Does anyone remember reading an essay, I think it was in the Reader a couple/few years ago, where the writer mused on the different types of “charity” situations - the different variables under which you might or might not give? Is it more or less “charitable” to give to someone who offends you, than someone who reflects yourself in some way. How is the giving changed if you attach strings to the gift? I think the essayist identified somewhere over 10 categories of giving. The dynamics can be quite complex.
I used to never give to street people. Used to say that is why I pay taxes. Now I generally give $1-2 a day, usually $1 on the way into work, and $1 on the way home. And once I’ve given my buck, I don’t give to the others I pass. It makes me feel good. Not sure why. Makes me appreciate how much I have - how fortunate I am on so many levels. No, I don’t consider myself rich, but I do feel comfortable.
Allowing the recipient to choose how he spends my $, either towards an SRO or a bottle of wine, may be one of the few areas in which he can exercise his discretion. Giving something to a couple of them ensures that I do at least a couple of decent things on a regular basis. Maybe I am a little personally insecure, but on some level it kind of reinforces in me that I am a decent person, capable of doing things that are nor required of me, and from which I will not receive an immediate tangible reward. Maybe I am weak for needing this type of mindfuck to build up and reinforce my self image, but it helps float my boat.
A month or two ago the Globe and Mail, a Canadian national newspaper based in Toronto, put one of their reporters on the streets of Toronto for a week with empty pockets to examine the homeless. It was a great series of articles and you can probably search it up at their website. Some of the facts as best I can remember them:
Women give money to beggers more than men, about a 10:1 ratio.
A professional begger with a choice spot, outside a major shopping center or at a busy subway station can easily clear $200 a day and up to $600 a day around Christmas or other sappy holidays that loosen up the suckers.
professional technique is much discussed and it is generally agreed that a good begger makes him or herself as pitiful as possible; sitting down instead of standing up; looking mournful, ragged clothes, etc.
the reporter observed professional teams being placed in the morning by their manager who made regular collections of money from them during the day.
there is more good free food available in the big city than all the homeless could ever eat. He saw crowded “soup kitchens” serving very good meals and noticed that lots of the patrons were jingling car keys, had cell phones and pagers, and he figured all the dope dealers, pimps, and other assorted criminals were all eating free along with the homeless.
My personal experience: I live in a big city and I walk or bicycle downtown so I see a lot on the street. There are hordes of beggers, mostly regulars. Some of them have been at it for years. I notice they are more aggressive with senior citizens and women with baby carriages. I’ve seen them laughing and making hand signals to each other across the street after a score from a mark. I’ve seen lots of teenagers from the suburbs trying out this scam on the downtown streets. The glamourization of “street kids” has done nothing but harm. Sure there are abused kids but the “abuse” often takes the form of parental curfews and pressure to do their homework.
My personal opinions:
These are almost all predators and you are the prey. They despise you and think they are brilliant con artists. If you give them money you encourage them to continue and you share the responsibility for the intimidation of the next 80 year old woman they catch on the street and scare into giving them money.
You cannot even trust the ones with a good act or story. I’ve seen their acts repeated “I need 80 cents for bus fare” etc. etc.
Where is the ambition? I don’t see any handheld shoeshine kits on the streets. You would think the street shoeshine would catch on as a way to make more money. I think the suckers are so thick and generous on North American streets that the beggers don’t have to work up any sweat.
Do not give them a penny. Do not look at them or acknowledge their existance in any way. They are not going to move on to something else if people encourage them. There are a lot of legitimate very good charities that need your money badly.
As I’ve said elsewhere, I worked around the former Soviet Union for a few years and I always had a long list of pet beggers I took care of on the streets over there. Ancient senior citizens and horribly maimed war victims were always around and I knew they were really starving and I was regular giver. So I’m not toally heartless. I saw an old woman over there collecting rotten orange peels out of a garbage heap to try and get some pulp off the skins. I saw lots of old people sitting in the street every day with an old bathroom scale in front of them, hoping for people to pay a few pennies to weigh themselves. I was weighing myself all the time.
