' what we were given ... and people hold up their heads and think that they are just 'down for awhile' instead of being 'down forever' ... it's not SELFISH to feed a person who needs food ... an old person, a worker, a mother, a father, a child ... PEOPLE DESERVE TO GO TO BED FEELING FULL AND KNOWING THEY'LL GET FULL THE NEXT DAY, WEEK, MONTH, YEAR. Donate GOOD FOOD (even if it means you must eat a bit less for a day or two a month) and the world will be a BETTER PLACE for ALL of us!

Answer 3

Charity with strings attached isn't charity, it's mind control. Smoking is no worse than Christianity -- both diminish a person's free will -- both reduce a person's value to human civilization -- both severely alienate a person from their fellow human beings. It is the height of hypocrisy that smokers contribute hundreds of billions of dollars in annual tobacco taxes, while Churches have no tax obligations to the very civilization which allows them to exist. Worse yet, Christians themselves are even allowed to deduct what they tithe to their Churches, as if it were charity. That's nothing but a self-righteous tax-scam and further proof that political power corrupts justice.

Edit: for the record, I'm not a tobacco smoker.

Answer 4

It's charity. No conditions. I find it offensive that you target only the smokers. How about the people who waste money on alcoholic beverages? Or is it a waste to buy cigarettes, but, by God, I gotta have my beer? If you propose to stop charity for one wasteful group, you better be ready to stop it for all wasteful people-including those who use food banks and buy lottery tickets, play bingo, use cell phones, etc.

Answer 5

In a worldly righteousness your question would be met in agreement. The anti - smoking campaign has been very successful in producing people who have a worldly morality.

However, from what I read in the Bible - charity is given because of love and the recognition of need. Not because you approve what they are doing, or how they live.

If it got far enough, people would start treating homeless people like Sodom did. Because they wouldn't take care of people due to their understanding that they didn't like 'those people' or what they were doing.

Perhaps the anti smoking crowd has been given too much notoriety?

Answer 6

Tobacco is an addictive drug, and the taxes fuel our economy. The smokers are contributing far more than they are costing. Every smoker is paying almost $2,000 a year just in tobacco taxes. Would you like to estimate that for all the smokers.

Assuming 40% are smokers (a guess) it becomes about $240,000,000,000 for the USA.
Yes, 240 billion every year.
Maybe the Tobacco taxes should be put into funding food banks.

Answer 7

Responsibility is the key. I have issue donating money in the first place as it can be misspent.

The best is to donate the already purchased goods so that they can not misuse the money. Some, not all, but some of those people are poor for a reason.

Answer 8

Should charity be wasted on people who are ABLE to make their own way in the world but do not do so? Where do you draw the line?

Charity has no conditions - otherwise it is not charity.

Answer 9

Yes, you're absolutely right.

Anyone who has a habit you personally find annoying or disgusting should be forced to starve to death.

Maybe after we get rid of the smokers we can kill off all the people who talk in movie theatres or walk slowly on the sidewalk.

Answer 10

Do you think that smokers can't be hungry?

Food banks are not about having no vices, or good money management skills, they are about feeding the hungry.