My sister is of the opinion that “begging is their Job, and they should be paid for showing up, the same as those who scavange returnable bottle, or the doorman for that matter.”
My take on it (and I AM the older twin) is that it doesn’t help them as a group, or even individually, and is making it hard for them to seek true shelter from the storm. From the window at work, I’ll see them try to hustle folks for hours without luck. Why? Ususally because they drink or have a dog or are dangerous-crazy and can’t stay in the shelters. The city council keeps saying they have spaces vacant and food, and showers and free clothing going unclaimed.
The city ought to work on removing the dog/drink/crazy rules and find room for all lost souls. But somehow I think that’s less likely if begging gets these people off their hands.
People should definately NOT give money to the beggers on the street. Some people are not even poor/homeless/etc etc. They are just people milking human kindness for all it’s worth.
If you want to help the homeless people you should donate time to the local shelter, or if you are unable to do that, you should donate money/clothes/food. People who are truly needing it and deserving of it will receive your aid. There is no guarentee that the men and women and even children on the streets are legit.
Pepperlandgirl, just to let you know, the stance of the Mormon church is that you SHOULD give money to beggars. You have no idea what they need it for and its better to give in doubt than to not give not give at all.
I have no problem with giving money to a beggar. What’s a pocketful of change to me? Also, my friends and I made it a habit to give a beggar who hung around our workplace sandwiches because it was obvious he was spending all his money on liquor.
beakerfx, call my cynical, but I will NOT just randomly hand out money. I used to, all of the time. And it made me feel good. But then I realized that people who are not going to spend the money on booze are going to shelters. People who need to feed a habit are begging on the street. I’m sure God will understand if I don’t give my money to a boozer, instead I give it to a mother who is trying to survive and doing what she can for her kids at a shelter.
I work in DC and pass the beggars all the time. There is the “60-cent” lady at Union Station, the “hey mister” guy hanging around my office building, and many, many others. I am a charitable person, but I don’t give handouts.
I passed a guy the other day who made it a point of cussing at anyone who didn’t give. He yelled “Go to Hell!” to me when I told him no to his request. After finishing my business at the Post Office, I came back around to where he was, leaned against a tree and stood there watching him.
He asked me what the Hell I was looking at, and I told him I wanted to see how successful he was at getting donations by insulting, cussing, and yelling at passers-by. It didn’t seem to me to be the best of approaches. I think he got unnerved by me just standing there staring at him (I told him I had half an hour to kill for my lunch break), and he eventually moved on.
No. If he needs money, he’ll go to the shelter.
Besides, since when does it matter what a boozer looks like? I bet if you saw my grandparents you would have no idea they are raging alcoholics.
I generally don’t give to beggars, simply because once you give to one, they swarm you. I do however give to those who lend a hand, therefore earning it so to speak. You get those types often in the city, they’ll hold a door open for you, hail a cab, offer directions, etc. etc. I rationalize in my mind that that is at least worth .50 and I give it, I would hope they at least buy food with it, but more often than not that is probably not the case.
I’d give them food. Once a beggar was walking around in my neighborhood for some unknown reason and asked for money, so we can him some fruit and stuff instead. That’s my solution, only you’re not very likely to have any food while walking around the commercial or industrial area.
Giving food might be OK. I was with friends last year, walking into a coffee shop. A panhandler asked for some change ‘to buy a cup of coffee’. We said no, but on the way out I gave him a cup of black coffee, with 2 packages of sugar and 2 packages of milk on the side. He looked at it, then threw it onto the sidewalk. So who knows?
You don’t have to give money if you don’t want. But please, at least look at the person and say, sorry, no.
After fleeing his abusive parents, my best friend spent a short but harrowing time homeless and having to beg. He tells me that so many people simply passed him by in a day that when some of them actually stopped and said, sorry, no, the acknowledgement of his existence was almost as good as getting change.
Most of the beggars in my area know how to stake out the best intersections and freeway on-ramps to set up shop. They usually carry a sign with some kind of variant of “Will work for food” written on it. Most of them are not actually willing to work for food, though.
The most creative beggar sign I saw read, “Hungry vegetarian.” I guess booze qualifies as a vegetable.
I tried the food rap exactly twice. The first time, the person simple sais no and walked away. The second time, I was actually threatened for not wanting to simply hand him money. I won’t doo THAT again…
Sorry, but in a huge city, there are a ton of resources available if you need a roof over your head and a meal. And my taxes are paying for them.
Oh, and my family was almost homeless for a while when I was in High School. My dad took advantage of every program he could and it was barely enough, so please don’t think that I never once went to bed hungry.
Yer pal,
Satan
TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
One month, one week, six days, 4 hours, 10 minutes and 42 seconds.
1726 cigarettes not smoked, saving $215.87.
Life saved: 5 days, 23 hours, 50 minutes.
Real story: A street begger leaves his corner and walks into the 7-11 to use the bathroom. An hour later the attendant finds the guy OD’d in the toilet stall with the needle still in his arm.
Does the person who gave him money to buy the heroin share some of the responsibility?
