Have You Ever Entered Into A Dialogue With A Person Who is "Pan handling"?

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Yes, that sounds like our Catholic Charities soup kitchen. It does an excellent job, most of the time, serving great food. Now and then, guests might get the same thing for a day or two when there was a whole lot of one thing received and it needs to get eaten up. šŸ˜ƒ
 
blackforest said:
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babochka:
Having been a social worker dealing specifically with the homeless population in my past, I have a very good idea of the resources that are available and the limitations of those resources.
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Iā€™ve been meaning to say this for awhile, but we have a lot in common . . . .
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What with our time-challenged husbands and all? šŸ¤£
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Iā€™m more leery of ones standing outside a store with a sign or otherwise showing signs of being transient, as they are sometimes looking for somebody they can glom onto for more than just a quick donation, like they want to stay at your house or something.
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When I worked as a cart pusher at Walmart, there were a few pretty obviously homeless people. One never asked for money. He just stood by the door, and when enough people gave him money, he would run into the store to grab something to eat. Another guy also didnā€™t seem to beg and seemed slightly better off than the first, but I heard him talking to a friend on the phone crying about losing his house. I think thatā€™s the only time Iā€™ve seen a grown man cry uncontrollably in front of strangers, not counting mental-health-related issues. It didnā€™t help that it was only a couple weeks from Christmas.

On the flip side, though, Iā€™ve definitely seen the type looking for more than just a small donation for food. I actually did help one recently, but one could reasonably assume that he may have actually been in desperate need. It didnā€™t take too long, though, before it became obvious that he wasnā€™t trustworthy.
 
Do some of you know the quick stats figures for reasons people are homeless. I was at an introduction talk for Christ in the City Denver.

They said, in Denver, anyways. This many people in the street are homeless in city x (Denver)

Reasons for homlessness:

a % due to substance abuse
b% relationship crisis
c% mental illness
d% financial difficulties / loss of job
there was an e, too, but I was wondering if some of you knew the general statistics of how people end up on the streets.

Thanks!
 
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Youā€™d have to get stats like that for a particular area. The reasons and percentages are likely to vary depending on where in the country you are. In parts of California for example, a large number of people become homeless due to job loss or foreclosure, because the cost of housing is so high. If you go to some other part of the country with cheap housing, it seems more people are homeless because of substance abuse and mental illness.
 
I had an experience with a pan handler of sorts last weekend. I was at the gas station filling up and I was approached by a gentleman in a hoodie who was asking for money and said he had two kids in a van parked on the other side of my pump. I felt a bit uncomfortable to have much of a further conversation beyond ā€œsorry I donā€™t have any moneyā€ (which I didnā€™t).
 
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I seriously considered going into the convenience store and telling the cashier about that guy and how he made filling up a bit uncomfortable. I decided not to. He couldā€™ve actually needed the help or he couldā€™ve just been trying to get money off of sympathetic people.

I felt uncomfortable, and Iā€™m a man saying that.
 
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I have engaged with a few, to varying results.

One man, whom I knew as Lucky, had served in the military, had mental health issues, killed a man, gone to prison, and then become homeless after release. He was a really nice guy with a very sad story. He kept trying to get work, but could never hold down the job long due to health issues. I regret not asking if there was someone I could reach out to for him, some family he may be able to reconcile with. I brought / bought him food almost every time I saw him.

On the other hand, there is another vet who now panhandles where Lucky used to, and Iā€™m not too fond of him. Heā€™s nice enough, but he never seems interested when I try to point him to where he could get help. Heā€™s in a wheel chair, but from what Iā€™ve gathered thereā€™s nothing else in his history that would limit his ability to work. Iā€™ve bought him food a few times, and got him some gloves and a warm hat this last winter, but he really just doesnā€™t seem interested in doing something about his situation. Last I heard, heā€™s not homeless, he claims heā€™s not getting enough from the gov. to pay his billsā€¦ I never give him moneyā€¦

There are a few other regulars in my area. Outside of the Church downtown thereā€™s on regular that I avoid. He used to be a parishioner at the parish, but went off his meds and now has pretty extreme mood swings. They canā€™t let him into the building anymore because of past altercations with parishioners. Others are nice, and Iā€™ll help them if I have the time or ability. One guy was telling a couple people last month that he and his wife almost have enough saved up to get off the street, so that was pretty awesome.

It would be nice if we could help everyone, but sadly, it seems like a lot of people arenā€™t interested in getting help, they just want a free handoutā€¦ Iā€™ve met far more people like the second guy than the firstā€¦
OnAJourney said:
I seriously considered going into the convenience store and telling the cashier about that guy and how he made filling up a bit uncomfortable. I decided not to. He couldā€™ve actually needed the help or he couldā€™ve just been trying to get money off of sympathetic people.

I felt uncomfortable, and Iā€™m a man saying that.
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Iā€™ll give you the advice a parish priest gave me after I confessed not buying food for a pregnant woman. She had come on really, really strong, and made me super uncomfortable. I felt bad, but I just did not feel safe being around her. The priest told me to follow my gut in situations like that. I hated leaving her hungry if she really was, but she was practically demanding stuff from meā€¦
 
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Christ in the soup line Spirituality
This is my latest watercolor I did for a members show for the art organization I teach for. The theme of the show is indigo. The scene is inspired by a evening I spent out on soup patrol on a very cold night last December. Iā€™ve obscured the features of the people as thatā€™s how they affected me that night. They emerged from the dark, blending in marvelously with their environment. Individuals yes, but in memory remain an anonymous line of hooded and bearded figures. The scene is set at oā€¦
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I recently tried to assist a young woman with a child fleeing domestic abuse, she refused to go to the program because she would have to surrender her cell phone. This is for the safety of all of the women/children in the program, it would have been placed in a safe. Nope, she had to be able to access Facebook.
 
