Ronnie Polaneczky: Dinner for the homeless, with a side of dignity

THE WORD "dignified" isn't often used to describe how the homeless sate their hunger in Philly.

There is nothing dignified about fishing food scraps from the trash. Or begging outside Wawa for a sandwich. Or lining up with others on Logan Circle hoping that the soup being ladled by Good Samaritans won't run out before everyone's bowl is filled.

The search for food is demoralizing and terrifying, as the homeless deal with the fallout of lives in which they belong nowhere and, often, to no one.

So it's miraculous that, at least twice a week, hundreds of homeless men and women enjoy a dignified dining experience on South Broad Street, within steps of the gleaming Suzanne Roberts Theatre and the equally shiny Kimmel Center. They sit on comfortable chairs at cloth-covered tables and eat hearty meals served on real plates, with real silverware and real cups. They are offered second and third helpings and are encouraged to take extra fruit and bread when they leave.

Crucially, they do not eat alone. They are joined by volunteers from more fortunate circumstances whose mission is, simply, to be with them. Not that you'd always know who's homeless and who isn't. As the plates are passed and conversation flows about the Eagles, or the icy sidewalks outside, the vibe is communal, born of the egalitarian act of breaking bread together.

This place of relaxed grace is Broad Street Ministry, 315 S. Broad St., a nonprofit agency described as a "broad-minded Christian community," which means it provides a whole lot more than its weekly church service.

Including the communal meals, evidence of what its pastor, Bill Golderer, refers to as his organization's "radical hospitality" for all who pass through his building's worn but majestic doors.

I had dinner Sunday evening with the Broad Street community, about a third of whom are homeless. I wanted some perspective on the fray pitting the city's Health Department against do-gooders who feed the homeless - not indoors, as Broad Street does, but on city streets.

If you haven't heard, last week Health Commissioner Don Schwarz proposed regulations that would require those Good Samaritans to obtain "outdoor feeding" permits from the city, and to use department-inspected commercial kitchens to prepare the food they serve.