Do you ever give money to a homeless person holding a sign

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Generally speaking, I don’t. I don’t keep cash or provisions on me, so I’m not usually able to, but even when I do have money, I tend not to give.

There are a number of homeless people who panhandle near my work. I’ve seen the same ones over and over again for years on end. I’ve talked to some of them, even tried to direct them to where they can get help. Some of them seem genuinely grateful, others just seem annoyed by the information.

I’ll take them food and coffee in the morning, especially when it gets cold, but I’m just not comfortable giving money.

When I go into the city to go to the chapel, there are usually one or two homeless people. Sometimes I’ll offer to get them something to eat, sometimes I won’t. It usually depends on whether or not my instincts are telling me to stay away.
 
Techno2000 said:
Yes, it’s a great window of opportunity to do a good deed.
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Keep in mind that if you do it without taking the trouble to get to know the person you’re helping, you are also not unlikely to be helping them to maintain a sinful lifestyle–by that, I mean a habit of lying to people in order to obtain money for things that are harmful to the person doing the lying. That is not a “good deed.” If you had a brother or sister who was an addict and you saw someone buying their lies and actually helping them to buy drugs or alcohol and avoiding for another day the need to be turning away from what was going to kill them if they don’t find a way to stop, you wouldn’t call it a “good deed.”

There are people who are on the streets who need help with their addictions or their mental health problems or even just their joblessness. I’m not trying to paint addicts as the “undeserving poor.” Absolutely they need help finding food and shelter and safety from the crime they are constantly exposed to. Not all of them are helped by getting spending money, though, and not a few are actually harmed. Some are helped, but some aren’t. Don’t assume that money given blindly is always helping.
 
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GodIsPerfection said:
Another time I had a clean-cut man in his 30’s wearing shirt and tie come into my clinic seeking a Valium prescription. Pretty quickly I discerned that he was drug-seeking, declined the prescription, but inquired about his lifestyle. He rather proudly explained that he went clinic-to-clinic seeking drugs for resale, other times he put on old, torn clothes, a wig, and begged by a freeway exit. Aside from that, he collected welfare or some other form of public assistance. Overall, he netted in this way about $4,000 monthly and lived quite well. True con-men and charlatans are out there, One needs discernment about helping.
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Sadly, I had a friend whose friend from her church was recruited for a “panhandling ring” when he was released from prison. That is why I suspect the neatly-lettered signs: that is, because in our area the con rings supply these to their “stable.”

Other parts of the world are different, but the US has a very high proportion of sociopathic people out there who can lie to your face as easily as they can look at you. (The estimates run as high as 4-5% of people in the US have no emotional conscience to bother them when they lie to or manipulate others. They are obviously NOT all homeless or in prison nor is everyone in prison a sociopath or a psychopath.) People with no emotional qualms about lying to strangers are not incapable of following moral law, but it is hard for them to do it when living a life of conning people is made so easy for them.

As for addiction, it will ruin the character of the best person. There are tragic examples that do turn around when they get the personal resolve and find the help to get clean and sober.
 
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I just did yesterday. I don’t give everytime, but like a previous poster said, I can afford to get scammed out of 2 dollars, but I can’t afford to deny what our Lord Jesus said.
 
signit said:
I will not forget the time while I was living with my mother sharing a one-person Social Security check and I gave money to two men with a sob story, who then went to the liquor store. I could have used that money to help my mother pay for meds.

So, no, I will not give money to scam artists.
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That’s their problem, not yours, that good deed will follow you on your judgement day, and provide merit.
 
I am on social security and have several chronic diseases. So, where do you live? I’m making up a sign and heading for the intersection…
 
I rarely do. I usually try to give money or donations to food pantries and other like services so that I am confident that the money is being spent on something that helps rather than hurts the person.
 
PetraG said:
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Techno2000:
Yes, it’s a great window of opportunity to do a good deed.
Click to expand...
Keep in mind that if you do it without taking the trouble to get to know the person you’re helping, you are also not unlikely to be helping them to maintain a sinful lifestyle–by that, I mean a habit of lying to people in order to obtain money for things that are harmful to the person doing the lying. That is not a “good deed.” If you had a brother or sister who was an addict and you saw someone buying their lies and actually helping them to buy drugs or alcohol and avoiding for another day the need to be turning away from what was going to kill them if they don’t find a way to stop, you wouldn’t call it a “good deed.”

There are people who are on the streets who need help with their addictions or their mental health problems or even just their joblessness. I’m not trying to paint addicts as the “undeserving poor.” Absolutely they need help finding food and shelter and safety from the crime they are constantly exposed to. Not all of them are helped by getting spending money, though, and not a few are actually harmed. Some are helped, but some aren’t. Don’t assume that money given blindly is always helping.
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Lol… I’m not a social worker…I’m just some random guy passing by, giving some poor soul couple bucks. 🙂
 
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po18guy said:
I am on social security and have several chronic diseases. So, where do you live? I’m making up a sign and heading for the intersection…
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If I can’t give money, I try to say a little pray for them.
 
