Actually, I gave a few dollars to someone on Xmas day. I had forgotten about that. It was Xmas, after all. It didn’t require me to take out my wallet in front of him.
When I was going to college I had to take city buses to get there. A couple of times the buses left me waiting downtown at the station. And there were homeless people who would hang around. Most never bothered anybody. There was one guy who always asked for cigarettes and change. Twice a day he would ask me for cigs or change. I did give him change a couple of times but I don’t smoke and I told him that. But he asked twice a day three times a week
I have a friend that gives away her cigarettes to bums on the street that are pan handling.
We have a huge homeless population in the SF Bay Area — in the inner city and in the suburbs. There are improvised tent cities popping up everywhere — in Oakland the tents line the streets under most freeway overpasses, in the suburbs the tents pop up in parks and along creeks. It’s very sad.
The homeless population in the SF bay area is totally out of control.
I would visit more often, but its a serious deterrent.
To answer the question,
No, I usually don’t give money to people on the street.
If it doesn’t require me to take out my wallet, I’ll consider it.
Or if I’m in my car, I’ll consider it.
But on the street of SF, no way.
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I am often alone when I do my shopping, and I don’t like being approached in the dark outside the pharmacy for money. I get scared. It’s no offense to them, but I just don’t like to be approached by strangers asking for money. I would give it to them if I could.
I donate to the Salvation Army. They are the ones who got me off the street.
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I dont ever give money to the homeless any more after experiencing to much aggresive begging off them. Dont know why they are on the streets round here anyway , when there is a shelter for them nearby. And i know damn well they are just gonna inject it in their arm - after seeing a couple getting needles from the chemist when picking up my meds. So never.
I’m visiting CA (Oakland and we drive into SF sometimes) and I’ve seen some tents in a group, it’s a lot different from VA where you rarely see homeless people panhandling.
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Yes I remember but it’s a warmer climate and you will see more in a place like that.
Yeah the nights in VA in winter are bone chilling. I often think to myself how impossible survival would be for me if I were homeless, I’d get so sick from the cold.
Once, I saw a man who looked like an angel. He looked angelic. Not weird… I wanted to do something nice. And I went inside and I made this guy a sandwhich. I hugged him and told him God loves you.
I’m not always a kind person but after that I felt heavenly grace. Selfish but I’ll do more kind things.
I had a couple of bad experiences with homeless people. First of all in my city most of then are getting high with some kind of chemical.
There were 2 incidents where they throw away the food they receive. They only need money. They said they’ve eaten
So I either give them ciggaretes or nothing.
One time I gave a guy a half empty Pepsi.
My philosophy is to give because you could akways end up like them… Especially with us being schizophrenic…
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If they ask me on my way into the shop, I will buy them bread/milk/palony.
If they ask me on my out I’ll give them some change I’ve got in my hand.
I don’t open my wallet infront of them cause I’m afraid that I might get mugged.
I don’t.
As a homeless person, there is help to get here if you want it here.
Most of them are humble. The ones who approach me for money are clearly addicted to something, and I don’t want to fuel their addictions.
If I can clearly see that they are in a bad spot, I sometimes offer to buy them something to drink or some food. If someone comes to me begging I usually offer them a cigarette, never straight cash.
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I have bought them food and sometimes I give them a little money. Like others have said, I don’t take my wallet out in front of them. Gotta use wisdom.
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I usually offer money to people who search food in street containers.
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Yeah that breaks my heart to see that.
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