A Rare Thing for me Today

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

99.99999% of the times I do not give money to beggars but today was a rare exception. I was setting in my car downtown getting my photo gear together and I had my door open and this gentleman walks up and asks if I could spare some change. I kinda glanced up and said no-he kind of startled me at first when he walked up since I didn't hear him at all. Well he walks off and I watch him and I think this poor guy is really down on his luck I mean he was almost shivering while he was walking away. He had a bad limp, which did not look fake and he looked like he had been on the street for a long long time. I then made the decision to get out of the car call the guy back towards me and give him a dollar. He stopped when he heard me call him and I did say Sir I have some money for you. When we met up I apologized to him and told him that most of the people I see begging are just running a scam but i could see that he really needed help. He took the dollar and thanked me while looking me right in the eye-that is when I could see that he was probably sicker than I had even thought before because both of his eyes were almost blood red. He glanced at the camera in my hand and turned and walked off- I did not attempt to shoot his picture- he deserved that much respect.

Like I said above I almost never give these guys any money but today I am glad that I gave that gentleman a dollar even if he uses it to self medicate himself with a drink of cheap wine at least me may sleep a bit better.

Sometimes we just have to look at the person inside.

[SaundraU]

We have a few spot here in MN that these guys hang out and I have made it a policy that if I have any money to give it to them. Sure they could be scamming or going to use it for thier beverage of choice but I jys can't drive by. There is a qoute out there I believe it may be from the Bible about helping our Brothers and sharing our food, shelter, etc. It is not for me to judge or understand but if I have all that I do, which wouldn't be for others giving me a hand up at certain rough times in my life, to include nights I would have been sleeping out in the cold.

[dlbdata]

Was this fellow in a tan jacket and tan pants......?? There is one that is on continous rounds.

[Lax]

I give to good charities, hoping the right people find the money and get the help they need.

After hearing about the scams, its hard to not think about being taken. There was a Judge that panhandled during his lunch hour because the money was good. He would then drive back to work in his mercedes.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

No this guy was in a dirty dark blue work type jacket and dark blue work type pants- type of clothes that can be bought real cheap used. He has to be real sick just by how bad his eyes look, I hope he can find a warm place for the weekend when that front hits.

I was hit on by at least 3 other "homeless" today and they didn't phase me at all just give them the usual sorry I don't have any cash for you but there was something about how this guy looked as he walked off, nothing that he said or did on purpose just how he looked like he was having a real tough time with life.

[ShutteredEye]

Originally Posted by SaundraU

We have a few spot here in MN that these guys hang out and I have made it a policy that if I have any money to give it to them. Sure they could be scamming or going to use it for thier beverage of choice but I jys can't drive by. There is a qoute out there I believe it may be from the Bible about helping our Brothers and sharing our food, shelter, etc. It is not for me to judge or understand but if I have all that I do, which wouldn't be for others giving me a hand up at certain rough times in my life, to include nights I would have been sleeping out in the cold.

We keep gift certs to Subway in the car to give panhandlers. I've had them thrown back in my face several times.

[SaundraU]

Originally Posted by ShutteredEye

We keep gift certs to Subway in the car to give panhandlers. I've had them thrown back in my face several times.

That's to bad I'm sorry to hear that. Everyone has always be very polite even when I don't have money I always smile and the regulars always smile back. We had an article not to long ago here in MN about our Homeless population which was very eye opening and a few said they know of some like the judge mentioned above but are very rare around here, it would take alot to stand around in the extreme cold here in the winter just to make the extra bucks. I'll have to keep the certs in mind tho and maybe try them.

[SaundraU]

Originally Posted by Lax

I give to good charities, hoping the right people find the money and get the help they need.

After hearing about the scams, its hard to not think about being taken. There was a Judge that panhandled during his lunch hour because the money was good. He would then drive back to work in his mercedes.

I do to but am finding it harder and harder as the monies that actaully make it to some of the places (even well known ones) is less and less as more is spent on "Admin" costs.

[Stephen H]

I don't think there's ever been a good answer to this.

I remember reading of a homeless shelter that would actually put people to work- they gave out free coupons for meals for specifically to hand out.

I've thought about just putting a can of ravioli, can of green peas, whatever, in a bag, and hand it to these guys. At least that way you know they didn't spend it on liquor.

There's no doubt a lot of people have very genuine needs. For that matter, even drunks have to eat.

