Panhandling - What Do You Think?

[dreamer17555]

well when you have seen the panhandler outside the mall, get up in the evening, put on his backpack and get on a bus and pay the fare with the benefits card, and know that the bus is only going to the local authority housing,
or when you have been on the bus and seen groups of Romany Gypsies get on at the same bus stop, and divide up bags of Big Issue newspapers and then they get off in the city centre, to got to "work" begging on the street corner
or when you have been shouted at for giving food to a panhandler
then compassion does go out the window.

Gypsy is considered a slur in many communities. Just to let you know. You can always choose to be kind- not to engage and the least you should do is to not actively kick anyone. Saying get a job is unnecessarily unkind.

 

[Sinder]

Gypsy is considered a slur in many communities. Just to let you know. You can always choose to be kind- not to engage and the least you should do is to not actively kick anyone. Saying get a job is unnecessarily unkind.

Not if it's a scammer

 

[dreamer17555]

Not if it's a scammer

Even if it is a scammer. You don’t know their life or hardships. Stay kind. Choose not engage if you need to but never be openly cruel.

I feel strongly about this because you never know when that is the thing that will push someone over the edge. As someone whose life has been touched by suicide there is no reason to ever be purposely unkind. You never know what someone is battling.

 

[rangerxenos]

It's been in the news here that there is a regular 'ring' of people standing outside the various strip mall entrances locally who are not really homeless, but are out to make a buck. I stopped giving them anything in those locations when I saw that story.

That being said, if I see someone asking for help and can give them a dollar or two, I'll do it if the above is not the case. I'd rather help someone who's humble enough to stand on a corner to beg for money if they are down on their luck, that dollar isn't going to break me when I'm buying a coffee at Starbucks. And if they're trying to simply make a buck, I believe that karma will ultimately come back to bite them.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I have seen enough scammers to assume anyone begging for money on the corners is trying to pull one over on people. It may not be true but since I don't know I won't give anything.

and this is how I feel too. And I wont be shamed into giving compassion to those who are abusing the systems. I support the charities who go out on the street late at night giving food and hot drinks to people, not the day time street beggars and panhandlers

 

[Sinder]

Even if it is a scammer. You don’t know their life or hardships. Stay kind. Choose not engage if you need to but never be openly cruel.

I feel strongly about this because you never know when that is the thing that will push someone over the edge. As someone whose life has been touched by suicide there is no reason to ever be purposely unkind. You never know what someone is battling.

As someone who has also been touched by suicide I'm pretty confident that telling some jerk scam artist to get a job instead of trying to trick people into giving them money isn't going to set them over the edge.

 

[dreamer17555]

As someone who has also been touched by suicide I'm pretty confident that telling some jerk scam artist to get a job instead of trying to trick people into giving them money isn't going to set them over the edge.

You don’t know at all what that person is going through-even if they are a scammer. You simply don’t know what can cause a person to give up and think there is no place for them in this world. It is so easy to choose to be kind- why choose not to be?

 

[DLgal]

Some of these people pull in close to six figures a year doing this. They are almost all scammers. Just pass them by and donate to legitimate charities, shelters, etc.

 

[Sinder]

You don’t know at all what that person is going through-even if they are a scammer. You simply don’t know what can cause a person to give up and think there is no place for them in this world. It is so easy to choose to be kind- why choose not to be?

I know if they want money they should work for it and not resort to fraud and scam people for it.
Telling them to get a job is being kind, it gets them off the street, they earn an honest living and it ends up helping the people who are really destitute because people will be more likely to help them because they know they aren't being scammed by a criminal.
So I really don't care what happens to that kind of a person, karma is a B

 

[TwoMisfits]

So, when I had a bad kid in Church and walked out 15 minutes early, I watched a "organization" unload their folks, hand them specific cards to get sob stories based on type, and then start wandering the lot. Even though I saw it happen, one approached me and I offered to bring her into the Church to get services (to see how deep the scam would go) - swift decline there. So, I walked back into Church, told the Church secretary to announce the scam to all parishioners leaving, and the scammers never came back to our Church again. The "business" side of this is so efficient and so immoral - I mean, to target Church goers after Mass on a Sunday - they probably figured it was money in the bag, literally.

I make food for the homeless through my Church every month. I don't give a dime to any panhandler on the street who doesn't offer me a service (I will buy from flower sellers and I will pay someone to "watch my car" in a bad part of town - that's work for the money).

