"Beggars can't be choosers": Exploring service users' perspectives on charitable meal services while experiencing...

Charitable meal services are an essential source of nourishment for many people experiencing homelessness (PEH), yet little research has examined how everyday organizational practices shape experiences of power, dignity, and participation within these settings. Guided by the work of Paulo Freire, this critical ethnography explored how power is enacted and experienced within charitable meal services for PEH in two mid-sized Canadian cities. Data were collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews conducted between September 2023 and April 2024. Participants described charitable meal services as essential for meeting immediate needs while highlighting how organizational practices, provider discretion, and interpersonal relationships shaped experiences of autonomy, dignity, and belonging. Three interconnected themes were identified: 1) being deprived of choice; 2) treated as "less than"; and 3) making it work. Our findings suggest that charitable meal services are more than sites of food provision but provide relational environments in which everyday organizational practices shape experiences of care, dignity, and power. While respectful, participatory practices can foster more positive experiences, lasting reductions in food insecurity require broader structural responses addressing poverty, housing affordability, and income security. By centering lived experiences of PEH, this work highlights the limitations of charity-based models and offers research, policy, and practice recommendations aimed to support more equitable and rights-based approaches.