Your personal policy towards giving to beggars and panhandlers.
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I imagine that it must feel terrible to be in a situation where many people try to completely ignore your presence all day long.
Ah hell, I've had that job professionally, as a signature gatherer for ballot initiatives. If you make enough money at what you're doing, you don't care about people who ignore you. It's the reality of doing business. Beggars for the most part are doing business, that's why they continue at it. And I stand by my claim that they're almost never panhandling for food, as it's too easy to get food from other sources. They want money for drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. Maybe for transportation as a distant second.
I'm curious to see what everyone's personal philosophy is towards giving money to beggars. I'm not talking about volunteering at a soup kitchen or donating to a homeless advocacy organization here. I'm talking about giving to the homeless person standing holding a cardboard sign at the freeway exit ramp or the blind guy sitting next to the trash can at the subway station.
My personal philosophy is to only give to the disabled and sometimes the elderly depending on how frail they look. I used to give money to military veterans too, but after reading in the local paper about a frauds posing as Vietnam vets I stopped doing that. I absolutely do not give a cent to people who look like they have the physical and mental capacity to work. I can't tell you the number of times I've been asked for money by tall, muscular men who look more fit than I am. As far as what I give, usually it's about $2-$4, depending on what loose bills I have in my pocket as I never take out my wallet anywhere except to pay for something. I don't usually give change. It feels too demeaning to throw a few quarters into someone's cup, as if they were a water fountain or something like that. I don't give food, as that's usually not what they want. I could care less whether the person was going to spend that money on booze, drugs or prostitutes.
If there is money in my pocket (usually I don't carry that much cash on me... at the most $5 - $10) and someone is clearly homeless and/or down on their luck and asking for money, then I am pulling that cash out of my pocket and giving it to them. Heck, I've driven by starbucks and the closest fast food restaurant and brought people lunch.
What I usually do is buy them prepared food; e.g. a sandwich from the supermarket deli. That way I'm not directly supporting any "lifestyle" while not being miserly.
I went to school in New York City and lived in Greenwich Village, near the East Village at the time. In any event, when I first moved there, I would give money to panhandlers if I had any spare change. I soon realized, though, that if I gave a quarter to everybody who asked me for spare change, I wouldn't have any money left. So, I sort of stopped giving money to panhandlers.
I used to give them food if I saw them outside of wal-mart or something. Never money cuz I know most goes to booze. However, I've come to realize that some of these people just stay in the same spot like it's their job site. Although the government is not really solving the problem effectively, I just ignore them now. I don't know if they're really suffering or just doing this out of laziness or addiction issues.
Those of you who are giving cash to beggars, congratulations for perpetuating the problem.
Beggars are either fakes, addicts or ex-cons. How does giving cash help them? That's like giving peanut butter sandwiches to bears and thinking you're doing good.
If you want to help homeless people, give them bottled water, food or clothes
BTW, my rule is that if any beggar has a child with them, I do not give them anything. I think it's disgusting and shameless to exploit your children . YOU SHOULD BE WORKING
I would rather give to someone with a child. Are you so sure they are exploiting the child? Maybe they do not have friends or relatives either around or that can help anyway. Yes, it would be nice if they could work, but do you know of a job where you could bring your child with you if you dont have someone to watch that child while you work? Everyday? Could you bring that up in an interview? That you don't have a babysitter or a daycare? Which costs money, by the way. I have an idea - How about you offer to watch their child while they work? Oh, wait, you probably work so can't watch someone else's child while they work to get off the streets. Lucky you! It's a catch-22 here. I agree that some are scam artists, but some truly are in a terrible situation with no Easy or simple way out. If you don't know their situation or the history behind it, you can't know for sure it's a scam. Me, I'd rather be out the $5 or $10 and know at least I tried and be all right with myself. I'm not rich, but I could do without the couple of Starbucks coffees I'd spend it on anyway. Besides, I'd rather be wrong by giving to someone who is scamming me than let the child suffer more if it's not a scam. It doesn't hurt to be kind.
Last edited by Mlogan75013; 01-11-2014 at 02:07 AM..
Your personal policy towards giving to beggars and panhandlers.
I don't. I read a story once about a guy coming out of a deli who was approached by a panhandler who asked for money because he hadn't eaten in two days. The guy took a big sandwich he had, broke it in half and gave half to the panhandler. The PH looked at him quizzically, walked down the street and threw the sandwich in a garbage can.
On a personal level, we had a guy at out local shopping center with an "I will work for food" sign. I needed someone to help me move furniture, not heavy, from my mother's house to my house. I offered him $50 for 2-3 hours work. He looked me like I had two heads and walked away.
--Very high probability they have a drug or alcohol addiction and I don't want to be their enabler.
--Lack of money is almost a always a symptom of other issues. Giving people money does nothing to fix those underlying issues and allows people to avoid dealing with them.
A lot of homeless people come from really horrible family backgrounds where there was physical/sexual/drug/alcohol abuse. Unfortunately, I don't think even the best psychologists/psychiatrists know how to help these people.
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