We have one like that here in Seattle, it’s called Real Change. It’s not put out only by homeless people, but they’re the ones who sell it. They buy copies for some small amount of money and then they sell them for a higher price. It’s a nice idea but I don’t like being asked to buy those papers all the time. If I want to read it, it’s available online. But the other day I heard a guy saying to the seller that he knows he had to pay for the paper so he’d rather just give him some money and let him sell the paper to someone else. I may do that sometime. Knowing that these people actually paid something upfront for the papers kind of makes a difference to me. A person who only cares about their next fix probably wouldn’t even think that far ahead.
It’s nice you have taken the time to talk to each of them long enough get to know about their addictions.
Begging is not very common here but if do I see someone begging, I will give them something - fruit, water, cash, etc. I have plenty and they have very little, and I can always use a little good karma.
On a visit to our office in Houston, I was walking down the street and saw a $20 bill on the ground. I picked it up, marveled at my good fortune, and continued walking. A couple of blocks later I saw a older lady begging on the corner so I put that same $20 bill in her little box. A win-win in my book. 
Sure. Except I leave the house with $10, give a dollar to ten scammers and then have nothing left for the one guy in need. I used to have the opinion of “I did my part, what they do with it is between them and God” but the fact is that giving $5 to a guy who doesn’t need it takes it away from the guy who did need it. Giving $5 to a suitable charity can turn it into $10 worth of aid for those who need it.
Or I suppose I could just hand out loaves and fishes. Hard to buy drugs with loaves of bread, I assume.
I’m a generous person by nature, but I’m neither a fool nor fabulously wealthy. So I have a few rules-of-thumb about who I will help.
First, I never give to anyone with a sign. In my mind, a sign says “this is what I do for a living”. No. If you are irreversibly destitute, get thee to a charity. I give to panhandlers to help them out of a temporary bind.
I will almost always give to a person who is panhandling in bad weather. In my mind, they are earning everything they get.
I will almost always give to a panhandler that has a kid with them. Yes, I know that some of these panhandlers will not do anything for the kid with the money, but they might. That possibility makes it a worthwhile gamble.
People who are only asking for a little bit for bus fare or the like, that depends on what I happen to have on me. If I’ve got some spare cash, and they look respectable otherwise (clean, not drunk or high), I’ll help them out.
I do make exceptions, but these rules are what I typically go by.
Obviously people panhandle for a variety of reasons, I’m sure there are some people out there who are not junkies.
I will be the first to admit that my views on this subject have been shaped by the situation in my city. We have a very large population of heroin and methamphetamine users in Maryland and it is very apparent in the people you see at traffic lights.
Do these people need help? Of course they do! Are they worthy of help? Of course they are!
Is handing cash to them helping? Hell no!
At best, you are sliding their habit along for one afternoon. At worst, you might be giving them money to buy the fix that kills them.
Give them water, give them food, but please don’t give them cash.
The fact is, a junkie has to take that first step to recovery on their own. Many have to re-take that first step a number of times. Don’t give them money to slide the habit along.
Better yet, go volunteer with an organization that has experience helping people recover from drug use and a life on the streets. They will be glad to have your help, and if you just want to donate money, or clothing you can do that too.
And many people do both. I don’t understand why it seems to be an either / or proposition. You can give a few bucks upon occasion and still do volunteer work, too.
I’m also terribly amused by folks that are put off by signs, yet don’t want anyone approaching them either. How else is someone supposed to communicate their need if it’s past 5:00 (where, in some places, the sidewalks are rolled up until the next morning and the charities unavailable)? If much rather read about someone’s hardship than for them to have to get close enough to touch me (or, I suppose, shout) and tell me at length. Then you can make your decisions from afar.
I tried to explain why I don’t hand out cash to junkies in the post you just selectively quoted.
Did I do a poor job explaining why, or are you refusing to acknowledge my point for some other reason?
I know this sounds a bit snarky, but I’m sincerely curious why you didn’t acknowledge the point I tried to make.