I used to be compassionate towards beggars (you never know what put them in their posistion-fire, loss of job, etc.)…until a few weeks ago. The beggars/homeless in my city hit the major intersections. I felt guilty for refusing. One man in particular had a special corner for each day of the week. One night, I discovered my husband devoured the rest of the milk, so I had to run to the nearest 7-11. As I was walking out of the store, the beggar man drove up in a brand new Honda Civic, which totally made my little neon look like a piece of doo. I’m curious if the beggar’s hourly income is greater than mine!
I give food. No one in this country should ever, under any circumstances, ever have to go hungry. There is plenty of food and plenty of money to make sure that never happens. People going hungry makes me extremely angry.
Last summer, my husband and I had pulled into a gas station to get gas and use the ATM. It was over 90 degrees outside and it was miserable. A small elderly man with clothes in his hand was going car to car asking for a dollar to get a cold drink. No one would give this man a cent. He asked my husband who was outside pumping gas but he didn’t have any money. When I came out of the store after using the ATM, he told me what the man wanted. The man was slowly walking away from the gas station down the road. I went and got him, brought him inside the sandwich shop next to the station. I asked him if he was hungry and he just sat there looking at the floor. I asked him why he had his clothes and he told me he had been released from the Veteran’s Hospital the morning before and his son was supposed to come pick him up but never showed. He walking home. He had changed clothes because he had fallen and had gotten some dirt on his pants and he wanted to be clean when he got home. After asking if he had any allergies or if there was any food he did not like, I went and bought him a sandwich and a drink. Only after I brought food to him did he look up at me. He was crying. He took my hand and said, “God will bless you for this. He will return the goodness of this deed to you tenfold.” He was so embarassed that he was having to ask for help. He would not make eye contact with anyone but he needed help. I made him promise to stay inside in the air conditioned building for a while out of the hot sun and gave him a couple of dollars to get drinks later on but he refused it. So I went and bought him a refillable bottle of water. We offered him a ride but he would not take it.
Yes, I could have assumed that he was just an old drunk who wanted some cash for booze and just driven away. But I would like to think that if I was ever in a situation where I needed someone’s help and was completely dependant upon the kindness of strangers, someone would take a chance and help me rather than assuming the worst.
Yes, there are homeless people who use the money for booze. However, I have had enough dealings with those who do not to still have compassion. When I worked for McD’s there was an elderly homeless gentleman who would come in once a week with money he had earned washing windshields, opening doors, carrying groceries, and buy a senior citizen’s coffee ($0.25) and an apple pie $0.50), as a treat for himself. People would always try to buy him food but he would refuse, telling them he usually got two good meals a day from people he did chores for and that if they wanted to do something nice, they should buy some hamburgers and take them to the shelter for those people who could not get out and move around like he could.
Yes, there are people who scam for money and use it for alcohol and drugs but there are also people who deserve it and need it. I don’t want to have to live with my conscience if I make the wrong judgement call about one of them.
One day my boyfriend at the time and I were walking around downtown. I had just moved out of my house and I didn’t have that much money. A young man was panhandling. I said I didn’t have any change, but that I was about to go to lunch, and would he like to come along? He said certainly; he was ravenous. The three of us shared a meal. I see him occasionally and he smiles and waves.
In the UK there is a (I think) bi-weekly magazine called The Big Issue. It’s a fairly average read but the real point is that it exists solely for the homeless to sell. For every copy they sell I believe they make 30p (I could be wrong). It means that they are not begging but vending. Don’t get me wrong I think it’s a comendable notion but how is this any better? I find that they are just as aggressive when selling the mag as when they were begging. I have no time for Big Issue vendors. If you say “No thanks” you are treated to a sarcastic “Thanks very much Sir, have a nice day”. They’re trying to SHAME you into buying a copy. That’s why I have the attitude I do. The other reason is that half of them aren’t homeless at all and are better dressed than me! Baseball caps, new trainers, they are often smoking. Homeless my hairy yellow butt.
Well, based on the comments made in this thread ('specially Evilbeth’s… that was quite touching, m’dear), I think there’s a couple conclusions that can be made…
If someone’s asking for help in an environment where help is readily available (i.e.- the Big City, whatever), chances are they just want cash for booze/drugs/porn/whatever (feel free to bash me on this… I think it’s sound logic).
If someone’s asking for help where help ISN’T readily available (see Evilbeth’s tale), it’d probably be a nice thing to help out.
I wish I could have a better opinion of human nature, but there’re a lot of people who are lying scumsucking (insert language that belongs in the Pit here) so-and-so’s who don’t wanna work and like toying with human sympathies. It’s people like this who really screw up the lives for those who truly are in need.
I give money to beggars when I have money to give… which I rarely do. If I don’t have money, I at least follow Matt’s advice… I give them the common courtesy and respect that one human being should automatically give to another human being.
I feel much more comfortable giving my time to shelters, helping out there, serving meals etc than giving random people money. Occasionally I offer to buy food and they refuse, which really disheartens me, it is awful to see them begging for the money for another can of beer.
I think that we should give to the needy, but time and energy is more useful than a few pence.