But for most churches, some kind of verification system is a way to ensure that the help given is truly most helpful. When Rev. Al Schooley at Southminster United in Calgary was asked to help a young man who came to the church looking for financial help to get back to Vancouver, Schooley had the sense that he wasn't getting the whole story. So he did some checking by phone, and found out that not all of the details in the man's story checked out. But we verified that he was in need, even if he wasn't fully honest. So we did what we could to help anyway.
Many churches make it a point to help with food, or bus tickets, but never give out money.
They're concerned about giving to someone who will spend the money at the local liquor store instead of buying the food so desperately needed by the family. In a perfect world, we wouldn't be giving handouts. But in a perfect world, we wouldn't need food banks, either. Yet, sometimes, the real need is money. They even showed the minister the laundry, which certainly needed to be done.