One last story. I used to go almost daily to a central Asian bazaar/market. One day I saw a tiny little old lady outside the gate with her hand out. I gave her some money. A few days later she had set herself up with a little stool, an upside down cardboard box, and a filthy old deck of playing cards, and was bright and alert and waiting for customers. She was now a fortune teller. I watched her collect customers and after a few days she also had some smooth pebbles to move around with the cards as she did her thing. From begger to entrepeneur.
Hardwood Paneling
Member
Registered: Mar 2000
Posts: 25
My wife worked downtown in a large city about 6 years ago. She was going to lunch one day, and was stopped by a beggar, who asked her, obviously, for money.
She had, I think, only $2 on her. She stopped and looked at the guy (right there he’s in trouble), and explained to him how she hadn’t eaten all day, and had only enough for a muffin, etc. She was trying to tell him no, but kindly.
His response shocked her. He was moved with pity that someone should live like that, and pulled out a wallet that was bulging with money. He offered her a five, and when she wouldn’t take it, he explained that he was a professional, and makes something like $30K a year panhandling.
He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and as she was walking away, he walked behind her waving cash, trying to give it to her so she could have a nice lunch.
“Will work for food” Well, that explains it. They should change it to “Will work for money”
In the 70’s I was researching deaf people who have those cards or pencils & they are in airports selling those things. They are professionals. In the 70’s they could make $1500 a month tax free. Some aren’t even deaf.
I was going to do it once out of research but could NOT find who made the cards to buy some. Weird.
I just remembered: one of my favorite panhandlers used to be on the Madison Ave. bridge. His line was, “Help me please. I’m raising funds for food and shelter.” I always thought, “Hey, that’s what I’m doing too!”
So… anyone panhandling is a boozer? Anyone panhandling has to be homeless to be “legit”? Hmm. I once ran out of gas and had no money on me. I didn’t have any credit cards period, let alone on my person. I was about 4 hours from the town I lived in. Was I supposed to “go to a shelter”? I’m not saying that running out of money is the most responsible thing in the world, but it can and does happen.
I also remember when I was 18 and had no real job skills or experience… this was in '90/'91 during the recession. I applied for jobs every single day, but no one was hiring, especially not a fresh out of high school kid with very little job experience. I had an apartment, but no electricity. I had no money at all. I would go out every day and look for change in the parking lot, then bum quarters off people until I had enough to buy a couple of apples or a burrito or something.
That said, I don’t usually give people money who come up asking (though I do sometimes), but I think it is unfair to lump all people who ask for money into some big group as though they were all in the same situation.
Are there some scam artists? Yes. Are there lots of genuine people? Yes. Do people think mainly about the former category to rationalise not giving? I know I do.
The problem is that giving is not helping. If the person is genuine, giving just traps them in their current situation. Going to government or private organisations for institutionalised handouts is even more humiliating for many people, but can be part of a way out. But it is very hard to resist a genuine appeal. I feel like crap if I give, and like crap if I don’t.
There is no shortage of panhandlers in downtown Cleveland. Sometimes I give, sometimes I don’t. I hate to carry pocketsful of change, so if I have a lot on me, I’ll give. It really doesn’t cut into my bank account. Plus I figure, if a guy is a scammer, oh well, my loss. If he’s so down on his luck that booze or drugs are the only thing giving him any joy, who am I to engage in behavior modification? It’s not like it’s my child. Once it’s out of my hand, it’s his to spend on whatever he wants.
Dinsdale: Another member of the massive twice-daily tide across the Madison Street bridge! Union or Northwestern? Have you ever seen the old man on the Opera House side of the bridge who repeats constantly in a completely toneless voice “Jesus. I’m hungry.”?
