There are a couple of bums I will give money to, but like AWD said, only because I have seen them out there for years and know that they are willing to take anything to survive. The only time I have been turned down for food by one such person was because I offered food that would be too tough for him to eat because he has no teeth.

Then there are others like the lady with designer jeans and boots (sometimes she wears running shoes too) that I tend to ignore. They stand outside holding signs all day, when they could get a job doing just that from local businesses or apartment buildings that have just opened up. I guess $7.00 per hour doesn't compare with the bumming money.

 

theres this lady that walks around my work
all she does is collect cans and stuff
but shes not poor
i hear she very well off but her kids and family left her
so shes all alone and has nuthin to do so she walks around all day collecting cans and stuff

its sad to see people like that.... when they are abandaned and left to die and no one cares about them

 

yea, that **** is really sad....but, and once again this is going to sound harsh and insulting to most of you, you have to consider why her family abandoned her...not that anyone deserves to be abandoned by their loved ones, but sometimes it just has to be done (again, NOT always, but typically)

 

i think she turned senile and no one wanted to put up wit her anymore

 

Lots of good points made on this thread.

It is a complex and difficult question...and is really frustrating...

I took a class once, the professor lived as a homeless person for 6 weeks, to try to get a better understanding of the problem. His insight on the subject was interesting. Just as many of you have posted, he said that upwards of 90% of the homeless population in his city had problems with addiction (drug/alcohol) or mental disease. There is also a number of homeless people that chose that life style, and always have...going back to the aftermath of the civil war, great depression...a community of displaced people that have found a way of living in a non-traditional manner.

He also said that finding food was not really the problem, finding shealter was not always the problem either. Most cities have a support infrastructure of public and private organizations that could handle the numbers of homeless and hungry. In most cases the homeless population did not want to use shelters because they didn't want to lose their freedom...too many rules and distrust of other people in the shelters...would rather be on the street in an environment that they knew.

He also said that because in most cases food and shelter were not the issue that most of the panhandling went to supporting the addictions....

But a student asked, knowing what he now knows...what does he do when approached by a someone asking for money.

He said, in most cases, even knowing that giving to someone is not really going to help them, I usually do give. He said he lets his mood dictate, and his reasoning is...even if there is a 90% chance that his "contribution" is not going to really help the person, there is that small chance that it will...and he likes that posibility.

It reminds me of a quote by ...I think Tolstoy..."add your light to the sum of light" Do what you can when you can...

 

i wonder how some can do that spend 6 weeks as a homeless person
you gotta have a lot of free time and money to do somehting like

 

There was a bum who hung out by the wawa near my old apartment, nicest bum I've ever seen. Really polite and NEVER asked for money EVER which i thought was cool. He also had a dog with him which had a bandanna around its neck and painted toe nails.

I swear, 10 points for effort. I knew in the back of my mind the dude probably made more then me and lived in some penthouse in center city philadelphia but what the hell, I always gave him couple bucks for the dog and his polite attitude.

Now, there was another guy who use to crap in his pants and leave his shitty underwear on the street, he never got spare change :P Gotta love philly hey?

 

dan.... omg that little story made my evening, i dunno why for sure... but i've been laughing out loud for the last like 15 minutes about this guy crapping his pants, my sister just walked past my door and saw me sitting here laughing in my room all by myself and looked at me like I"M crazy..... oh goodness, that was a good one...... i just can't imagine walking outside and seeing that and the expression i imagine on your or someone's face is priceless

 

good times huhs

 

Yeah, I imagine I looked kinda shocked the 1st time, after the 1st time it was more of a gag reflex lol, what scared me the most is they were always gone by the time we got home that day. I hope they were picked up by some clean freak and not some other bum who thought he just scored a new wardrobe