Good question. I was on a project in San Jose for the homeless, and it turns out the thing they wanted most was socks. See, there’s actually lots of clothes- maybe not stylish, but lots. But they dont give away socks, and people dont donate socks either. So, homeless people really appreciate nice clean socks.
Likely the best thing you can give.
Some years back, my husband was staying in El Paso in a hotel near a highway exit. One morning, he saw 2 men park a relatively nice car in the hotel lot, pull 2 “bedrolls” and a cardboard sign out of the trunk, and walk down to the exit ramp.
That’s colored my perception of everyone begging at exit ramps or major intersections.
I resisted using a debit card for a long time… out of inertia, mostly. But since I’ve given in, I’ve found it results in my not bothering to carry any cash along on a lot of my errand runs, which means I’m able to say a quick buthonest “sorry, I don’t have any cash on me” in a lot of circumstances. Not just to beggars, but to people raising funds for all sorts of things, and kids selling stuff I don’t need to fund a camp trip or something. My ‘favorite’ grocery store has groups fundraising outside of it what seems like 3 out of 4 weeks, to the point I was considering if I liked it enough to continue going there despite having to run the gauntlet all the time.
In a dim way I’m sorry for them – it must make fund raisers much harder nowadays – but I really appreciate not having to do any spur-of-the-moment deciding about which causes I really want to put my money towards and how much to Cause X vs. Cause Y. Now it’s just, You want to give me a brochure or something? Fine, I’ll look at it later, and maybe send a check, and get on with my business.
A previously homeless member of am SLC Meetup group that I belong talked about the value of clean, thick socks when you’re walking around all day either waiting to go back to the shelter at nightfall for a bed or out panhandling - trench foot’s a thing; one time he was given a 3-pack of new ones which he put on immediately. A few minutes later he was beat up in a parking lot near the clinic; they took the 2 new pairs in his bag and the pair off his feet. He told us it was a rookie mistake and he never wore new socks again while homeless.
So even though it’s 2ndhand information, I believe it enough to simply give clean socks that aren’t glaringly new. Like I said, no one’s refused them or been rude about they’re not being new. My spiel on rolling down my window is usually, ‘I don’t have any cash, but can I give you some socks? They’re not new but they’re clean.’
It’s true, btw; 99% of the time I do not have any cash in my possession. What for? Everywhere I go, even farmer’s markets, take bank cards.
Many of the “charities” in the shopping centres won’t take cash and they won’t take a one-off donation. They only want you to sign up to a recurrent donation and if you offer them money they turn you down. The people on the stands are paid, and a lot of the money is chewed up by those wages/commissions and other administrative costs. Those people are way more annoying than the occasional beggar you might come across here.
Remarkably generous, some of you Americans. I’m English and I’ve never given a penny or a pound to a beggar in the whole of my life. I’ve made my contribution to the UK welfare system through taxes.
I would imagine that yours works better than ours.
Oddly enough, the most generous person in this regard I’ve known was an Englishman, so I’m not sure it has anything to do with nationality.
This is a fascinating thread.
My wife is a social worker. She has spent her career working with the homeless and the incarcerated. She never gives money to panhandlers, no matter what the story. We regularly donate to the local food bank and to a local homeless shelter, so it’s not as if she isn’t sympathetic, but she won’t hand out cash to anyone. She knows what they want it for.
Story #1: One holiday season, we were walking out of the local Home Depot and were stopped by a well-dressed young woman who wove a tale of woe about needing money for a place to sleep for the night, because she was pregnant, and the local homeless shelter wouldn’t admit her. It was an extremely plausible-sounding story, except for the fact that my wife knows the shelter system like the back of her hand, and knew her spiel was complete B.S. With that, my wife pulled out a pamphlet she kept in our car that lists the various social services and locations available to the homeless, and went into her 5-minute “social worker” lecture mode. You could just see that young woman itching to leave. She practically ran away once my wife was done with her.
After she was gone, I said to my wife, “You know she was just a scammer, right?”, to which she replied, “Of course. Put it was fun to put her on the spot, and give her a dose of her own medicine.”
Story #2: A few months back, I was walking through the parking lot of a fast food restaurant when a young guy stopped me and asked for gas money so he and his buddy could get home, because his debit card had been stolen, and the police refused to help him. He promised he would repay me as soon as he got back home. While he was spinning his tale, I looked over to his car and saw his friend calmly surfing away on a cell phone. I briefly considered pointing out how he and his friend could call home, have a friend or family member wire money to the Western Union downtown, and then pick up the cash. But why help them improve their scam? Instead I just laughed and said, “Keep practicing!” and walked on.
People who work with the homeless know all the scams; they’ve heard them a million times. As my wife points out, a truly stranded person can always flag down a cop and get help. There is a significant amount of public and private aid available to people who are “honestly” homeless (e.g. due to finances rather than mental illness or addiction) to get them back on their feet. And in a world where everyone has a cell phone, it makes no sense that someone can be “stranded”, assuming they have any friends or family who truly care about them.
A final anecdote: my brother is a pastor, and over the years has dealt with a multitude of people who have shown up at his church with a detailed sob story about needing financial assistance from the congregation. He has never had a case that didn’t turn out to be a scam. He keeps in touch with several other local pastors, and they keep each other aware of the “supplicants” they deal with, as the scammers inevitably go from one church to the next. Like my wife, he never gives cash to anyone.
Agreed. Aggressive panhandlers who don’t take no for an answer are the worst.
I recently had one junkie scum-bag in my face demanding money. I didn’t back down, but stood up and yelled at him to GET THE FUCK away from me. He retreated very quickly.
Also, if beggars aren’t scammers, how come I see SO MANY with expensive I-phones? How the hell do they afford to pay the bill if they’re truly homeless? Are they ALL stolen?! I don’t even have an I-phone.
I was in the UK (London) several years ago on vacation. And, though I did see panhandlers at times, I never ONCE saw an aggressive panhandler. Not saying they aren’t there, just that it didn’t seem to be as much of an issue there as it is in the U.S. & other countries I’ve been to.
I’ve bought food for panhandlers who seemed sincere, but I never give them cash - just seems too likely to me it’ll go for beer, cigarettes or drugs. Never been asked for gas, though! I also give regularly to our local food bank, where I know my donation will be used to address poor people’s genuine needs.