You want to help? Donate to the United Way, work in a local shelter, but do not give out money. It goes straight into the or the crack dealer or a liquor store. The claim that it is going for food is a joke.
There are homeless in the world that you never see. They are trying to get help and live in a shelter as they get their life together. Then there are the mentally ill, these folks need more help than a few bucks can give them.
Then there are the professional panhandlers. No sympathy. It not a profession, sorry, and being cute doesn’t help. As Chris Rock says “If the homeless guy has a funny sign, he ain’t hungry”. In Philly, some of them couldn’t be bothered to beg more than 1/2 from the local booze store.
The scam artists are the worse, some women have even been known to take a punch or two in the face that look worse than they feel to elicit sympathy with a ‘beaten wife’ story. Scary what folks will do. Other walk around with a gas can for hours elciting donations. I’ve been in some areas where a guy has been trying to get money for a bus ticket to leave…he’s been trying to leave for months.
Perhaps more annoying is the guy who yells for my attention a block away. Sorry bub, I ain’t waiting for you since the foot traffic is light around the fancy restaraunt I live near. You’ve tried me tiwce before, BTW. You speil hasn’t changed. You are a bum, even worse, you are a scam. Get the fuck out of town.