SC - Food restrictions at feasts

Tue Apr 24 15:25:00 PDT 2001

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In a message dated 4/24/01 3:07:41 PM Mountain Daylight Time, LrdRas at aol.com 
writes:

> I have also been known to serve beggars if they show 
> up at the back door. Whether they have paid or not is irrelevant since  
> feeding the poor is a real virtue. Certainly  a better path to follow than 
> refusing them service because of profit motivation or other selfish 
> reasons. 
> Such a gesture is also very period and, IMO, oneof  the best of the Middle 
> Ages worth preserving. As they say, "but by the grace of God, go there I." 
> 
> Ras
> 

Actually I have two takes on this.  Both from the last feast I did.

First of all, we learned after the event by virtue of some counting done by 
the servers (a home school class) that 30+ people had sat down to eat feast 
without paying a cent.  I personally knew of several people who did not 
either attend the event or who skipped feast because of financial concerns.  
Yet these other 30 people decided that they had a right to eat without 
paying.  What they did was unfair to the others who did pay for feast, to the 
people who did not get to eat the feast and were in genuine financial need, 
to the autocrat who had to explain that the event lost money because of pre 
reserved feast spots not claimed and yet all spots at the table being filled 
with 30 unpaid, and ultimately they were unfair to the final recipients of 
the "left overs".

You see, we made arrangements to take left overs if any to a local shelter 
for abused women and children.  Yes, we did have some and they were much 
appreciated at this place.  This is where our "charity" similar to the 
feeding of the poor in the middle ages should be.  Not to fill the belly for 
free of people who could easily afford to pay for the meal and just decided 
that since it was easy to steal then it should be done.

Yes, we have since instituted methods (permanent feast tokens which must be 
turned in to sit down to eat) to prevent this in the future.  Am I the only 
one who finds it sad that an organization based on honorable conduct should 
have to resort to such minute checking for thieves?

Constance

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<HTML>In a message dated 4/24/01 3:07:41 PM Mountain Daylight Time, LrdRas at aol.com 
 writes:
 
 
 <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I have also been known to serve beggars if they show 
 up at the back door. Whether they have paid or not is irrelevant since  
 feeding the poor is a real virtue. Certainly  a better path to follow than 
 refusing them service because of profit motivation or other selfish 
 reasons. 
 Such a gesture is also very period and, IMO, oneof  the best of the Middle 
 Ages worth preserving. As they say, "but by the grace of God, go there I." 
 
 Ras
 </BLOCKQUOTE>
 
 Actually I have two takes on this.  Both from the last feast I did.
 
 First of all, we learned after the event by virtue of some counting done by 
 the servers (a home school class) that 30+ people had sat down to eat feast 
 without paying a cent.  I personally knew of several people who did not 
 either attend the event or who skipped feast because of financial concerns.  
 Yet these other 30 people decided that they had a right to eat without 
 paying.  What they did was unfair to the others who did pay for feast, to the 
 people who did not get to eat the feast and were in genuine financial need, 
 to the autocrat who had to explain that the event lost money because of pre 
 reserved feast spots not claimed and yet all spots at the table being filled 
 with 30 unpaid, and ultimately they were unfair to the final recipients of 
 the "left overs".
 
 You see, we made arrangements to take left overs if any to a local shelter 
 for abused women and children.  Yes, we did have some and they were much 
 appreciated at this place.  This is where our "charity" similar to the 
 feeding of the poor in the middle ages should be.  Not to fill the belly for 
 free of people who could easily afford to pay for the meal and just decided 
 that since it was easy to steal then it should be done.
 
 Yes, we have since instituted methods (permanent feast tokens which must be 
 turned in to sit down to eat) to prevent this in the future.  Am I the only 
 one who finds it sad that an organization based on honorable conduct should 
 have to resort to such minute checking for thieves?
 
 Constance</HTML>

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