Philadelphia Weekly

Were it not for the heavy coats and the piercing cold, they could just as well be setting up a barbecue in the parking lot of the African American Museum. Several long tables are covered in aluminum pans of donated food, a U-Haul truck is filled with blankets and clothes. There's more food set up inside an inflatable tent where more than 1,000 volunteers are doing their part to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by feeding the homeless.

"Wherever we are and in spite of how they're looked upon, we're going to offer them food, love, give them attention, encourage them and make them feel that they're significant and important citizens of the city of Philadelphia in spite of the fact that they're homeless and may have economic and social issues. We have an ancestral obligation to help them in spite of their problems at this time," says Sacaree Rhodes, who's bundled up in several layers, sipping a cup of hot soup and keeping a close watch over everyone and everything like a spunkier version of Soul Food's Big Momma.

Rhodes and her group, the African Daughters of Fine Lineage, have been feeding the city's homeless for nearly 20 years. This is the third year the group has served food at the African American Museum on MLK Day. They're joined today by members of Real Men Cook, former police commissioner Sylvester Johnson, Congressman Bob Brady and Mayor Nutter. Nutter recently presented Rhodes with the 10th annual King Day Service Harris Wofford Active Citizenship Award for her work feeding and sheltering the homeless.

Sadly, it looks like Rhodes and her group won't run out of work anytime soon. Homelessness has been on the rise in the city since 2000--despite the fact the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development named Philadelphia one of the seven "best practices" cities for addressing homelessness in 2002.

Although it isn't known exactly why the city's homeless population in 2007 more than doubled since 2000, likely culprits include the slowing economy, redistribution of government social spending, rising unemployment and increasing housing costs.

Greg and Cheryl, a married homeless couple who now live in a shelter, say the event wasn't just about eating. It also gave them an opportunity to learn about their history.

Cheryl thinks a major reason why homelessness persists is that few who have the ability to bring change are motivated to act. "You need the top people to come out and get involved," she says. "That way they'll know the input that's needed to help us out. Not just sit back and listen to it, but come out and live it like we live it." Cheryl says the shelters are an endless cycle. She's hoping for some assistance to get a home for herself and her husband.

Homelessness, says Johnson, "can happen to anyone. That it's happened to these individuals doesn't mean we should neglect them." The former police commissioner has been coming to these events for more than a decade.

The only problem with Monday's event, he concludes, is that the crowd continues to be too big. "The same people who are out here for Thanksgiving and Christmas are still out here today," he says, calling for better use of taxpayer dollars right here at home, instead of far away in Iraq. "Hopefully one day we'll have a holiday where we won't have any people out here to eat because they'll be eating on a daily basis."