Would You Help Out A Panhandler?

[LoneKiller]

Hi All.

If you were walking down the street and a homeless person asked you for some change, would you give it to him? The reason most tell me is that they are trying to get enough money for a coffee.

I'm pretty certain that they will buy booze with it, but being sober now doesn't mean that I've lost my compassion for others in need. Especialli in the Winter. Brrrrr........

I'm not saying that I'm better than anyone else. It just breaks my heart to see someone suffer like that.


Godspeed.
LoneKiller

 

[tedgresham]

Absolutely. I actually rarely have any change to give but more than once I've handed over my last few bucks to someone. What you're talking about is compassion. I've been as broke as any homeless person and been homeless a couple times myself. I've also been a welfare caseworker for several years. Some people get screwed over or have bad luck and wind up on the streets. Some people are just unable to cope with the world... whatever, they're human beings. If they have less than I do and I can give to them I will.

 

[EveWasFramed]

Yeah...Ive done that quite a few times. I did it more in the UK than here though. I rarely visit larger cities here, so I suppose that's why I ran into more people asking for money over there.

 

[Ak5]

Yeah of course I would!

Now if I have a hunch the person is going to buy booze or drugs with the money, of course not.

 

[Minus]

I usually do, though it can vary due to my impression at the time.

 

[tedgresham]

Yeah of course I would!

Now if I have a hunch the person is going to buy booze or drugs with the money, of course not.

Many years ago when I was young and stupid I was consulting with the pastor of a very large Methodist church in Wichita Falls about entering the ministry. The meeting was interrupted when the secretary asked the pastor to sign something. I could see through the open door a scraggly old guy standing outside in the foyer. The pastor explained that the church quit giving out money to street people because they bought booze with it. Instead they gave vouchers redeemable at the bus stop cafe which the church honored. Problem solved.

 

[TheSolitaryMan]

I've felt compelled to give to homeless people before, but I'm usually with my parents and they don't like me to do that so it's awkward.

If I were to do something like that (IE I was on my own), I'd probably go and buy them a coffee or something instead of just giving them the money. That way, you can be sure that they're getting something positive out of it.

I remember reading about some celeb who would buy a guy a coffee and a burger every few days, he ended up kicking his addiction, got a job and a house and became a friend of hers. He said it took that to get him back on his feet, because all the money he got went towards his habits.

Saddest homeless guy I've seen was after a night out I had. I was walking home with my family when this really dishevelled looking guy came the other way. He said "Do you think you could spare a belt? I really need one, I think I'm going to lose my trousers."

I wasn't wearing a belt at the time, so I just said "Sorry mate, I can't help you."

His reply was "That's fine, have a nice evening!". To see someone sinking that low, I just felt so sorry for him.

 

[nerdygirl]

I hate, hate, hate, hate it when somebody comes up to me and asks for money. I don't care if I sound like a jerk, because you know, I've actually been homeless. I never asked anybody for a dime. People sometimes saw me and would give me stuff, and I'd thank them. It wasn't about being proud. It was because I know people always think the worst when this kind of thing happens. Besides, there are soup kitchens out there. A lot of them will give you stuff for hygiene, like toilet paper, trial sized soap, and tootpaste. Some of them will give you a church service, which means you have a warm place to sit and get to feed your soul a little bit.

That said... Although I hate it when they ask, I will give some change. If they say it's for food, and I have enough time, I usually offer them a choice of a small bit of money or a loaf of bread and a small jar of peanut butter.

 

[Badjedidude]

If it's just one person, then I might.

But fresia no, if there are more than two or three all together in one place. Especially not to children. Street kids are vicious creatures and will surround you and pick your pockets anyway. So just stay the hell away from them.

I more regularly give money to buskers, who actually DO SOMETHING to earn my money.

 

[SophiaGrace]

I alwas wonder if people selling roses or bottled water in the middle of interssections are convicts running from the law trying to stay under cover in a job that doesn't require an ID.

=/

 

[theSmokingRabbit]

I never give out money.

But if I'm right next to a fast food restaurant or about to go in I'll ask if they want something from inside. You have to be careful though, some homeless are still very prideful and should be treated with respect.

 

[Bread]

We have a whole network of social services, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and whatnot. Anybody coming up here to ask for money is most likely an mafia imported immigrant working the street so their taskmasters could line up their pockets a bit more. Not a single one of the beggars here are native to this land, as the poor know and utilize social security, even if it's like pulling teeth sometimes with those people. Social security, I mean, not the unemployed.

