Do you give money...

[Dream]

I'm not sure how many of you live in or near a city, but if you see a homeless man on the corner of the street begging for change, do you give him money or do you pass by assuming there's a good chance he'd use it to buy drugs or alcohol?

Give me an honest answer.

I've volunteered at a soup kitchen before, and one guidleline that they set is don't ever give money out. When it gets to be around Christmas time, instead of giving out cash, we give out gift cards to the local grocery store or Wal Mart.

Some advice that I've heard, is that if you see a homeless man begging for some change, walk up to him and offer to buy him a burger from the nearest fast food joint. If he accepts, then you've done the right thing and fed a hungry man. If he denies, then you may have to wonder where that money would have gone to, had you given him some change. Of course that not always the most practical idea since usually you won't have the time to go buy him some food, but if you do have some spare time, it might be something to consider.

I know I'm just kind of rambling off some random ideas. I want to know what you think about the subject.

 

[Adammi]

My family offers to go get them groceries or something but I don't no of a single time that the person has accepted. One time we happened to have a huge bag of candy, though not very healthy they did accept our candy. LoL
The Wal-Mart gift card sounds wonderful.

 

[3toraiseup]

No, we don't give money. We don't currently live near a big city, but in times past, I have carried around 'McDonald's dollars' to pass out. That way, I know they can get a hot meal with it. Also, my hubby likes to have a rain poncho in the car in case he sees a homeless person getting soaked in the rain.

We volunteer at the homeless shelter by making dinners, then bringing them hot to the shelter on a designated night. Also, occasionally we help by serving the dinner.

 

[frettr00]

I rarely go into a city so I don't see homeless people very often. If i did, I'd offer to buy food because otherwise I wouldn't want them using it for booze or drugs or a harlot etc.

 

[xenia]

I always give them a dollar if I have it.

 

[OrthodoxSeeker]

I generally give a small amount. Considering that people who have money can use it or abuse it on prescription drugs or fine wines or spirits who am judge what they will use it for? I try to avoid hypocrisy and pray for the best.

 

[ps139]

I always give them money too. I like to assume the best in people. I do not always have time to find some restaurant, wait in line, buy them food, and bring it back to them. Thats not always practical. If I get scammed, so be it. But Jesus said that whenever we fed the hungry, we fed Him.
Also, if the guy is a drug addict, $1 doesn't buy you anything, and if he is jonesing for his fix, his powers of reason are probably not in full swing and you can't convince someone to get "unaddicted." I feel that in that case, an act of Christian charity would do more for him, maybe make him think of some things?

 

[marciadietrich]

When I actually spent time in cities, like Boston, I'd give people money when they would ask. If they asked for a quarter or some change, I'd give them literally what they asked for... occasionally seemed they were miffed if I gave them only change and not a bill instead. I had friends tell me not to give anything. Literally drug away from a guy I thought looked awful and sick.. my friend said he was just really drunk. But he seemed very distressed and I wanted to help.

I think giving food or the gift certificate is probably a better option if you want to know what they are going to do with your gift.

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

When I actually spent time in cities, like Boston, I'd give people money when they would ask. If they asked for a quarter or some change, I'd give them literally what they asked for... occasionally seemed they were miffed if I gave them only change and not a bill instead. I had friends tell me not to give anything. Literally drug away from a guy I thought looked awful and sick.. my friend said he was just really drunk. But he seemed very distressed and I wanted to help.

I think giving food or the gift certificate is probably a better option if you want to know what they are going to do with your gift.

Addiction is, by medical definition, a complusion. The complusion won't stop, even if the addict is seperated from the source of the complusion, until the addict decides to deal with the complusion itself. Hence, why worry about where he spends the money, he needs it and its up to you to decide to give it to him or not.

I usually do.

But this reminds me of a story....

We had a stuffed potato pot luck at my office about 3 years ago. I provided baked pototos and everybody brought something with which to top them. (like cheese sauce, sour cream, veggies). Anyway I had some pototos left over and I had them in a bag as I left the building. A homeless guy held open the door for me and asked if for a dollar to get some food. Hey, I said, here's a couple of baked pototos for you. I handed the bag to him.

Thank you, he said, looking in the bag. "But do you think I could still have the dollar to get something to wash these down with ?"

I laughed so hard I gave him a Lincoln.

 

[xenia]

A few months ago I was in Sacramento for a convention and during a break I was walking around, taking in the sights. There was a college age girl on a bench, asking for a handout. As she was telling me her sad story, I found my hand reaching into my purse and taking out a ten, much to my amazement. Just as I was handing it to her she reached the point in her story where she said "...and I need ten dollars to buy a bus ticket back home." We both looked at the ten dollar bill in my hand in a rather surprised way. Well, if nothing else, the story was so memorable that I remembered to pray for that girl for the rest of the day. Of course, my joy was somewhat dampened by the comments of my companion who felt he had to tell me about all the times he's given money to street people and was burned. How burned can you get from giving someone a dollar, I'd like to know? It's almost too good to be true: you give a dollar to someone and then you have the opportunity to pray for them for as long as you remember. What a bargain!

 

[faerieevaH]

I try to give groceries, since the places here in Antwerp where people sit are often close to a foodshop, or a grocery store. Often I just give them something I've bought there myself, or sometimes if I have the time I go in there myself to buy something for them. If they ask me for money for the bus, I do offer to go buy them a ticket. if they don't accept that, I don't give anything.
If they just ask for money for a place to sleep or something (I know of several of the shelters close by), I do give them. As it's been said: if they buy drugs with it, I can not help them with witholding the money anyway.

 

[PolskiKrol]

I have never seen a homeless man in my town, although my mom saw a homeless man a few months ago near our local Office Max. She gave him a few pears she had bought at the market, and (as it was in a public place) sat for a while and talked with him. He definiatly had some mental difficulties but still was greatful for someone to talk to.