Do you gve change to homeless people?

Have you ever given money, or will you ever give money to a homeless person??

If i have change to spare that i haven't got any particular plans for, of course i would. Why shouldn't i? Would you?

Though, it would make more of a difference to make a whole lot of sandwitches and hand them out to homeless people. That way you know for sure that they won't go hungry or waste your change on drugs or beer. Or maybe if your head of a company, and your thinking "i could use one or two janitors" why not hire a homeless person??

 

Patrick Bateman had the right idea

 

I buy into the spend-it-on-booze stereotype, as well as if you give something to one, they'll flock and remember you.


tfs Because you can, can, can

 

if i have some money in my hand or spare change i wont go digging in my wallet if someone comes to close i dont want them to grab my wallet.

 

Its hard to know who is really homeless these days and who just wants some money.

I say give them a cocunut.

 

To be honest I don't give money to those begging on the street because the majority of them have somewhere to live.

 

no, I only give it to people that ask me directly and came up with weird circumstances like "I live on the other end of the world and need only 1? for my train!".

otherwise, I like being an ignoring ******* who pretend he doesn't have money, but is in fact on his way to buy a DVD and eat at McD's

 

Only time I've ever given money to a homeless person was a few years ago in downtown Manhattan. The guy had a sign saying, "I'm not gonna lie, I need money for booze, hooker and drugs." Since he was honest, I gave him a few bucks. But other than that one instance, no.

 

Give him an A for Effort. Err. ?

Well, obviously they did something to get homeless, so I'm thinking that as long as I spend hard hours at work getting minimum wage, I deserve it more than a guy who sits on a street all day.



tfs Because you can, can, can

 

No one ever gives me change, If I got change then I would give it to someone.

 

Yes, I do.

 

Interesting replies, i must say.

 

Nope.

Ever since I saw a news report on how much those people make---tax free. One even said that he makes more begging on the street than he would if he got a job.

I don't give my hard-earned money to panhandlers.

 

I once meant to drop a dollar bill that I had no particular need for and accidentally dropped a five instead

I usually don't though, most of them just spend it on drugs/booze

I say give em food, or hire em for something and pay them with food and a place to live. And once they've proven they can hold a job for a little while then start paying them, otherwise they'll likely work a day, get the money, and then get a fix

 

I dont live in a city, but if I did I would.

 

No, absolutely not. But I do give a lot of money to legitimate charities instead.

The trouble with beggars is some of them probably want the money for drugs and some of them are scam artists with a partner who'll come by, hit you with a crowbar, and grab your wallet as soon as you take it out. I know full well that a lot of people who beg also have legitimate needs - I used to work part-time at a shelter, and I would meet people, mostly women and kids, who said they couldn't stay there because they were afraid of other people living there. So I always feel bad when I refuse homeless people money, but I don't know what other alternative there is.

 

I don't give away my money usually but my grandparents almost always have food with them when they travel and they will give people apples or food or something. wahtever they have. once they offered to take a guy to McDonals to buy whatever he wanted (his sign said he wanted $ to buy food) and he's like "no, I just want the $ I don't want food." So they assumed he was using it for drugs ors omething and left.

 

Give a man fish, you feed him for a day

Teach a man to fish , you have fead him for a lifetime.

 

I used to. But then 2 'homeless' people made me change:

1) A teenager that came up to me asking for money, because she was pregnant. She wasnt showing, or anything, so I figured she was still in the early stages. So I gave her some change. A few months later, however, same chick, same deal. Still not showing. So I didnt give her money.

2) A dude in his early 20's. Told me he needs some change for food. I gave him what coins I could immediately grab out of my pocket. It wasnt much, only like 50c, but that was what change I could grab, without fishing through my pockets. He then said he didnt believe that was all I had, and wanted to see my wallet. I told him to get stuffed, and ran into the train station. A few months later, I saw him running around with some of his friends, acting like a real delinquent.

So, these two morons have now spoiled it for any legit homeless people.

Add to that, that we have good unemployment benefits here (good enough), and I dont see why they should need to ask people for money.

But I do give money to different charities. Especially the Salvation Army, who spend a lot of time working with true homeless people.

 

I only give to the beggers that have a realy good story. This one guy came up to me in the subway station and asked if I could spare a dollar so that he could get a ticket so that he could go get his wellfare check. And once he got he cheack he would be able to go home to his family and get something to eat for the first time in a week, and with the rest of the money he would be able to buy some new clothes.

IMO thats a good story, even though I know the guy is an alcoholic.


-Mulacki

 

I use to, but I saw some report on DATELINE a few years ago about how a lot (not all) are scam artist who panhandle for a living. They actually live in nice apartments and drive cars, financed by making a hundred bucks or so a day from begging. There's an elderly woman who haunts the neighorhood coffee shop I go to and she's really annoying. She's been begging for years now, with the same story about not being able to afford presents for her grandkids. I just ignore her now. Some are really down on their luck, but it's pretty pathetic when someone asks you for change and they're wearing better shoes than you are.

 

A few tidbits:

Homeless in San Diego will say "Godbless you" when you turn them down for change.

Homeless in Las Angelas will yel "**** YOU!" when you turn them down for change.

A news report on the homeless in San Diego in the early 90's went around to those people who has signs that read, "Homeless will work for food". So, the reporter drove up and told them he had jobs for them to do in exchange for food and maybe money. Every one of the homeless folks told the reporter about having a bad back, or a sore leg or other excuses as to why they would not actually work. One guy admitted that all of them were just out to get money from people and had no intention of working for anything.

There was a story about a man in NY who would sit in Times Square. He had on ragedy clothing, was very unkept looking, and had a hat placed in front of them. So many people would go by this area in a day and drop in money that would add up to $50,000 a year, tax free. He would then go to his home at the end of his "work day", get showered up, sleep, and live his life, then go sit in Times Square each day and repeat. I have no idea if he started out homeless, and this could be an urban legend. A teacher in school told me about it.

While walking around in San Fransico one of my friends stopped, leaned against a wall, and asked a man for some spare change. The guy looked him over and gave my friend 50 cents.

The best place to stand when panhandling is at a stop light right before a highway on ramp. Traffic is high in such places and if you are dingy enough looking and have a good begging sign you will make some good money.

 

My Dad once knew a guy who went panhandling some times. He apparently made a little money.

That would be an awesome profession.

 

In downtown Seattle, there's a homeless person on every street corner. Normally they don't come up to you, though, they just stand there.

It's not hard to tell who's scamming and who's not. One guy I saw was dressed up nicer than a lot of the people who were downtown, shopping. But some of them you can tell really are homeless, and I feel terrible for them.

It's insane how many homeless people there are there. They should really do something about it.

 

hahaha...Nice stories VadersLament

Once when I went to the Smithsonian in Washington, my friends and I saw a couple of girls sitting in the corner of one of the museums and threw change at them. They weren't poor...I think they were on a field trip...

Also, there was this lady that used to walk around my old town and ask for money to help her get on a bus to visit her kids in Southern California. I guess she was never able to raise enough money though; we saw her every single time we went to the gas station.

I'll give "hungry" people half-eaten bags of Fritos or serve at a Soup Kitchen, but I won't hand them free cash $$$$$.