How I got free food in Buffalo, New York (I wasn't too happy about it)

I took a subway in the morning to a more established area of Buffalo from where I stayed my first night and began to explore.

I have mixed feelings about what happened next...

I was walking and came across some people behind a stand. As I was walking by someone asked me "Hey, do you have the time?" My camera also told time so I pulled that out and looked.  It was 1 something. I told him and then we started having a conversation. Very early in the conversation he asked "are you homeless?" 

"well, I'm a drifter" I said. Then he said something like "oh, o.k, that also means you are homeless then." He went on telling me he was homeless for 4 years and was an alcoholic but then he turned his life around and now he's a minister. Then he offered me some food. The people behind the stand were Christians giving out food on the street. Soup and fruit. 

A lot of people getting the free food were obviously homeless. I definitely would not feel comfortable taking food from a charity designed to help homeless people. But I saw a lady getting some food that didn't look like a bum so it was possible that it was free food for anybody walking by and of course the homeless people in the city would take it. There was no sign or anything that said it was for homeless people only. It was just people behind a stand giving out food to people. 

  The man insisted I take some, so I did. It looked like they had a lot of food. I wasn't hungry because of the Chinese food I ate earlier but I got the soup and fruit put into containers for later. I continued walking and sat on a bench further down and contemplated what happened.

 I was glad that I got free food but it kinda bothered me that that man asked me if I was homeless. I probably look homeless walking around the city with a big backpack on. Well, maybe technically I am. Unless there is a lot of woods or nature in whatever future towns/cities I go to I know I probably won't be able to camp and might appear homeless walking around with my backpack everywhere.

Hotel rooms in America are expensive. I was planning to not spend too much time in America.

My plan for that day was to figure out how to get to Niagara Falls from Buffalo and camp there. However, that day I learned about a third option besides hotel and camping. I was very ignorant in the beginning of my trip. While walking in Buffalo I came across a hostel. I've never actually seen one before in my life and I was surprised to see one there.