The beggars love the Madison and Adams Street bridges, because of the crowds going to and from the train stations. It consists mostly of downtown workers, who’ve heard it all before and are unlikely to give to beggars. Still, there are always some suburbanites visiting town, or out-of-towners at Union, to play the sucker. At least Northwestern and the Madison entrance to Union don’t have the “doorholders” that hang around the Adams entrance to Union. You know, the grungy fellows that run up to every cab, open the door, and stand there expecting money from your cab change. IMHO, the “pounce on someone with a wad of notes in his hand so he can’t deny he has money” nature of this puts these bums right down there with the ones who make themselves look as menacing as possible (without actually threatening anyone) and stand right outside ATMs.
TheBigHun: We have something like that here in Chicago; “Streetwise” is a monthly publication for the homeless to sell. The Streetwise sellers take up post at major street corners, and there is sometimes one every other block downtown. I pass at least three or four in each direction every weekday, though they are “selling” a monthly paper. Some can be very agressive, and even the mildest ones will try to shame you with a “God bless you” if you don’t buy one, even if you bought one last week or from another “vendor”. I’ve heard from reliable sources that, outside downtown, the police have to occasionally bust up fights between Streetwise “vendors” over particularly juicy corners in busy shopping areas or near L stations.
All that said, there is one group that I give money to on the street: street musicians or singers that are particularly good. IMHO, they are providing a real service and not merely begging.
Some days I do, some days I don’t, some days I offer food, some days I buy them beer. Why should anyone care other than the beggar and myself?
Yes, I have certainly been scammed occassionally. I have also received sincere gratitude occassionally. What I have never done is pretend that my decision will have dramatic effects on the beggar’s life. I have also never believed that the only meaningful acts are those which dramatically effect someone’s life. Personally, I am in favor of small kindnesses expressed at a personal level. If some of you prefer institutionalized charity, that is a fine thing. I do not see that this needs to be an either-or proposition.
I, too, remember seeing a regular beggar in the Westwood (Los Angeles) area getting into his car and driving away after his day’s, ahem, “work” was done.
I wonder if these guys are reporting their income to the IRS…
JB: NW, heading west. The guy you are taking about used to have the patter I said - must have had some kind of a downturn a few years ago to reduce him to his present state. Haven’t seen the strident “VIETNAM VET!” lately. Then there’s the older black guy w/ the yarmulke who stands in the middle of the crowd stridently repeating “Help me, Lord, I’m hongry.”
Street musicians! Don’t tell me you actually give $ to that guy dreads plucking that beat up guitar S of the Opera House. Gave him a buck once and he looked at me like I spit at him. Pissed me off at first, but then made me think - I’m not sure I should expect a certain response from folks to whom I extend charity. My preference is to give it no strings attached. It is harder to give to people who bother or offend you for some reason. (These are the kind of reflections I recall from that article I referred to above.) Do you give to the most “clean-cut” or well-spoken panhandlers? Could argue they are less in need… I can tell you, tho, one guy I avoid is the blind guy with the card table and all the Jesus loves you crap.
Please don’t tell me you support that sax guy playing his 3 tune repertoire relying heavily on the Flintstones theme song. And I don’t care for the windflute band since they went electric! Now the little old guy with the accordian rocks!
I’ve given more than a few bucks to the legless guy who used to park his wheelchair right in the middle of the N side of the bridge. He has recently moved to the E side. I’ve seen folks drop him off and pick him up. He obviously has a functioning support system, and I guess he makes a few bucks at his gig, but hey, I don’t envy him his situation.
Just what are those street panhandlers doing with our cash? It seems like a small worry amidst the massive monetary orgy swirling around us all the time. I wish we could all be just as concerned about where the rest of our money goes after it leaves us. When you spend those few bucks at Wal-Mart, where does it go? When you buy that overseas-made popular toy, where does the money go? When you buy that zillion dollar Big Game lottery ticket, where does the money go?
