Money for the homeless

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sarahq

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I was having this conversation with my parents and a Catholic friend of mine, and they all agreed— one shouldn’t give money to homeless people, because they most likely will spend it on drugs or alcohol. Instead, Christians (and all people) should donate to organizations which help the poor… feed them, shelter them, and help them get off drugs and alcohol. However I always feel like its my duty to give money whenever I see a panhandler… Like the Bible says, we should treat the poor like they are Christ himself.

What do you think? Should you give change to homeless people? Is it our Christian duty?
 
sarahq said:
However I always feel like its my duty to give money whenever I see a panhandler… Like the Bible says, we should treat the poor like they are Christ himself.

What do you think? Should you give change to homeless people? Is it our Christian duty?
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I agree with you. I’ve never had a (presumably) homeless person tell me that he wanted to buy drugs. So I presume he needs it and the rest is between God and him. It’s a rare occasion when I obviously should not give.
 
I donate to the local organization that provides food, clothes, and shelter. I would never donate cash directly to a person for my own safety.
 
sarahq said:
I was having this conversation with my parents and a Catholic friend of mine, and they all agreed— one shouldn’t give money to homeless people, because they most likely will spend it on drugs or alcohol. Instead, Christians (and all people) should donate to organizations which help the poor… feed them, shelter them, and help them get off drugs and alcohol. However I always feel like its my duty to give money whenever I see a panhandler… Like the Bible says, we should treat the poor like they are Christ himself.

What do you think? Should you give change to homeless people? Is it our Christian duty?
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The newspaper in my community did a ‘but for the grace of God go us’ feature story at Christmastime about a homeless married couple who live in a tent city (yes, in 2012 in the United States there are tent cities) who only panhandle when nighttime temperatures get too cold, and they want to spend the night indoors. They try to get enough money for a motel room because they don’t want to get split up in a homeless shelter.

Lesson: It’s best not assume what exactly panhandlers are going to spend money on.

My advice is to use your judgment when making donations - to individuals as well as to charitable organizations.

Luna
 
I think it is much better to donate to homeless charities, volunteer at homeless shelters and/or food kitchens, or even give them your packed lunch, buy them a meal, or give them a bag of various food items or even a bottle of water. My Mom knew this homeless man and he hung out at a gas station we went to so whenever we went to get gas, we would make a sack lunch for him or just some kind of bag filled with food and bottled water or juice. He had a dog, so we would give him dog food as well. That way you know what is being done with your money and you are not enabling drug or drinking problems.
 
When I was a young Franciscan a homeless person came to the door of the Friary and I gave him food and money.

I was reamed out by the Friar who worked on the streets with the poor. I was shocked, and confused about what I had done wrong (the thought of it still stings). He told me that by giving food and money like that I was contributing to the man’s poverty, not helping him. He challenged me saying that I gave food and money to make myself feel better, so I could salve my conscience and not really get involved. Giving food etc like that, he said, just creates, or maintains dependency.

He gave me a list of things to do in future.

Offer to take the person to the shelter (they won’t take anyone in who is not clean, so he may have to go through rehab to get in).

Instead of giving money take the person to a restaurant and eat with them.

Turn them away.

This Friar ran AA and NA groups for street people, and was firmly convinced that people need to hit rock bottom… and that’s when you help them change. And sometimes being on the streets is NOT rock bottom (shocking though that may be)
 
I think giving to your local homeless shelters is best.

Homeless people know where the homeless shelters are and the food kitchens, usually they want money for drugs or alcohol, and the homeless shelthers
here will not let anyone in with alcohol on their breath.

Then we have the alcoholic homeless here and they live in the woods, they prefer it that way, the have probably tried many times to stop drinking to no avail. For them I would give blankets and or coats and well food or a few bucks, they are not going to quit drinking and have given up trying and have hit rock bottom and live at rock bottom.

this is what my brother told me as my brother was into drugs and homeless and he told me all about life on the streets.
 
Hmmm… Sounds like most people would say “No, don’t give money to homeless people”… Many people have made good points… I still think you should give them money though. Would you give money the Christ if he asked for it?
 
Take lessons from Scripture.

The Good Samaritan, he did not hand the man a bag of money - instead he took that man to a place where there were people trained who could help and he gave money to the person who ran that facility.

Peter and Paul were asked for alms by a beggar, they did not give money to the beggar but gave him instead spiritual healing.
 