 

[Kennywood]

 

[Christine]

I'm reluctant to give to those begging because coordinated/"professional" beggars have become more and more common over the years and that's made it so much harder both on pedestrians just trying to navigate the world unbothered and on those who are genuinely homeless and in need because the more aggressive pros invite more scrutiny/harassment of everyone on the streets. For a long time, I resisted the cynicism of letting a few manipulators undermine my natural desire to help, but more and more I find myself noticing "tells" in those begging in more touristy areas that signal it being more of a performance than genuine need.




This has not been my experience, nor my daughter's. When I was in college, my friends and I used to burn up unused meal plan dollars at the end of the term by buying loads of sandwiches and bagged snacks and giving them away to the people living in a homeless encampment on our way home from campus, and 95% of those we offered food to were appreciative (the 5% that weren't tended to be the more paranoid mentally ill, who looked at the food like a trap of some sort). DD20 does the same thing now, along with some of her college friends, with the same results. But we both attend(ed) college in cities with large homeless/transient populations - Detroit for me, San Francisco for her - so maybe the odds were on our side in terms of connecting with those who are truly in need and appreciative of any help rather than only with the addicts or professional beggars who are interested only in cash.

I would definitely agree that going to the homeless encampments would be appreciated and I'd probably do that if I wasn't afraid of walking into the woods (which is where the are in my area). But, the panhandling I'm referring to are the ones that are bussed into shopping centers and major intersections and stand their all day. If you go by them enough times, you can see the shift change. Very different scenario here.

 

[Mysterian]

There have been legitimate cases of scammers in my area too. I've seen beggars with smart phones and cars, it's really hard to tell who's who. The one with a car, who pulls up, parks, pulls out a cardboard sign and sits by a tree asking for money, how can you know? The car tag has been renewed for that year, and the vehicle is a recent model in great shape. The beggar is cleanly dressed.

In the very same area, different day, we see a different case. Saw someone waiting around near a tree in a Taco Bell parking lot, non-stop talking to themselves audibly enough for me to hear from a distance. It started raining, I gave her an emergency poncho and some food. She said she was waiting for a ride from someone. She may not have even been homeless, but she didn't seem to have all her faculties. She never begged for anything.

There are also those that claim to be military or ex-military. There's been plenty of stolen valor cases documented, but typically only military personnel know what to ask to weed these people out. I heard of one case where two false military guys in fatigues were asking for money for an unconfirmed charity.

 

[Jennasis]

I do feel badly for panhandlers. Whatever their life is that drove them to think panhandling is the answer, it must be a particularly sad one. I don't give money. I don't engage at all. I say a prayer for them and keep on keeping on.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I knew a guy who offered to take a panhandler into his home, take a shower, fix him some lunch, and pay him to do some odd jobs around the house. The "beggar" declined, saying he could make more money on the street corner.

 

[mefordis]

They usually get really angry with you when you do that.

I gave a really skinny, filthy guy who was with his dog some food from a nearby restaurant. I also gave them each a bottle of water and some bacon for the dog (I handed it all to the guy, so he could give it to the dog). He seemed pissed! Yikes! I don't think I'll do that again.

Maybe he was adding up in his head how much I spent on it and how much meth it could have bought him. Oh, well.

 

[spiders]

I went to college in Downtown Atlanta. There is a park where many of them hang out. They would get some freshmen every fall semester to give them some money. The seniors? Forget about it. When you see the exact same people for four years still asking you for a buck it gets really old. Is it really unreasonable for someone to expect that you should be able to walk down the street without being harassed?

 

[ronandannette]

The ones that tug my heartstrings are the young adult men. They are disheveled and desolate-looking and in a lot of cases they are actually homeless with mental illness as a root-cause. Having a son that age struggling with his own mental health, I can't help but imagine him in their place. I very seldom have cash on me so there's no dilemma there but I do almost always feed them if I can. None have ever declined the food or beverage.

 

[Jonfw2]

I carry a bag in my car with ziplock “blessing bags”. Each one has a bottle of water, two protein bars, and a calendar of community meals. That’s what I give. They can take it or leave it. And depending on their response, you know what their status actually is.

 

[kymom99]

This. While inwardly, I often feel the same as many others have posted. But we don't know anyone elses situation and if they are really homeless or if they are scamming. For all you know that woman dressed in decent clothes just ran from an abusive husband and is out there trying to make some money while her kids are at school so she can feed them that night. Maybe she has a job but it doesnt make ends meet. Maybe when she ran from her husband she also had to leave the job she had and has been unable to find a new one. Job hunting is hard if you are at a shelter or homeless. You don't know, but instead chose to openly pass judgement. Kindness is free.

There are shelters for that