Panhandlers

[venturabeachpup]

I just saw an interesting result to a poll in the news. About 40% of all people give to panhandlers. I give a couple of bucks every now and then, not caring too much where the money goes. Just trying to make someone happy for a minute.

Why do you give or not give, and does it matter if it's a woman or a man. Or age........

[TonyHuntimer]

I used to give a few bucks once in a while. I've never cared if it was a woman or a man. It's a gutt instinct of who may blow it on food and who's going to blow it on alcohol or drugs. I've NEVER given to the people trolling on the street corners and off ramps. My friend gave to a guy down on his luck at a gas station asking for a few bucks for gas so he could get home (somewhere 50 miles or more away) and he was carrying a gas can. Gave the guy $10 after the guy laid out his sob story. A week later, the same guy approached my friend at the same gas station with the same story. Since then, I never give to anyone at a gas station.

Now if I'm going to give my money away, I give it to the Humane Society, Breast Cancer Research, or charities for troubled youth. But, until further notice, I am my own charity. If I worked for my money, it belongs to me (and my wife). :)

[bigvegan]

I usually don't give, especially after watching those news shows that show how most panhandlers aren't actually homeless and make something like $10+/hr in major cities.

I like the approach that some cities are trying, where you put spare change in specially designated parking meter type stands, and the money is used for homeless services. This way, those who need it get help, but it doesn't make the city an attractive nuisance for the professional panhandlers.

I think the chronically mentally ill homeless definitely need better access to help and care and housing, but I don't think everybody gets to camp out wherever they want to on the streets because getting a job and paying rent is a hassle and people are easy to take advantage of.

[formula]

I used to give, until a homeless guy cussed me out and called me a cheapskate for only giving him 2 dollars. Pretty much ruined it for me.

[ADaughen]

I don't give to panhandlers. The last couple I have come across are closer to muggers than needy. Standing outside Reds games following you for blocks, sometimes trying to block your path. They know you can't carry in the stadium, so I'm not surprised at how brazen they are.

Next time I'm just going to get a bag of Arby's 5 for $5 and have a bum fight in the street for them. ;)

[72ElCamino]

After living in Atlanta and going to school there for a year, they dont even phase me anymore.

It cracks me up when they ask college kids of they could spare money.

[justasquid]

I don't give to them, Its hard to see people in bad situations. If it were a person with a kid, I'd have a hard time saying no, but thats probably just another tactic they could use.

The reason Im bitter and really dont want to give is what happened a few years ago. I was in Florida for bike week with a few friends. We were stopped outside of burger king, this guy walks up and asks for some money as he is really hungry and hasnt eaten for days. He kept going on about it, in the meantime, one of our friends went into burger king and bought a meal. He walked out, handed it to the guy and said here man, hopefully this helps... the assclown looked at, pushed my friends extended hand away and said... " I need money you dumbass". needless to say, after that, you kind a gotta stop feeling sorry for these people. All I can think of is the guy wanted money for drugs or alcohol.. Either way, you think he would at least take something for free and say thanks. I know in todays economy, some people are homeless who otherwise wouldnt be, but those people who chose to be homeless when the economy was decent just make me sick.

[muthstryker]

I dont like to give out money to them. I work in downtown seattle, the worst ones are the ones that come up to you in the drive-thru while you are ordering and start asking you for food. Just pisses me off, ruins my appetite.

[79-TA]

Give to the local resue mission and call it a day. About 1 in 50 times I'll give to someone asking for money. On that note, I've never seen one of them ever collect enough for gas, a motel room, food, or whatever it was they were supposedly trying to save for.

[b-man]

I never hand over my cash to panhandlers.

Plenty of my hard-earned money already goes into our welfare system in the form of taxes, mostly for those who just don't feel like working.

I've had the same crap pulled on me at the gas station, same guy came up to me at the same station with the same sad story on different days.

Had a girl pretending to be pregnant tell me the same sad story twice a month apart outside of my grocery store.

I always see able-bodied people panhandling. Screw them.

[shmoov69]

Well, that is a tough one for me. I am a pretty generous person by nature. Also possibly the most synical you will ever meet! So, I usually over analyze the person and situation and don't give. But sometimes I do and give them the info and a card to my church and tell them to contact them for help. The church has a network type thing that will kind of track the legit people and the bums that do it for a living.
But in all reality, I can spare a five here or there and not affect me one bit. You never know when the other person is really in need. And I can't imagine ever being there.
I have offered one of those guys a job one day and they looked at my truck pulling a hot tar pot smoking and stinking (commercial flat roofer) and said "uhh, no no man, I-I-I'm afraid of heights". So that helped with my view of them being just bums.