Castello said:
Take lessons from Scripture.

The Good Samaritan, he did not hand the man a bag of money - instead he took that man to a place where there were people trained who could help and he gave money to the person who ran that facility.

Peter and Paul were asked for alms by a beggar, they did not give money to the beggar but gave him instead spiritual healing.
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Hmmm that’s a very interesting point!!!

Maybe I’ll stock up on brochures for the local homeless shelter!!
 
sarahq said:
I was having this conversation with my parents and a Catholic friend of mine, and they all agreed— one shouldn’t give money to homeless people, because they most likely will spend it on drugs or alcohol. Instead, Christians (and all people) should donate to organizations which help the poor… feed them, shelter them, and help them get off drugs and alcohol. However I always feel like its my duty to give money whenever I see a panhandler… Like the Bible says, we should treat the poor like they are Christ himself.

What do you think? Should you give change to homeless people? Is it our Christian duty?
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“Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me” - Jesus

I always give if I have anything to give. God is not going to judge me based on what someone did with the kindness I showed them. I don’t worry about what they are going to do with it, or if they even need it. I have known a few homeless people in my time, and many of them are good people down on their luck. Some of them are abusing the system, that is true. Some are drunks. They still deserve love.

So I say give to both. Give to the homeless shelters AND to the person you see on the street.
 
It would be easier to just give them the money. But I feel this might do more harm that good. So I offer them food. Some accept and some don’t.
 
Many homeless do not like to go to shelters because they can be robbed of the little posessions they have. I know someone who carries McDonalds or DUnkin Donuts gift cards with them to give to the homeless. This way they know that it will be used for food or a hot drink.
 
Joannm said:
Many homeless do not like to go to shelters because they can be robbed of the little posessions they have. I know someone who carries McDonalds or DUnkin Donuts gift cards with them to give to the homeless. This way they know that it will be used for food or a hot drink.
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They may sell these too.
 
I think my personal experience has probably tainted my answer to this question. :o

When living in a college town (where bleeding-heart naïvette was commonplace :p), I had many, many people approached me with some sob story about how their car ran out of gas “just over there” and they need to get somewhere fast for some type of emergency (pregnant wife in labor, dying mother, etc.) and if I could just give them a couple dollars… Of course, being the gullible sort, the first time I heard the story, I got out my wallet to give him a few dollars and as soon as it was out, the guy was like “$20 would be even better”. :rolleyes:

Then there was the time that a guy approached me for money and I saw him in line at Walmart the very next day paying out of a huge wad of cash.

Such experiences have somewhat soured me on taking the word of panhandlers at face value (sad to say).

I think Fred is right that it is often easier to just give them some money. I can feel better about myself about helping my fellow man with very minimal effort. And if I don’t give them money, I feel like a selfish schlubb. But I really have no way of knowing whether I’m doing more harm than good. I don’t encounter these types of situations very often anymore, but now I refer people to our Catholic Charities office.
 
Not to be the cynical jerk here, but maybe people who are beg for money sometimes aren’t telling the truth-instead of “will work for food” as the sign says, they may be- gasp - lying to you in order to get money for booze/drugs/whatever.

I give to a charity that deals with poverty instead of homeless people outright.
 
Rascalking said:
Not to be the cynical jerk here, but maybe people who are beg for money sometimes aren’t telling the truth-instead of “will work for food” as the sign says, they may be- gasp - lying to you in order to get money for booze/drugs/whatever.

I give to a charity that deals with poverty instead of homeless people outright.
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Yep. Some make a nice, tax-free living that way.
 
sarahq said:
I was having this conversation with my parents and a Catholic friend of mine, and they all agreed— one shouldn’t give money to homeless people, because they most likely will spend it on drugs or alcohol. Instead, Christians (and all people) should donate to organizations which help the poor… feed them, shelter them, and help them get off drugs and alcohol. However I always feel like its my duty to give money whenever I see a panhandler… Like the Bible says, we should treat the poor like they are Christ himself.

What do you think? Should you give change to homeless people? Is it our Christian duty?
Click to expand...
I give. Sometimes I ask if they want a meal and I had one regular who I bought, sometimes, two meals per day. Other times I give cash. I give without reservation. If you have a reservation then you have to follow your conscience, not mine.
 
I never give anything. I use the Golden Rule and I ask myself how I would want to be treated if I were in their position. I would want people to refuse until I figured out how to get my needs met in a constructive fashion.
 
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