Seventh Day Baptist Church Food Ministry

Since 2007, Seventh Baptist Church operated a food pantry for the most vulnerable families in the community.  For most of that time, the city not only allowed the church’s food ministry to thrive, but they also supported it and encouraged it.  Even after the church moved to its current location—within what the city calls a “redevelopment area,” just like its prior location—the city allowed the church to operate the food pantry without issue.

The positive, supportive working relationship changed when a former City Commissioner and her spouse decided to target the church’s Food Pantry and exert political pressure, complaining that, among other things, “these types of feeding programs are plagues to the efforts to redevelop a neighborhood,” and stating that, “crowds of people are sleeping on church steps and in alleys beside homes,” and that “a character . . . decided to begin to live around this food pantry, on the church steps as well as just hanging around the corner not just on feeding days, but everyday day and night.”

The pressure exerted from the couple led to an enforcement action by the city that forced the Church to close the pantry.  The church was singled out and targeted as a place of worship. No similar city law prohibits any entities other than places of worship from operating food pantries in redevelopment areas. The church was forced to decide between fidelity to what it believes the Christian faith requires—i.e., commitment to the weak, the poor, the vulnerable, and the hungry in service to Christ—or suffer a devasting $5,000 per day fine if it continued to operate the Food Pantry. Unable to pay the threatened fine, the church closed the Food Pantry, cutting off service to the nearly 80 families that had come to rely on the ministry for much needed support.

In response to the city’s action, First Liberty Institute and the law firm Sidley Austin L.L.P. filed a motion for preliminary injunction in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida urging the court to stop the City of Daytona Beach from blocking the Church from distributing food to those in need. After the federal lawsuit was filed, the city quickly worked with church officials to restore the food ministry.  The case was officially dismissed by the court pursuant to a settlement agreement submitted by the church and the city.

“We are grateful to Daytona Beach city officials for working with us so that Seventh Baptist can resume its mission of providing food for the hungry, hurting people in the community,” said Ryan Gardner, Counsel at First Liberty Institute. “People who take action to care for the hungry should be encouraged and affirmed.  The church is thrilled to be able to continue helping those in need.”