Dayton, Ohio, burdens charities, punishes kindness with permits to share food

McKahla (Red) Moran started Nourish Our Neighbors in 2022, driven by a simple, yet powerful belief: Grassroots action can transform communities. Armed with a mission to alleviate hardships endured by the most vulnerable residents of Dayton, Ohio, the organization’s volunteer members got to work providing free food to the hungry. 

Rather than encourage and support these acts of kindness, the City stifled and even criminalized them. When City code enforcement put a volunteer in handcuffs, the chilling message became crystal clear: In Dayton, charity can be a crime. 

Nourish Our Neighbors’ growth over nearly three years exemplified community impact. After gaining nonprofit status in January 2024, the organization expanded its local business partnerships and broadened its services to haircuts, education, housing assistance, and community events. Meanwhile, food assistance remained at its heart, sprouting from 50 hot meals and bottled water into a vital community resource serving up to 150 people per month. 

Volunteers approached their stewardship with great care, serving food primarily in downtown Dayton’s Courthouse Square, a central location frequented by the city’s homeless. They collected trash before and after all food service and left the surroundings cleaner than when they arrived. This dedication to public spaces reflected their broader goal of building community in a place where poverty, homelessness, and hunger were all too common. 

This hard work and inspiring progress came to an alarming halt on April 7, 2024. During the otherwise-routine food distribution day at Courthouse Square, a police officer, enforcing a city ordinance that criminalized public food aid without a permit, ordered the volunteers to stop. Just as this was happening, a homeless man walked up to volunteer Mitchell West asking for food. Despite the officer watching, Mitchell chose compassion over compliance and handed the man a burrito. The officer responded by handcuffing and arresting Mitchell, detaining him for more than 30 minutes—over what amounted to a misdemeanor. 

Although he was released without charges, the incident immediately cast a long, chilling shadow. Attendance at food events plummeted by nearly half, as many program recipients avoided these gatherings fearing police interaction. Volunteers, faced with the prospect of arrest for the mere “crime” of charity without a permit, became increasingly harder to recruit.  

The permit requirements of a $50 fee per event and a $250 security deposit for organizations with prior violations would undercut Nourish Our Neighbors’ ability to serve those most in need. McKahla found it particularly unjust that the same government that perpetuated the homelessness crisis penalized citizens who stepped in to fill that gap. 

Even more telling was the law’s arbitrariness—no permit was required to hand out cake and ice cream for a birthday party at the same location.  

Dayton’s permit requirement was unnecessary anyway—the City had other laws addressing trash and litter, the supposed concerns behind the food handout ordinance. It was also unconstitutional. Courts have ruled that food sharing is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment. Furthermore, the ordinance unfairly discriminated among similar activities and violated the fundamental right to engage in charitable acts. 

The government does not hold a monopoly on charity. Americans have the right to pursue their calling without burdensome regulations standing in their way—including helping those in need. The government should support citizens working to strengthen their communities, not impose unlawful permit mandates or arrest them.  

In June 2026, the court ruled that charitable food distribution is protected expression under the First Amendment and barred Dayton from enforcing its permit requirement—a victory for everyone who believes Americans shouldn’t need government permission to feed their neighbors.