Do you give money to pan handlers ?

I say "no". and keep walking. I am not a charity for any panhandler who is looking for a handout from me.

Same here.

And I think we went over this once before; I can't recall the topic title, though. Hmm.

Anyway, I'm not a service for providing $$ for people to spend on booze and worse. I give to charity and then I know where my $$ is going.

I don't even give them the courtesy of looking at them, or answering them, especially when they are begging outside a liquor store.

I give them money at random intervals. I don't go by what they look like, what I believe they are going to spend it on, etc. Sometimes they just catch me in a giving mood, and I'll give them whatever change I have or maybe a dollar.

I know that some of them are faking it or not going to use it for anything that I deem appropriate, but I don't care. Some of them might need it, and I don't feel like I should make any big judgment on them over a dollar or two.

There have been days that panhandlers have more money in their cup than I have in my pocket. It pisses me off. There are some I have given to, but in general, screw 'em.

Oh, I didn't mean "screw 'em" literally, as I caught a fascinating discussion between a panhandling couple about how dude caught AIDS from heroin, and alcoholic girlfriend wasn't gonna take it no more....my guess is that they are still together.

I have, yes, probably always will. The last time was in Austin last year when this guy walked up to me and hub, describing the story of how he ran out of gas and his wife and kids were sitting in the car just back there somewhere. Oh, well, he could have grabbed hubby's wallet when he pulled it out and showed him he had only $2. Me, I thought he should have given the guy his last $2.

The only thing I don't do is hand money out the car window.

Re: Do you give money to pan handlers ?


Absolutely not. I live in an area riddled with false beggars. Giving money to beggars only keeps them begging. It doesn't help the beggar (it perpetuates their life on the street instead forcing them to seek help), and it creates more beggars. I pass at least 20 beggars on the street every day, and maybe only three of them are actually unfit to work (are not able-bodied or minded.) Most of the people on the street have drug habits, or just do it for the extra cash. There is also a massive amount of crime in the area due to these people (for example, my bike with two locks on it was cut and stolen a couple weeks after I bought it. There are also two to three drug dealers working on my street.)

I like programs that help rehabilitate people, and try to support those.

Tex-star - are you from Austin? You must not be a student here or you wouldn't give money to the drag rats.

I usually by them some food, if they really want it. In russia there are some bobushki who beg for bread, with a ptahetic trembling lip, and when you say you'll take them to buy some bread they say money will be fine, and they'll buy it themselves. In Russia you never have to walk more than one block to find a place to buy bread, so we would say "No it's no trouble, come on, and we'll buy you a loaf." Then they'd get angry and swear at you and walk off. Obviously they didn't really want bread. A lot of people will accept an offer of food, and I don't see much wrong with that, although portal has a point.
Actually I got myself in trouble once. On the day I propsed to my wife we were on our way from the ballet to a carriage ride, and I had the ring in my pocket. A beggar asked for some money, and I bought him some food (he knew a place with some great chicken), only it turned out I was a little short after that to pay for the carriage ride, and I ended up having to propose in a parking lot... oi.

Pretty much all the time, if I have some to give.
"It is better to be sometimes cheated than not to trust".

No, I don't. I keep walking, perhaps a little faster. Frankly, I am always frightened that they might have a partner who is hiding nearby, waiting to steal my purse (or worse) if I stop to talk. Funny, but my husband says he is rarely approached, and I have noticed that I am never approached when I am with him. Are women targeted more frequently than men, or is it just my imagination?

scoates . I resent that you infer that Russian women are poor drunks. My mother was a Russian woman and she was quite good at it.
Im like kicky, somedays Ill scare the **** out of aggressive panhandlers and other days Im a pushover and an easy touch.
Ive never ever offered the food thing. IM sure the guys in Baltimore want a bottle of Mad Dog, thats all. I dont even know what a bottle of MD goes for these days.

Assume what you want, farmer, I only stated facts. And not the ones you claim I did.

I don't give money to panhandlers.