[Roger M]

I have gone thru the same gas station story as some of you here. I gave a Five to this guy that needed gas to get his wife to the hospital.... and was approached a few weeks later by the same guy. It really changed my look on the majority of these people. If anything, I will give someone some food if I have anything at the moment, but no more cash.
Most of the guys that carry signs stating they will work for anything, are not willing to do jack.

However, there was a guy in Seattle once that carried a sign that sparked my interest. His sign said....

'Father was killed by Ninjas. Need money for Karate lessons'

[Motown 454]

When I was working I gave unless I knew it was a bull story . One winter I worked at a T stetion ( subway ) and they had a Dunkin doughnuts in it . A guy maybe 60 -65 came up to a bunch of us and askes for 55 cents no one gave it to him he wanted a cup of coffe. It was about 7 degrees out side . I'm a soft touch at the time I was working all kind of hours. So I told him get what you want he was getting a small coffee .So I got him a large coffe and a couple of doughnuts . My buddies called me a dope. When I paid for it the guy was waiting for me he wanted to give me the change he had. I don't think he was one of these guys that askes for money then goes around the corner and gets in his car and takes off. It felt pretty good to know he was in need . Two weeks later we found him on a granite bench . We thought he was sleeping the T officer poked him to wake him .He was dead.

[WS6]

I don't give because I can't stand the BS stories that are given to me. Most here have already witnessed what I have. People begging for gas money but won't take the gas you offer them for the can they are carrying. BS war stories when it's obvious the person is not a vet let alone in any form of dire straights other than being lazy. Can't find a job stories when the buses all converge on one area one block from where I'm being told this. Meanwhile, there's at least one bus that would take them to the Home Depot or Lowes where they could be paid cash money for a day's work. Hey, if someone that can't speak a lick of English and most likely can't even begin to point out where they are on a map of the US can get a job two days after sneaking across our borders, your lazy American born and schooled a$$ can do the same. Can't find work. ha what a crock. Luckily Athens has put up "Don't feed the bums" drop boxes for people wanting to donate. I'll gladly do that or help a local shelter before I give out anything to some random person. Too many con artists

On a side note, I lost a second date with a girl because I told the bum that was accosting us no to food. She bought him food anyway. He may have been hungry but he wasn't starved for food.

Ever notice how you never see anyone on welfare or food stamps that's skinny?

[79-TA]

Ever notice how you never see anyone on welfare or food stamps that's skinny?

Oh, my favorite is at the local grocery store where food stamps are used for food . . . which frees up the cash for a substantial amount of booze. Oh government, what would we do without your amazing social programs?

[Jarcaines]

I usually give a few bucks now and then, I know there are a lot of people who don't really need it or aren't using it for what they saying, but to me, it's more about keeping things in perspective for myself, not letting my money become more important to me then the act of giving. Does that make sense?

[UNWRITTENLAW1910]

Rarely ever give,as a rule you can see threw the crap. Only one time does a panhandler stick out, I was at Fisherman Warf in San Fransisco in the field of street performers, beggars, and bums asking for everything. Out of them all One guy had a sign that said "I am not lying it's for beer." I had to give him a buck. Thats the only time i have seen honesty from a beggar....

[CarlC]

Really? Care to cite some sources on that?

Let's not get off-topic and start something ugly. Stay on target.

My family is the best charity I can donate to.

[79T/Aman]

Really? Care to cite some sources on that?

I think the Village People made a song about one of them :)

I still feel sorry for some but I will no longer give them money for the same reasons mentioned in most every post, had a guy in front of me at the store using food stamps but he had on Air Jordan shoes that cost more than all the cloth I had on my body!!!, last time I was at a gas station getting coffee and donut, they had a 2 for 1 on the donuts so I gave one to the "homless" outside the door, he thanked me, here I was a white guy on the south side of Chicago, others of color were not all that nice to the panhandler, I guess they know something I don't

[jilge71]

man i just had a guy ask for a ride to a church...he gave me an intersection and no churches close to what he gave me....i grew up in norman man dont play me!!! i hate that...what i was also thinking is thats its a nice day and its not to far to walk if you really need to get somewhere. maybe 3 miles at the most. why are these people so lazy

