HOPEWELL – Backers of Beacon Hill Church’s “Free Food Friday” giveaways had their prayers answered Tuesday night – Hopewell City Council is going to let them stay right where they are.
“I’m very grateful,” Beacon Hill lead pastor Michael Moore said moments after the 7-0 vote. “It was a unanimous vote. We came in here not unanimous, and we’re leaving unanimous.”
The vote came with a caveat that Beacon Hill would have to apply for a special-event permit as required by the city. However, that caveat was sweetened by City Manager Dr. Concetta Manker’s proposal to create a new permit category for nonprofit events and then waive the fees for those permits.
The weekly food drive in the parking lot next to the Beacon Theatre was at the nucleus of a social-media firestorm after BHC and two other organizations were sent letters by the city attorney asking them to relocate their donation zones away from the immediate downtown area. Beacon Hill Church – which meets on Sundays inside the theatre – got most of the attention because the lot where Free Food Friday is held is right on Hopewell’s main downtown corridor, Route 10/Randolph Road.