Charges Against Chef Who Was Fined for Feeding the Homeless Dropped

The city of San Antonio has dropped its charges against chef Joan Cheever, who police recently fined for feeding the homeless. Every Tuesday night for the past 10 years, Cheevar has been donating meals to the homeless at the same park in downtown San Antonio. However, in April, Cheever was fined $2,000 for giving away food to a line of homeless and hungry people. The chef prepared all the food she gave away in a commercial kitchen, and she has a food handler's license, but cops said that she needed an oddly specific permit to give food away free of charge. Cheever declared that she would fight the charges.

According to San Antonio Express-News, the chef appeared in court last week and rejected a plea deal. Cheever "requested a jury trial," but before that could start, the city dropped the citation. (Over 65,000 people signed a petition in support of Cheever asking that the city drop the charges.) Cheever says that while she is happy the ticket was dismissed she "still believes changes need to be made to the city ordinance that landed her the citation in the first place."

Cheever isn't the only person that has run into trouble when trying to feed homeless people. In May, a McDonald's in England barred a 19-year-old from buying food for a homeless person she met. She was told that "they were unable to serve her because she was buying the meal for a homeless man," and apparently policy states that they are "no longer serving the homeless."