The imported beggars always miraculously dissapear before winter, and make a return around summertime. Like migrating birds or something.

 

[tedgresham]

If it's just one person, then I might.

But fresia no, if there are more than two or three all together in one place. Especially not to children. Street kids are vicious creatures and will surround you and pick your pockets anyway. So just stay the hell away from them.

I more regularly give money to buskers, who actually DO SOMETHING to earn my money.

Where do you live, dude? I can feel the compassion in your words. Not. If I saw kids on the street I'd likely call CPS, though I know even that would screw the kids over. Adults quite often have earned their corner of homelessness. No child ever has. Those "vicious creatures" are victims, how ever they act now. I'd feed them first.

 

[Limlim]

I only gave money to a homeless person once, and that was when he was like "Can I have 5 bucks? Not gonna lie, I plan on using it on beer."

I gave him $20

 

[Badjedidude]

Where do you live, dude? I can feel the compassion in your words. Not. If I saw kids on the street I'd likely call CPS, though I know even that would screw the kids over. Adults quite often have earned their corner of homelessness. No child ever has. Those "vicious creatures" are victims, how ever they act now. I'd feed them first.

Wah wah. Blow me a sob story.

I live in the U.S., but I was more talking about when on vacation in other countries or something. There aren't too many roving homeless gangs of kids in the U.S. Thankfully, our government does its best to take care of kids, even if it is sometimes not the greatest thing to be "in the system."

I don't have enough money to feed a gang of kids. I need my money for my own life. I cannot and will not take responsibility to feed the children of this world. Does it suck that kids are going hungry and sometimes homeless? Sure. I'm not an unfeeling stone. But I'm not going to walk around trying to right the wrongs of the world one child at a time. fresia that.

Like I said, I was more talking about when on vacation in... say, a Latin American country, perhaps. Give one child a quarter or a dollar and they all rush up and mob you, and YES, some of them can get quite violent about it. How do I know? Maybe it's happened to me.

 

[Lollipop286]

Well.....I've never gave money to the homeless. I've seen a few, sure...one with a sign "Why lie? I need beer." haha. Doesn't mean I've never helped though. I've donated to charities and whatnot...hell I've even stood in negative degree weather while it was snowing ringing a bell for donations for the salvation army for hours. I've been more prone to give food and water to a stray animals though.

 

[annik]

I don't think I've ever been asked for money by a homeless person. I remember my ex did give money to a young girl once. The worst thing that happened to us was on my birthday we were going back to our hotel and I heard this weird noise and was really scared, it turned out to be a homeless guy and it felt kind of awful going into a really swanky hotel knowing someone was sleeping rough just outside.
I know what I do hate though, those people who come up to you in the street asking for charity donations. Its really awful and intimidating and they walk along side you forever. I actually hate walking through the middle of my local city because of them. I feel so tense and uncomfortable. If I want to donate to charity I will and I have and I've done the 24 hour famine a number of times. I won't however give an annoying student my bank details in the street. Oh yeah one really pissed me off once by asking my then boyfriend and me who were walking down the street holding hands if we were brother and sister?!

 

[Lollipop286]

Flowers in the attic!

 

[Pheenix]

No, I (well, plan to) calculate what amount of money I have to spare, research trustworthy funds to send them to, and do so per payday.
It's popularly considered a noble act to give random amounts of money to random strangers, but to me, that is indecision.

 

[SkuzzieMuff]

I never give them money, because I figure they're going to buy booze. If I give them anything, it's food. I used to go to a mall with friends and we'd often get a pizza. Most often we didn't eat the whole thing, and we'd wander around the area around the mall a lot, so we'd ask for some single slice boxes, and give the left over pizza to the homeless guys we'd often walk past. Sometimes they would really appreciate it, and then they were really nice to us after that. But sometimes we'd give it to one that was asking for money, and he'd kinda look at it like "Ugh, whatever, fine." and we'd be like "WTF, it's food, be grateful, *******." It was obvious that he really wanted cash for booze.
We also would see them with bottles in brown bags too, therefore, we knew they only wanted money for booze. But dude, it's ******* pizza, you **** well better be ******* happy I gave you anything you piece of honeysuckle.
Now I don't give anyone anything.