So what's so bad about The Salvation Army anyway?

[Xithras]

124. One of the real problems with "alternatives"...

...is that once you get outside of the major urban areas, there often aren't any. Where I live, there are three options:

1) The Salvation Army.
2) A private homeless "mission" program run by an uber-fundy evangelical local church (it actually requires homeless people to pray several times a day in order to use their services, and openly rejects any homeless who refuse to take part).
3) About a half-dozen other small scale food pantries run by other local churches.

So, if you're not willing to pipe your money through a church, your ONLY OPTION is the Salvation Army. They are the least bigoted of the options. They're also the ONLY option that pipes some of that money into non-food aid, including gifts for local children and warm clothing for the poor.

Those chiming in about "alternatives" must be lucky enough to live in a place where they have secular, progressive options for helping the local poor, where the money actually gets spent on those in need, but the majority of the American population doesn't live in those places. For me, it's a simple matter of deciding which is more important...standing on my ideals, or helping actual hungry people to eat. I choose to help feed people, even if it impinges on my social and political goals a bit.