TheLittleLady said:
I recently tried to assist a young woman with a child fleeing domestic abuse, she refused to go to the program because she would have to surrender her cell phone. This is for the safety of all of the women/children in the program, it would have been placed in a safe. Nope, she had to be able to access Facebook.
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That is deeply disturbingā€¦ on a lot of levelsā€¦
 
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I have a friend who works for St Vincent de Paul organization and I attended one of their trainings at which my friend presented. A lot of it was teaching the volunteers why they would run into situations like this and some strategies to maybe handle them. It can be very hard for people like you and me and the others on this thread to understand however.

One story told at the workshop involved somebody who was behind on all their payments because of a financial crisis - rent, utilities etc and she had children and could end up out on the street. The biggest thing on her mind, however, was getting the cable TV turned back on. I had another friend years ago who worked at a cable TV local outlet and constantly had poor people coming in trying like heck to get their cable turned back on, yelling, offering to barter stuff in lieu of actual money to pay the bill, etc. The workshop also helped me understand better the importance of the cable TV and similar entertainment to poor people, but it still is hard to relate.
 
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Ruby Payneā€™s work on Poverty is very good. When I first began working for the Church in general and in outreach/SVDP/Catholic Charities in particular, they sent us to a workshop on Ms Payneā€™s work.
 
We had ā€œlunch in the parkā€ here in Denver today right next to the Capitol building. It was 17 degrees and snowing but most of the people were warmly dressed, though not all. There is also a clothes give away table there .Please Google ā€œChrist in the Cityā€ Denver., if youā€™d like to know more about this great apostolate.

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Looking at the picture, though. Iā€™m sure some of the people were indeed cold.
 
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All I will tend to do is smile and say hi would you like something to eat/drink? And give them some water or fruit /sandwich. Say have a good day and move on. Does the trick. I donā€™t like or need to get into a conversation about why they are there and not saying anyone elseā€™s approach is right or wrong just meet a need acknowledge them as a fellow human and be friendly
 
There was this family that panhandled in the parking lot of a supermarket here. Mom, dad, and a couple of kids, all dressed as Arabs or something middle-eastern (non-American clothes). They had a cardboard sign with a long paragraph on it about how they need money for gas and food, since they were heading back home after being disappointed when showing up in another city for a job, and then the job wasnā€™t available. Thing was, we saw them a couple of times, supposedly driving from somewhere in Michigan to somewhere in Virginia, and how many times can you tell that same story?

First time you saw them, it was almost plausible, since the supermarket is on a major road. Next thing, I hear they were in front of our church when the second Mass let out. I wouldnā€™t have believed their story then, because the church is on a tertiary road off a secondary road and not very close to the major road and nobody just stumbles across our church. But there they were, and Father came out and said they couldnā€™t panhandle there, and they proceeded to tell the whole story to Father, how there was a job far away, but when they got there, there was no job, and now they canā€™t get back home, since they are out of money for gas and food. So he gave them some gas and grocery gift cards (apparently some of these are kept in the church office) and then took money out of his own pocket and sent them on their way with a pretty good haul. He didnā€™t realize they had been begging in the supermarket parking lot for six weeks.

That was bad enough. Didnā€™t see them for a couple of months, and then there they were another time when we came out of church. Geezā€¦. They lied to the priest, took money from him, and then have the nerve to come back and try to hit him up again with the same story. Do they think people donā€™t remember them from month to month? They donā€™t seem to have any shame at all.
 
Maybe they were just people who looked like them. šŸ¤” No, itā€™s true. They donā€™t have any shame. Itā€™s what they do for a living.
 
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Shasta-Rose said:
need money for gas and food, since they were heading back home after being disappointed when showing up in another city for a job, and then the job wasnā€™t available.
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That is a very common story among pan handlers. I hear it a couple of times each day.
 
In reference to the opening post. Iā€™m on disability, my check is 600 a month. Luckily I have a trailer that is paid for to live in. You can see that it would be hard for anyone, let alone a person with children to live on that. I am ineligible for medicaid or food stamps because I have a small savings for emergencies. I get by with some financial assistance from my family, without this I would likely be on the street.

I sell plasma to pay for my medications.

My state has refused, on principle, federal money that would allow them to increase the availability of medicaid. Apparently pride is more important than the well-being of our citizens.

Iā€™ve been homeless before. Itā€™s no fun. Accessing services isnā€™t easy or automatic and without an address to receive mail, many services arenā€™t available at all. You have to find transportation to the offices or have internet connection to apply and keep your files up to date.

In many areas shelters are unsafe, sometimes families are separated and parents worry about the safety of their children or whether they will lose them to the state.

Luckily I am now on the proper medications for my mental illness, but when I was homeless and transient that was not possible. I know sane intelligent people that have been baffled trying to fill out government forms for taxes and the like. Imagine trying to do that when you are homeless, without a phone or transportation and mentally ill. Accessing services can be a nightmare.

The situations are extremely complex
 
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