[Pro Stock]

I haven't given much to street people, but once ran into a Vietnam Vet outside of a Wallmart store, he was in a wheelchair and missing both legs, the best thing that you can do for this kind of guy is to stop and have an actual conversation with him and look him in the eye like you would any other person, we talked about five minutes and I could tell that I really made his day, as I left I gave him 20 bucks and told him to have a good day, he looked at the money and told me that it was too much and wanted to give some back !. That made the two or three times that I probably got conned worth it.
The best way to help people is to get hooked up with a good church that helps the homeless or supplies volanteers to soup kitchens. It's too bad that the lazy F__k it up for the people that have fallen on bad times due to health or a financial crisis.

PS if any of you guys are feeling charitable, contact Todd Bevis at:
www.caringbridge.org/visit/toddbevis
Todd is the chassis builder for Cagnazzi Racing and builds the Pro Stock cars for Jeggie and Rodger Brogden. He is the best and one of us !!, just drop him a note, that will mean alot more to him that money, we raised $37,000 for him last night, DSE was one of the doners to the auction.



Dale

[Ralph LoGrasso]

NOTE: PLEASE REFRAIN FROM POSTING POLITICAL COMMENTARY IN THIS THREAD.

I've gone through this thread and edited out quite a few political comments. Some posts were completely deleted as they were comprised entirely of political commentary.

One of the concerns we had when we created the political forum was that some of the commentary would spill out onto the main forum. This is exactly what is happening here. I've gone ahead and removed it, but if it continues, we'll have to look at removing the political forum all together. We really do not want to have to go this route, so please keep all political discussion off of the main boards.

If you'd like to discuss panhandling with political commentary, then simply start a thread on the topic in The Political Outhouse.


ALL POLITICAL DISCUSSION SHOULD REMAIN IN THE HIDDEN POLITLICAL FORUM -- ADMIN

[dadto2jays]

I do not give any money to people asking on the stgreets. We do donate to the veterans, red cross, goodwill and use the receipts as tax write offs god knows I need every break i can get because of the tax bracket I am in.

[seekins]

i dont give unless its a family of kids and they look like they need it. Its not their fault their parents are bums or down on their luck.

Sometimes giving helps but most of the time it will hinder the person. imagine if they actually had to do something for themselves....

if you do give, dont give to make yourself feel better. Give because they need it..

[79-TA]

I haven't given much to street people, but once ran into a Vietnam Vet outside of a Wallmart store, he was in a wheelchair and missing both legs, the best thing that you can do for this kind of guy is to stop and have an actual conversation with him and look him in the eye like you would any other person, we talked about five minutes and I could tell that I really made his day, as I left I gave him 20 bucks and told him to have a good day, he looked at the money and told me that it was too much and wanted to give some back !. That made the two or three times that I probably got conned worth it.
The best way to help people is to get hooked up with a good church that helps the homeless or supplies volanteers to soup kitchens. It's too bad that the lazy F__k it up for the people that have fallen on bad times due to health or a financial crisis.

PS if any of you guys are feeling charitable, contact Todd Bevis at:
www.caringbridge.org/visit/toddbevis (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/toddbevis)
Todd is the chassis builder for Cagnazzi Racing and builds the Pro Stock cars for Jeggie and Rodger Brogden. He is the best and one of us !!, just drop him a note, that will mean alot more to him that money, we raised $37,000 for him last night, DSE was one of the doners to the auction.



Dale

That's something I've always wanted to do, but never really did. Props to you.

[69Pony]

Like most of you I am also leery of giving money out on the street. Now that I work in the burbs it doesn't come up much. I give a lot of time and $$$ to animal issues. I do remember one time in downtown Baltimore when a guy was trying to feed his puppy from trash. He was more of a guy down on his luck then a professional panhandler. I took him and the pup to McD's for lunch. We all enjoyed hamburgers together - he was a good guy down on his luck and not willing to let his best friend - the dog - go hungry. That went a long way to me....

Right now I spend over $400 a month on homeless cats. I am a caretaker for two cat colonies in the area. Basically cats that either escaped or were dumped and now have to fend for themselves. I provide food, water and shelter and just recently caught 13 adults and 5 kittens for TNR. 12 adults were fixed and released, the female and kittens are in my basement doing well and looking for homes. I will get the kittens adopted and the mom fixed soon. Cost me $669 to have them fixed but in one day I was able to get 90% of the colony captured and not reproducing.... THAT is my charity....

