His preliminary findings show few congregations do more than periodically donate money, collect canned food, serve holiday dinners, or engage in neighborhood cleanups. Similarly, a new survey by the nonprofit Independent Sector finds that while volunteering is up, fewer than a quarter of volunteers engage in direct service and only 39 percent participate on a regular basis. And while charitable giving is up overall, donations to such services as soup kitchens, job programs, and shelters actually declined between 1995 and 1998. Moreover, charitable activity, however well intentioned, can have perverse results. Rutgers University's George Kelling, a pioneer in helping communities reclaim their public spaces, points to suburban church efforts to feed and clothe the homeless congregating in New York City's subway stations in the late 1980s.
Rivers knows that problem well.
We want results, not rhetoric. For now, the Indianapolis coalition's wish list is modest. He wonders if a foundation will provide the needed support. The ministers of the street may work small miracles daily, but they still have to learn the art of multiplying the loaves and fishes.