I’m surprised no one mentioned Aileen Wournos . This piece of work killed many men while “getting a ride” in Florida. I tend to want to help also but now that I have a wife and child I no longer will pick up a hitchhiker or give a ride. Sucks that it has come to this but I have my priorites.
The last time I ever helped a panhandler, he was less-than-happy with my donation, so I will probably never do that kind of thing again.
I was walking into a party store, and this guy asked for a couple of bucks for food, I said I didn’t have any cash, but while in there, I bought him an apple danish and a pint of milk.
I gave it to him on the way out, he looked at it, said “shhiii-it,” and put it in his coat pocket. No ‘thanks,’ no hungry devouring, nothing.
That bum just ruined it for everyone in my book.
When I worked in Boston, I was constantly hit up by panhandlers outside the bus station next door. I lost count of how many parents needed to get home to thier sick children, or how many college kids got on the wrong bus. Shockingly enough, they all just needed a few more dollars! One guy, all I had was a $50 bill (it was just after payday), and he offered to make change for me.
I wonder how many sick children’s lives I destroyed by not giving my pocket change
Yeah, I had a bum approach me with a story of a broken down car and his need for a tow truck. My offer to call my automobile association to get him a free tow was met with fairly obscene reproaches, which struck me as so strange if he really did have a stalled car just right over there by that corner.
Offering help-in-kind, especially when the in-kind services are those that an average vagrant could not readily convert into crack, is a good alternative.
Generally speaking, people legitimately in need figure out where to find social services, and do not frequent parking lots with their tales of woe.
You’re only a year late. 
The ones that really bother me though are those that start demanding BRAAAINS!
Zombie thread closed.