Donation of food is said to be greatest
The human race is the blessed category of the creation since the human being alone has the faculty of devotion to God. You must save the life of every human being if it is in need. Even if the human being is an atheist, you must save the life since the atheist has a chance of becoming a devotee in future. Therefore, donation of food is said to be greatest since it is the basis of life. But, you should donate it to the deserving people only. 'Deserving' means any human being suffering for food. The human being must work and earn the food without begging as far as possible. Otherwise, people become lazy without doing work.

Hence, while donating the food to a person capable of doing work, you should analyze the background carefully. Generally, poor children, poor old persons, poor disabled and poor patients can be accepted as deserving receivers of your donated food. A rich person should be always avoided as far as possible leaving rare emergent occasions. Do not have any analysis in the occasions of emergency demanding immediate service. Such donation is called as 'Apat-dharma'.