Salvation Army stops public food distribution in downtown Ocala

The Salvation Army has suspended daily food distribution at its downtown Ocala location indefinitely.

On Monday, July 1, the organization stopped public feedings at its Center for Hope, 320 NW 1st Avenue.

Although the organization says it will continue to provide food to shelter residents, it is suspending public feedings for safety reasons.

The move came less than a month after a local business owner attended an Ocala City Council meeting and reported that fights and public unrest regularly occurred after the daily food distribution.

During that meeting, Council Member James P. Hilty Sr., who also serves on the board of The Salvation Army, said the organization had actively sought to end the food distribution program in downtown Ocala.

“We are trying to eliminate this,” Hilty said. “This problem is not only due to these feedings, but has been around for a long time.”

At the time, Hilty said many of the people participating in the food distribution were not homeless and had been denied entry to the building. He suspected some were coming to the building as early as 3 p.m. each day for the regular food distribution.

Both Mayor Ben Marciano and City Councilwoman Kristen Dreyer expressed a similar view at the time, saying that the feedings did more harm than good.

“It doesn’t help. What does it really do at the end of the day? You know you’re not really helping people if you just give them food,” Marciano said. “Let’s give them services that change their lives, let’s use it as a tool. If people are hungry, they’re going to be willing to do a lot to recover.”

Dreyer said it is not fair that local business owners have to deal with this problem.

“People from out of town come here and cause this problem, and then they go home and leave everyone in the neighborhood to deal with it, and that’s not right,” Dreyer said. “And then you have business owners who are just trying to make a living, right? And they have to deal with this whole thing.”

In addition to the downtown center, the Salvation Army operates a thrift store at 120 NW 10th Street and a church at 2901 NE 14th Street.