[Blue67gto]

I won't give them money, But I have Bought them a sandwich at the store to give them on the way out.

[Dayton]

I always ask them, "can you break a hundred dollar bill?".

[John Wright]

Giving to the bums on the corner holding a piece of cardboard...Hmmm, that is a tough one. I give occasionally, but the ones that don't get any help from me are standing there smoking a cig(as expensive as a pack of them are), and have a pack of dogs to also feed with them.

One guy gave me a story about how he and his mother needed to go to a neighboring state to visit someone at the hospital and they were almost out of gas. I got them to follow me down to the corner gas station to fill their car up. I was watching the pump and not paying any attention and spilled gas all over the ground at 75 cents. They said they were hungry but they had special dietary needs and couldn't eat there at the country store where we got gas(they had a short order counter with great food)...oh well, I guess they were a couple who "got me". Others have seemed more sincere and thanked me over and over, so it's hard to judge the book by the cover. I've also seen the one's driving nice cars and park in the lot at Walmart then walk to the corner of the parking lot to ask for money with their cardboard sign.

[twosaturns]

2 experiences:
yrs ago when working by myself one night in a bicycle shop, a couple came in w/ a sob story, bus broke down, need money to get home, etc. I couldn't give money from the register, didn't have any of my own either. felt bad about that for awhile, until about 6 months later, the SAME couple came in w/ the same story!
2nd story: a buddy of mine was in line the other day for concert tickets, playing w/ his iphone. dude comes up asking to borrow his phone, sister is in the hospital, has to call for a ride, etc. my buddy asks him for the number, ddude gives him some number reluctantly, then my buddy asks 'what's your sisters name?' dude just goes, oh, f you, man, forget it!
I've heard TOO mnay times people try to pull scams. good hearted people try to bring someone to a diner, give some money, tell them to order what they want, but scammer waits until they leave and just get the money.
there are plenty of programs available for folks when things get bad, begging should be way more than a last resort.

[Jarcaines]

if you do give, dont give to make yourself feel better. Give because they need it..

If this is in response to what I wrote, I think you misunderstood me. It's not about "making myself feel better" it's about keeping my money in perspective with the importance of other people.

I am not saying you should just give your money to anyone even if you know they are scamming you.

If you weren't referring to my comment... never mind.

[Jarcaines]

I won't give them money, But I have Bought them a sandwich at the store to give them on the way out.

This is a good way to go also.

[novanutcase]

There was a panhandler working an offramp by my house that had a women with him that would sit on a milk crate with, what looked like, a baby bundled up. He would act like he he was crippled and would clean up pretty good. I was pretty suspect of him for some reason I just had a feeling so I would never give him anything but I would regularly see him collecting $4 -$5 everytime a group of cars were stopped at the stoplight.

There's a Holiday Inn Express a 1/4 mile down the way. I saw him and his "wife" walking up to it late one night. No visible limp on him and the "wife" had the "baby" tucked under her arm!

The next time I was stopped at the stoplight/offramp he came up to me so I told him "Didn't I see you the other night walking up to the Holiday Inn? I noticed you didn't have a limp then!" He quickly hobbled away to the next car!

I don't give money to any homeless! There are services that they can take advantage of if they truly need help!

John

[DRJDVM's '69]

Around here, most of them are meth heads....... they score a few bucks and head straight to their dealer for their next fix.
If you ever watch "Intervention", you see the dope fiends do it all the time.

[rich_fbodySS]

I'm in San Francisco once or twice a week, and literally have to step over several every time I'm there. Berkeley as well.
My dad's from New York and he taught me very early in life to put the blinders on and pretend like I don't even see them. (sounds harsh-I know)
But I must admit, if I'm in the right mood, I'll occasionally give one the change in my pocket.
Many around here don't pretend they need the money for food. See lots of signs that say, " Please give me money for weed, beer, etc."
Lately, though, money is tight even for my family, so not giving much these days-if at all.
-Rich-

[Takid455]

I don't give moeny after a friend of mine got burnned once by the 'need gas' story. However, a few friends and I were walking out of a chinese restuarant in Manhattan as a begger approached us for money. No money was exchanged, but the begger had a hand full of fortune cookies and we had a good laugh afterwards.