(Untitled)

[preowned]

Since I work in Oakland, I go out for lunch pretty often. When you walk down the street, there's always pan handlers asking for money. Most of the time, I ignore them, just because I feel that they should either find a way to earn a living other than standing around the street or that they really aren't in desperate need for money, that they are

Comments

[idlechic]

personally, i see no excuse for panhandlers to not be spending their time looking for real work.

[preowned]

i agreed. that's why i don't ever give money to them. especially the guys who are younger than me. makes me want to smack them.

[dorothymonkey]

One way to help without worrying is to donate to local homeless shelters and foodbanks, instead:

http://www.eecm.org/help.htm
http://www.lightoflife.org/
http://www.pittsburghfoodbank.org/index2.htm

That way you are helping to ensure that the necessary resources are available to people to stay fed, stay warm, and, possibly, get back on their feet. The majority of homeless people have serious problems with mental health and addictions, so the best thing that you can do is make sure that there are places for them to go.

I know what you mean about having reservations giving people money, though. I am a total bleeding heart and I almost never give money straight to people.

[preowned]

now, my question is, how much of what i give is really making it to the helpless. i used to know someone that works at a food bank and he said the people there would pick out all the good stuff for themselves and then i also knew a family who used to get food from food banks. they used to get the food and sell it. its all very disappointing and frustrating for me to think about. :(

[babz271]

I agree with jen. it is best to give the money to shelters or homeless projects. but you have to have a little compassion. most people who are homeless are actually in transition, not career homeless. they may have fallen off the wagon or be mentally ill and fallen between the cracks/safety nets that are supposed to exist for them. Trust me, the people who are "prospering" off welfare unjustly aren't typically homeless, they are too smart for that. and a lot of people who are on welfare do have jobs, they just earn so little that they can't support more than one person. if they have kids and are working at kfc making $6/hr 40 hrs a week, they may be able to make rent, but if they have kids it's a different situation. Also, welfare is a fucked up system. It kinda forces people not to work because they get better benefits (health care, etc) than they would get if they got a job. think about it. if people make the same amount of money (or more) from welfare than they would if they worked a 40 hour week, but the job they held

[preowned]

i know, the system doesn't make sense, that's why there are people who take advantage of it. although if you ask me, those who have the right moral mind set would strive to get themselves out of that system. to go above and beyond what is given, but reality is, most never bother and that's is the downfall of the system. its supposed to help people not disable the ones that should be able to help themselves. sigh...