I had a friend in Portland who frequently carried oranges in her backpack to give the panhandlers downtown. Most of them refused the orange. A couple of times they threw the orange at her as she walked away.

I rather contribute to the Rescue Mission in my town. There's a guy who regularly panhandles an intersection going into downtown here. One day I saw him walking out of an apartment from a complex behind city hall. He was taking out his trash to a trash receptacle on the sidewalk. I was flabbergasted.

I lived for decades in a sort of home for the homeless, Venice Beach. Venice used to be dodgier than it is now, what with all the screenwriters in little cottages, and the odd multimillion dollar edifice. California is attractive, relatively, in cold season, and Venice is something of a liberal community of mixed housing and with a long beach front, plus history of Ginsberg poetry reading and rumrunning, some time ago.

I always had mixed feelings re giving money to panhandlers and often very little money myself. Still, I always gave to Marie, and sometimes to others, though mostly I agree about giving to official type places that can help people.

In Venice we got to know individual homeless people, sometimes knew their stories. We had a studio on Main Street in Santa Monica for a while and there were two, uh, difficult people who often spent time on the bus bench outside our windows.
One was a guy with a briefcase and a five hour line of talk, and we understood he had family who watched over him, where he went home at night. Another was the screamer, a clearly crazed woman of immense weight who lifted her tee or sweatshirt to expose her massive boobs and screamed in blood curdling ways. Neither of these people was some kind of slough-off type.

My father, a man of immense accomplishment, could easily have been homeless in his last days, and my mother as she entered Alzheimer's wandered Los Angeles. I am not kidding, she walked, before I completely caught on... thinking she was at my aunt's, to the Rampart Street police station, even then one of the toughest places in a big city, and to LAX, where they called me from the police station in the middle of the airport. That was just before I had to tuck in and get an attorney and conservatorship.

So, while I know some might start out thinking the street is way preferable to listening to family rules, I see the vast street population, in LA and in my new home town, as much more needy and troubled. Sure they should seek institutional help.

But I can see their resentment, even fear of these places.
I can see myself homeless easily. I am very wary of the straighten up and fly right attitude of those with allowances and salaries to street people. Sure, they should. I'll listen to it from those who have been there, but those people who have been there often have more compassion, while being insistant re their programs. People aren't just philosophic constructs. They have a will to curl up, and survive as they can.

I give to some homeless people. I don't give to people who are clean or kept up. The people I give to have no other options. They are at the bottom and frankly, what alternatives do they have? No one would hire them, with their weathered beat up faces. They may use it to buy alcohol, but refusing them their vice only makes them ill or violent. I give them food too. Most of the time, they're thankful.
They are beyond redemption in the normal sense but they are still people.

Thank you for that, Ceili.
That's an emotional post, m'sorry, but what I feel right now.

Don't apologize, osso. It was heartfelt, and anything written from the heart is always worth reading and thinking about.

I was desperately poor at one time, but never so desperate that I had to beg on the streets. However, with one or two more unlucky events, I would have been. So I consider myself fortunate. It could so easily happen to any of us. None of us has as much control over our lives as we'd like to think.

However, interacting with desperate people can be dangerous. I work with a group of merchants in a restored historic area, and I regularly hear the police reports of armed and violent panhandlers in our area. Some are harmless and are well known and supported in the area, but others have harassed customers, made threats to employees, and stalked shop owners. We have had to put security measures in place to ensure the safety of business owners who are alone in their shops. Just last month, two homeless men (the police know who they are, but can't catch them in the act) attacked two of our restaurant employees in broad daylight because the restaurant wouldn't give them free food. Ironically, it was Friday, and the church two blocks down the street hosts a free lunch for the homeless every Friday. They have signs out and everything...the program is long-standing and very well known. I guess these guys preferred pizza. One of the restaurant employees required 13 stitches to his face. The other one was treated and released (only bruises).

So while it's a great thing to help out those less fortunate, you have to be aware of the dangers. Maybe I just hear too much. Anyway, I prefer to make donations to social agencies.