Thomas Hellinger, a UCF student leader who was elected to the Student Government Association Senate last fall, was arrested Wednesday night for feeding the homeless in downtown Orlando.
Sen. Hellinger, who chairs the Governmental Affairs Committee, was among four others arrested Wednesday for feeding the homeless along Orlando’s Lake Eola — a green area of downtown which has been likened to UCF’s Arboretum for providing an escape from the pavement. He was released on a $250 bond Thursday morning.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is enforcing a city ordinance which only allows groups to get a permit in order to conduct a very limited amount of feedings each year in that popular green space. The group at issue here, Food Not Bombs, has already exhausted the handful of permits allowed per year.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, one dozen people have been arrested in the last week.
They were feeding corn on the cob, rice, beans and watermelon to more than two dozen hungry people before being hauled off to jail, according to the Sentinel.
Check back for updates on this major breaking news. We’ll work to try and get an interview with SGA Sen. Hellinger now that he has bonded out of jail.