I never give to panhandlers, and no one else should, either. Donate the money to charity, or a soup kitchen or something, but don’t give it directly to the beggars. For one thing, they have no hesitation to run out in traffic to get it, and they cause wrecks and traffic jams. For another thing, they could very well just be scamming you.
Because I have no issue with why you don’t hand out money to panhandlers if you think they are junkies. What I wanted to address is how, several times in this thread, people have made proclamations about how it’s better to donate to charities instead of handing out cash to begging strangers. I wanted to reiterate that it’s perfectly possible to do both. That’s all.
It is. And each dollar given to the beggars rather than the charities was ineffectively spent if your general goal is to help people. It’s a zero-sum game: you have X dollars to distribute. Each dollar you give to one place, you can’t give the same dollar to another place. So you either distribute them for maximum efficiency and least amount of scamming (buying drugs, not really homeless, etc) or you play with the equation for other reasons – like warm fuzzies for giving to a particular person – and diminish the overall benefit from your charity.
Well, substitute cigarettes or porn or whatever vice you prefer.
As far as judging what’s best: ultimately, what’s best is a self-sustaining situation. In first-world societies, that’s a job, though historically (and elsewhere in the world) there have been options like subsistence hunting or farming. But just handing them a dollar doesn’t change the situation and it doesn’t last. I’d have to give them a dollar every day and as far as I’m concerned, that’s what homeless shelters and welfare are for… both of which I support.
As a counterexample, someone earlier mentioned giving to musicians playing on the street. I actually do give to musicians sometimes. At least they’re working for a living, albeit in a non-traditional manner. If they want to go buy crack with their earnings, that truly is their business.
I don’t consider it working. It’s just begging loudly.
Ever been to New Orleans? Some of the street musicians are better than the ones playing for pay in the bars.
I’d rather give something to someone and sleep well, than to keep it all for myself and eat well.
Begging is a full-time job, they only one they can get, the pay is not that good, and it is probably harder work than most of you do. They are self-employed, which conservatives tell me is honorable for itself alone. Just like your job, those who are good at it make more.
This. Especially if the pandhandler is nice and not obviously a tweeker.
I haven’t, but I believe you. They’re probably not people who would otherwise be panhandling if then, like the ones I’m thinking of. The guy who played his wretched guitar outside my window is horrible and a dick. People who gave him money couldn’t have been doing it because they actually enjoyed hearing his music.
If someone is a real musician and playing somewhere it’s reasonable and allowed to play music, then sure, that’s a different story.
I’m not talking about street performers or con artists, I’m talking about junkies.
I have no idea what you are talking about, but it sounds like you are putting an incredible amount of spin on an issue just to take a jab at a part of the American political spectrum that you don’t like.
And before you assume I’m a conservative, stop, please just stop.
If you care to come to Baltimore, I’ll be glad to take you on a little tour of my city and show you the junkies on corners begging. We can even go visit some of the folks who try to get these people in detox programs, and you can hear it from them.
It isn’t a lifestyle that you want to encourage someone to be successful at, which is an absurd thought. The sad truth of the matter is that by the time a person finds them self on a street corner begging for money, they’ve lost everything, or they are about to lose it all.
Most of the people I see in Baltimore begging for money will probably be dead within a few years. Most never stop doing drugs when they get to that point, they die from it.
These junkies desperately need help, but giving them cash will most likely kill them sooner or later.
Help them by sponsoring detox programs, help them after they detox by donating clothes, help out with job training, be a mentor, but don’t give a junkie cash.
You very well could be killing them with your hand outs of cash. Do you really want to finance someone’s overdose?
No doubt, we ran across a guy in DC last spring that we gave money to if he stopped singing until we got out of ear range.
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What a bleak existence. So, going back to the part about detox, do these people (who’ve lost everything and will probably die shortly) respond well to it? Is there any sort of success rate we could look at? Because I’m curious about how well they work.