When one gives money to a beggar, one is usually hoping to do a good act and make the world a better place for the less fortunate–and hoping to get that pleasant feeling of having done something nice. However, you can get that same feeling, reward some good folks who are working hard, and help make the world a better place by being vigilent about where your money is being spent every day. Most of our daily expenses we make without so much as a thought probably go toward things that make a street beggar’s alcohol or hidden luxury car look like virtuous purchases.
Give your pocket change to the beggar, I say! They might or might not need it, but they damn sure aren’t doing some of the terrible things large business, governments, and sweatshops are doing with that cash we so graciously give them daily in exchange for some poor-quality consumer experience.
This topic is very interesting. There’s a sign posted in our break room from the city management board encouraging people to stop giving money to panhandlers.
The reasons it gives are that it encourages more panhandlers (because it gives them viable resources in the form of handouts as opposed to seeking some sort of reformation from a homeless center) and it encourages established panhandlers to be more aggressive (for some, this can be very uncomfortable - god forbid).
The city I live in has one of the best homeless centers in the nation. It has received national recognition and has been a model for many other newly constructed centers. Its a wonderful resource to the less fortunate in the area, and has helped out innumerable homeless individuals.
One of the things that these facts helps out with is the fact that a great number of the homeless in the area are so by choice. They’ve been kicked out of the center a certain number of times to the point where they are no longer welcome (behavior, drug use, etc.). When I give money to homeless in my town, I have a real good idea where its going.
“Don’t tell me you actually give $ to that guy dreads plucking that beat up guitar S of the Opera House.”
Oh crikey, I know who you’re talking about, and no, I haven’t given him anything. I said musicians who were GOOD. Flinstones man is not bad at all, but there’s nothing especially good about his playing, so I don’t give him anything either.
No, when I say I give to some really good musicians, I’m talking about people like the group of about 5-6 young men who were playing marching band music at the SE corner of the Adams Street bridge one evening. They were good, but more importantly, they were out of the ordinary. Or the old Asian man playing the violin in various subway stations on the State and Dearborn lines, and occasionally at O’Hare in the pedestrian way by the garage and subway station. He plays sweet, relaxing, classical music (what he plays is a VIOLIN, never a fiddle!) and I give him a buck or so every time I see him!
Again, I don’t know if anyone made this point in the thread, I didn’t read all the way through it. Damn you people are long winded. But my stance on it is simply this.
Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.
Why give money to someone when you can show someone how to get their own money. If you want to lend a hand out to the unfortunate,(If that’s what you want to call them) then make that hand one of assistance. My family, a long time ago, when we could still afford it, and we lived in Altadena still and blah blah blah, (you don’t need my life story) would help take in people in bad times. We helped feed, cloth, house and bathe them. They were part of the family. In exchange for our services, they were expected to find jobs and when that happened, they moved on. How I lived through that time in my life, I have no idea. But if you want to feel good about helping someone, don’t hand them money, hand them your love. If you knew that you single handedly helped someone to better themselves, and move out of a nasty situation, other than keeping them in that situation and hoping them well with a couple buck and 40 cents left over from dinner, then you’d know happiness of the heart. Thank you
Another factor to consider is the fact that the Fed and the Bank of Canada intentionally keep interest rates high in order to curb growth-related inflation (this practice in general benefits the banks and the wealthy). This has the result of keeping a fixed percentage of the population out of work at any given time.
Consider also the phenomenon of the working poor: when the minimum wage is not sufficient to be a living wage, which especially for families is often the case, the “why don’t you get a job?” argument stops being valid. Why get a job, work your ass off, not have any time or energy left to look for a better job, and not make enough to live on anyway, when you can not make enough to live on and save the effort? Logical, yes?
Next time you see a beggar and are tempted to let your mind fly into a whirl about how they should all just get a job, let these thoughts cross your mind.
The trouble with handouts is they sustain the status quo.
The trouble with shelters is that by applying rules like no dogs they are creating a class of indentured servants.
Castro doesn’t have beggars dying in the streets. India does.
Have you ever seen the old man on the Opera House side of the bridge who repeats constantly in a completely toneless voice “Jesus. I’m hungry.”?