I come home via 360 to I30 and into Dallas. At that intersection, there is ALWAYS one beggar, and never two, always have the same cardboard sign, etc. That seems to be some sort of a racket- they may actually be homeless, but if so, they must take turns working the "good" interesection.

A while back, about 10:30 at night, a guy knocks on our front door begging money for busfare to his home in Grand Prairie. Two or three nights later, he's at the door again- evidently forgot he'd done been there.

[Wes]

Saundra - I think that the quote you are looking for can be found in Matthew 25:40.

Paul - why would you consider it disrespectful to have taken his picture? People like this can often tell a heartfelt story just in an image. Sometimes it provokes compassion in the soul of a man when he can see the lines on the face of a brother in need. To be honest, I don't know if I could have taken the shot, but I find it odd that you might consider it disrespectful.

[raevyncent]

Having been homeless more than once in my life , due to unforseen circumstances beyond my control. When I have it to give, I donate to local homeless shelters, knowing that these are the best hope for anyone truly trying to pull themselves out of that hole.

[AndrewCCM]

Thanks for sharing your story.

About 3 years ago, I was eating downtown Ft. Worth and across the street a man and woman were approached by a person asking for money. The lady handed the man an apple (or orange..can't remember) that she had in her jacket pocket. As they walked off, the man threw the fruit and hit her with it. When the acquaintance turned around to protest, the homeless guy stabbed him with a steak knife then ran. A patron at a restaurant across the street saw what happened and ran out and sprinted after the guy...Took him down like I had never seen before.. apparently the guy was some sort of martial arts expert. The bike police officers were there almost instantly to take him into custody. We just sat there at Zippy's (across from Billy Miners) and were stunned. CRAZY thing.. a week later some police officers were having lunch inside Zippys and a homeless guy came into the restaurant and punched one of the officers while he sat there eating!! Very odd couple of weeks in Sundance Square. Normally one of the safest urban areas around (at least appears to be).

BTW: I almost always give people something if I have it and they look like they could really use it. I know in my heart that I am probably making false assumptions, but I generally feel better about doing it.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Wes it just didn't feal right, I guess if I asked if I could take his picture he probably would have said fine but I just didn't feal like bothering him with the question.

Now what gets me is why are we, ie the people in metroplex/large cities so beset upon by the homeless? Really if you ask these guys the vast majority are not from the area and many are not even from this part of the country this time of year, and that does really bother me. I know Austin has a huge transient population for it's size because the word got out years ago that Austin was an easy town to be a transient in. Now I am not saying that we should not try to help our fellow human beings out when they hit hard times but why should I deal with say a bunch of guys from St Lious or Chicago that never set foot in Texas until the week before winter? New Orleans had a huge homeless population that had no roots in the city but then after Katrina they have all moved elsewhere. Now I am not talking about the vagabond that travels around the country and pics up odd construction/work jobs to put a few bucks in their pocket and then move on to another city but just the bums with the Will Work for Booze signs and the ones that you see lined up at the soup kitchens and sandwich hand out carts on the weekends. It really ticks me off to see the suburb oh I feal sorry for the homeless come into the City and hand out free food but then get totally Stalinistic if that homeless person sets foot in their suburb. IF YOU WANT TO HAND OUT FREE FOOD DO IT IN YOUR OWN TOWN!!!

Sorry about the rant but it just has burned into me for years now since I did have a business that you could set at the door and watch dozens upon dozens of homeless walk by all day long-folks this wasn't downtown or near a squatters camp it just turned out that there was a guy a few blocks down that bought aluminum cans and other scrap *he was shut down by the city supposedly but over 2 years later he was still operating just outside his old front gate. You basically have to put any airconditioning equipment in cages with padlocks or you will see it stolen or stripped overnight, you can't leave anything of value outside because it will get taken and this is not that bad of a neighborhood!

Also this time of year you will hear about house fires where unocupied homes will catch on fire on cold nights because homeless will start fires on the floor to keep warm and then burn the house up!

[ShutteredEye]

We should probably be careful where this thread is going.

It's a tough subject. And I don't know enough about the indignity of being in a position that begging is the best option...

We're all just trying to make it the best we can I think.

[lhdvies]

The decision to give or not to give to the street person is mine-what they do with it afterwards is their's. Never really had a bad experience when genuinely trying to help, but can't always do so. Sometimes decide not to when I could because of certain situations.