One simply cannot win by responding to threads such as this one. To some ways of thinking, if we fail to give money to any and all, we are hard-hearted curmudgeons.

I am only providing information based on three decades of working with this new class of person. When the media does a running story on the obvious fraud committed by some of them, you know that something is not right. When “now hiring” signs are 2-3 blocks away, something is wrong with these younger, healthier persons.

Take the classic hobos. They have societal classifications, even among themselves. Consider:

Hobos: transient laborers.
Tramps: non-transient laborers.
Bums: non-transient, non-laborers.

Which category would a hobo place these intersection/off-ramp beggars in?

Once again, they are not at local charities. They are all younger and appear far healthier than I. None of them are cancer patients on social security. Our priest directs all such individuals to the established local charity. Is he sinning?

And once again, I send my money to Africa, so that wells may be dug and people do not die of dehydration or dysentery - right now, today; so that simple everyday antibiotics may be sent so that fellow humans do not die of conditions we scarcely think about.

Right now. Today.
 
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po18guy said:
I am on social security and have several chronic diseases. So, where do you live? I’m making up a sign and heading for the intersection…
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Canada. If I see you there, I’ll stop and give you whatever I can spare.
 
Techno2000 said:
Lol… I’m not a social worker…I’m just some random guy passing by, giving some poor soul couple bucks. 🙂
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Sorry, I meant that as food for thought only. You are in a position to think about these things and apply them (or not) to the actual people that you personally meet.
 
Just pointing out that these 20 and 30-something folks want a forced-into-retirement, social security recipient to give them money. I’m going to start asking them for “spare change.”
 
They actually did a social experiment a few years ago. A guy left $50 where a homeless man would find it, as if it had been given to him. The man took it, bought a sleeping bag, pillow, some food, that sort of thing from Target. Same guy comes up the homeless man and starts telling him about how he can’t afford to buy medicine his daughter needs, how he doesn’t know what he’s going to do, how he feels like a terrible father. The homeless man takes all his new-gotten treasure, goes back to Target and returns it, then brings the money out to the guy for his daughter.

I’m a 30-something. I’ve never had to beg, thank goodness, but I know what it means to have nothing. I’m blessed right now to have a good job, a good paycheque, food, a car, a home. If someone else feels that their only choice is to beg, I have no difficulty helping if I can.
 
@casslean I agree with you. I used to buy $100 worth of Steak n Shake $10 cards because they were open 24 hours & would give the recipients a respite from hot or cold weather, plus, ShnSt gave me a $5 coupon for each $20 spent. 😃 I did that for a few years, then moved into an area with no ShnSt. On a trip, I discovered that after a certain length of time, StnSh automatically deducts monthly amounts, and none of my cards were worth anything. I learned to read the fine print on the cards of each company. I’m so sorry for the poor who tried to use them and were embarrassed by my error.
 
Minks said:
On a trip, I discovered that after a certain length of time, StnSh automatically deducts monthly amounts, and none of my cards were worth anything. I learned to read the fine print on the cards of each company. I’m so sorry for the poor who tried to use them and were embarrassed by my error.
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The laws concerning gift cards have been strengthened over the years; in some states it is not legal for businesses to sell gifts cards that expire or carry a dormancy fee. You’re right, though, that it pays to know the local laws concerning gift cards before giving one as a gift, so you can tell the recipient about the rules.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/question-legal-gift-certificates-expire-27997.html

Some municipalities are offering ways for people who don’t a permanent shelter to make money, which also gives them dignity, a way to feel productive and a way to get a work record.

www.berkeleyside.org

Berkeley program focused on work aims to offer lifeline to the homeless

The Streets Team program provides work experience to people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless with the goal that it will help them land paid employment.
www.berkeleyside.org www.berkeleyside.org

Others offer gift cards that people can get to give to those who are asking for alms, knowing the cards are only redeemable for clothes, food, or services like a night at a cheap hotel.


I think that anything that makes it more likely the money will be used as the person asking says it will is a help to those who want to practice well-placed charity.
 
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Oh Lord, all this over giving a guy on the street a few bucks if he looks hungry and is asking for help. Don’t overthink charity please. You have made broad generalizations and a lengthy one just to defend not helping someone who might be hungry in the USA because Africa needs water. Help both when you can and if you can it sounds like your judging people as a whole and that can affect that one person who may need you and bump into you one day.Maybe the guy is hungry. Plain and simple.
I’m muting now so I truly won’t see anymore posts directed at me. Good day.
 
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