Feed homeless on street

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robertmidwest

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Does anyone have any experience taking food to to the homeless at their location?

I am looking at some ministries here locally for a volunteer opportunity. I have some reservations. Mainly over possibly encouraging dependency.

Anyone have any feed back that might be helpful?
 
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Robert,

I think your desire to help the homeless is admirable. How do you want to go about doing so?
 
Contact your local parish or city hall and ask for available volunteering opportunities.
 
Giving a homeless person a sandwich hardly promotes dependency.
The men of our parish gather a few items together in care packages go to an area with a known homeless population and pass them out.
 
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There is at least one organization here in my city that brings hot meals to homeless camps. They also offer support in the way of camping equipment,

I am a little reluctant, thinking they are making it too comfortable for them to stay on the street. I just have mixed feelings. I know we have to meet the basic needs to keep people safe. But isn’t there a danger in making it too easy to stay outside instead of coming to where they can get some of the services they need?

I am still new to this so just looking for some feedback.
 
Just in case we need a reminder.

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robertmidwest said:
I have some reservations. Mainly over possibly encouraging dependency.
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This bothers me on a personal level.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I was on the brink of homelessness, through no fault of my own. If the right person hadn’t come along and helped me out at the right time, who knows where I’d be now…

We are all ultimately dependent on God, yes? Please don’t let anything stop you from helping the poor and the homeless.
 
I hope my post made sense.

I am not opposed to help the homeless. That is my goal. My concern is that making it to easy to stay out on the street is counter productive.
 
Blessings
I just picked one up and took him for dinner.
Complicated. The true realistic story doesn’t come out right away. I plan to continue to do something for this one but it won’t be easy. The true story is coming out little by little.
EnMasse =a group w police must be coordinated to be effective. Ask, who wants help? Who wants to work? Take one to a pre arranged hotel room for a week??? After clean up, bring him to pre arranged job? Locate him near where job will be w in walking distance. Of course, BACKGROUND CHECK…
Get him involved in a church…??
This is tricky.
Need. Church
Social Service
Police
Shelter
Work
DETOX ??

Do we need to help families first.
Women
Men
Sober
Drunk
 
You do what you can to help others around you, and that’s between you and God.

How they receive that help is between them and God.

You don’t refrain from helping because you’re afraid they’ll respond incorrectly. You do what you’re supposed to— and their response doesn’t matter so much.
 
St.Martin_de_Porres said:
Just in case we need a reminder.

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This is good. It’s very good to provide homeless people on the street with food.

Some might not want to give them money (unless they are doing something to earn it) due to fear of using the money for drugs, but there is never anything wrong with giving them food or giving them info regarding a soup kitchen, shelter, etc.
 
robertmidwest said:
There is at least one organization here in my city that brings hot meals to homeless camps. They also offer support in the way of camping equipment,

I am a little reluctant, thinking they are making it too comfortable for them to stay on the street. I just have mixed feelings. I know we have to meet the basic needs to keep people safe. But isn’t there a danger in making it too easy to stay outside instead of coming to where they can get some of the services they need?

I am still new to this so just looking for some feedback.
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I don’t think there is anything wrong with bringing hot meals or camping equipment to the homeless. Some homeless have been kick out of shelters (for past infractions) and others don’t want to go there for safety / pride reasons. Not all shelters are safe and the real good ones are often full. Plus, SOME on the streets have mental health issues, and simply don’t know any better.

What can sometimes be an issue is simply giving them money because SOME will use it for drugs / booze. So if you don’t want to give money, that’s ok, because you can always give them food or information.

I pray this helps.

God bless
 
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robertmidwest said:
I hope my post made sense.

I am not opposed to help the homeless. That is my goal. My concern is that making it to easy to stay out on the street is counter productive.
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If you are not called to help the homeless there are plenty of quazi-homeless charities that can use your help. Men’s shelters, woman’s shelters, family shelters and those “moving” family shelters that go from parish to parish are all great places that help the homeless from being on the street…and work with people who want to change.
 
phil19034 said:
I don’t think there is anything wrong with bringing hot meals or camping equipment to the homeless. Some homeless have been kick out of shelters (for past infractions) and others don’t want to go there for safety / pride reasons. Not all shelters are safe and the real good ones are often full. Plus, SOME on the streets have mental health issues, and simply don’t know any better.

What can sometimes be an issue is simply giving them money because SOME will use it for drugs / booze. So if you don’t want to give money, that’s ok, because you can always give them food or information.

I pray this helps.

God bless
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Thanks for the feedback. This would be through an organized group. So I am sure they already know all the ins and outs. There are people who can give me guidance too.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
If you are not called to help the homeless there are plenty of quazi-homeless charities that can use your help. Men’s shelters, woman’s shelters, family shelters and those “moving” family shelters that go from parish to parish are all great places that help the homeless from being on the street…and work with people who want to change.
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Thanks for the feedback. That is an interesting way of looking at it. I don’t think it’s a matter of not being called. I hadn’t looked at it that way though. I do feel called to help. And I feel called to help the worst. The feeling I am having though is some of these program may actually make it worse though. Maybe some more experience will help me sort it out. Thanks again for the feedback.
 
robertmidwest said:
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Xanthippe_Voorhees:
If you are not called to help the homeless there are plenty of quazi-homeless charities that can use your help. Men’s shelters, woman’s shelters, family shelters and those “moving” family shelters that go from parish to parish are all great places that help the homeless from being on the street…and work with people who want to change.
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Thanks for the feedback. That is an interesting way of looking at it. I don’t think it’s a matter of not being called. I hadn’t looked at it that way though. I do feel called to help. And I feel called to help the worst. The feeling I am having though is some of these program may actually make it worse though. Maybe some more experience will help me sort it out. Thanks again for the feedback.
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Charities typically do not make things worse.

Typically what makes things worse are:
  1. government**
  2. people who give money to people who use it for drugs/booze
  3. people who treat the homeless like they are rodents, striping them of their human dignity
** Note: the reason I list govt is for multiple reasons. A few examples are:
  • globalist economic policies
  • lack of enough vo-tech schools / training
  • lack of mental heath facilities
  • lack of shelters
  • reluctance of police departments (or cities) to have police escort people living on the streets to shelters
God bless
 
Being homeless is not easy. Trust me, if they had a way out, they would take it. One homeless young man pointed to the abandoned house where he was sleeping. I encouraged him and others to talk to someone at the local Church, and encouraged them to attend. A few expressed their desire to do so. Sometimes, they would tell me why they were homeless. One man lost his job and had nowhere to go. One man told me he found a lawyer to help him get some kind of government help. I was happy for him. He told me one barrier was not having a permanent address to send checks to.

I would never encourage anyone trying to help to take chances. I went around Detroit but knew the area very well. No one bothered me or appeared to have mental health issues. But that’s just me. At certain times of the year, often due to cold weather, shelters fill up quickly.
 
If any business could offer on the job training, they should consider the homeless. Standing there on the street with a cardboard sign, hoping for food, is a hard way to live. One business not too far from where I work did put out a “will train” sign for a job. Problem is, some homeless people would fail background checks and have drug or alcohol problems. For kids in high school with broken families and few job opportunities, offering apprenticeships and vocational training would fill that time and boost their confidence. Otherwise, drug dealers might get some of these young people and teach them ‘the trade.’
 
Yes. I had the opportunity and took it. I would not recommend doing it by yourself.
 
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