Saw a woman begging for food money.

[realinvestment]

Outside a shop where I bought morning coffee for a buck thirty seven. It was only 8:15 am on Sunday.

Should I have given her anything? How much?

 

[percysunshine]

Outside a shop where I bought morning coffee for a buck thirty seven. It was only 8:15 am on Sunday.

Should I have given her anything? How much?

Buy her breakfast. That way you know the money isn't going towards booze or drugs.

 

[realinvestment]

I didn't have time to buy her breakfast. Just make a decision whether to give her money.

 

[Mr Natural]

You did a good thing.

What she does with the money is on her head.

 

[Mr. H.]

I give to panhandlers on occasion, with the caveat "no booze, no drugs".

Only once did I get a retort. The guy said something like "but I like to drink once in a while".

I said- ok no drugs. LOL

 

[Two Thumbs]

I don't give to people with their hands out anymore, not since I learned it's actually a good living.

But a street performer or someone selling pencils or some such, yeah, every time.

 

[HUGGY]

Outside a shop where I bought morning coffee for a buck thirty seven. It was only 8:15 am on Sunday.

Should I have given her anything? How much?

If she is unemployable then her asking for money is more honorable than stealing it or shoplifting the food.

A couple of homeless panhandle cars during morning rush at 125th N. and N. Aurora. They make anywhere from 20-50 bucks in a couple of hours.

I watch what the street people purchase at the mini mart ...Ya they buy some beer but they do in fact buy food items as well. I see em going to the Jack in the Crack also. The heroine addicts prefer the Krispy Kreme.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

I tried to give food to someone doing that once and they got pissed off. And one time a friend of mine was driving along and saw a woman with a sign that said, "Need food to buy diapers." He happened to have a pack of diapers in the back of his car, so he pulled over and offered them to the woman. She was angry and refused the diapers. Hmmm.

Right now my husband has finally gotten back to work after being unemployed for several months, and he is working at minimum wage to start. We have racked up quite a bit of debt and my company is being sold so I'm uncertain about my job. So, other than supporting the numerous animals I have rescued and I now support, I give nothing to anybody. My first responsibility is to keep my own home running. At such time as our financial situation improves, I may give some donations to animal causes. The animals are TRULY helpless.

 

[B. Kidd]

Outside a shop where I bought morning coffee for a buck thirty seven. It was only 8:15 am on Sunday.

Should I have given her anything? How much?

Let's see. She was panhandling outside of a shop where you paid $1.37 for coffee. Right? I would have given her an invaluable tip by telling her to panhandle outside of a Starbucks.
But, thats' just me......

 

[Dugdale_Jukes]

Follow your heart with people who are not dangerous. It is rarely a mistake.

Years ago I picked up an old woman hitchhiking in a blizzard. She lived about ten miles out of my way, but it wasn't difficult to make the decision to take her home. Upon my asking how she got caught out in the weather, she named a prominent family whose home she had just cleaned.

"Why didn't Mrs. xxxx take you home?"

"Oh, the weather was too bad."

"But it is okay for you to hitch hike in it, right?"

Silence.

Then she started telling me her story. In 1945 she married a US soldier and followed him here where he worked in the mines until he got sick and died. Her social security check was $355/m and at 73 she supplemented by working for the quality in the area.

About twenty minutes later in white-out conditions we pulled up to her house. An old "company" house with that cheap tar siding with red brick imprints, a ramshackle porch and maybe ten feet of yard to the sidewalk. Like my own parents, this woman had survived a depression and a world war at twenty-couple; something about her moved me. I handed her some money, closed my hand around hers to keep it there and thanked her for telling me her story.

She looked at me, then looked away. She opened the door, slid off the white leather seats and carefully shut a door that probably cost more than any appliance in her home.

Within two weeks the daughter of the family who let her hitch hike home had been arrested for marijuana possession. In a heartbeat their daughter lost a $60k/yr job in a very public way. If more Americans took care of bad people harshly, this would be a much better nation.

 

[eflatminor]

Outside a shop where I bought morning coffee for a buck thirty seven.

One, you're coffee probably sucks if you're paying a buck thirty seven. Two, this woman was not begging for food, she was begging for money. Between food stamps, all the federal, state and local programs, and voluntary charity, nobody's starving in this country. She wanted money to spend as she wished.

 

[syrenn]

Outside a shop where I bought morning coffee for a buck thirty seven. It was only 8:15 am on Sunday.

Should I have given her anything? How much?

This is truly amazing.

 

[realinvestment]

In my case, there wasn't much opportunity for dialogue, just give her money or look the other way after she kept looking at me.

Your comment about not dangerous hits me here. She wasn't and seemed believable. I give quite a bit of money to the church, so an occasional donation doesn't bother me. At the same time I hate to reward laziness or deception. So I compromised and gave her five bucks.

Follow your heart with people who are not dangerous. It is rarely a mistake.

Years ago I picked up an old woman hitchhiking in a blizzard. She lived about ten miles out of my way, but it wasn't difficult to make the decision to take her home. Upon my asking how she got caught out in the weather, she named a prominent family whose home she had just cleaned.

"Why didn't Mrs. xxxx take you home?"

"Oh, the weather was too bad."

"But it is okay for you to hitch hike in it, right?"

Silence.

Then she started telling me her story. In 1945 she married a US soldier and followed him here where he worked in the mines until he got sick and died. Her social security check was $355/m and at 73 she supplemented by working for the quality in the area.

About twenty minutes later in white-out conditions we pulled up to her house. An old "company" house with that cheap tar siding with red brick imprints, a ramshackle porch and maybe ten feet of yard to the sidewalk. Like my own parents, this woman had survived a depression and a world war at twenty-couple; something about her moved me. I handed her some money, closed my hand around hers to keep it there and thanked her for telling me her story.

She looked at me, then looked away. She opened the door, slid off the white leather seats and carefully shut a door that probably cost more than any appliance in her home.

Within two weeks the daughter of the family who let her hitch hike home had been arrested for marijuana possession. In a heartbeat their daughter lost a $60k/yr job in a very public way. If more Americans took care of bad people harshly, this would be a much better nation.

 

[syrenn]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krg5r6n0kr4]Panhandler scammer - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Ravi]

Outside a shop where I bought morning coffee for a buck thirty seven. It was only 8:15 am on Sunday.

Should I have given her anything? How much?

Maybe you should learn to think for yourself instead of looking for confirmation from on line strangers.

 

[B. Kidd]

The ultimate irony in this thread is that the OP calls himself 'realinvestment'. (Hee-hee-hee...!)

 

[007]

Outside a shop where I bought morning coffee for a buck thirty seven. It was only 8:15 am on Sunday.

Should I have given her anything? How much?

Tell her to get a fucking job and keep walking.

 

[asaratis]

Outside a shop where I bought morning coffee for a buck thirty seven. It was only 8:15 am on Sunday.

Should I have given her anything? How much?

This is truly amazing.



[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm3Xwq1Llis]Fake beggar exposed for $100K -Bewarned! - YouTube[/ame]


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjevw2zm86s]Fake Beggar Scam Busted - YouTube[/ame]

Atlanta used to be replete with panhandlers in the downtown area. A Downtown Business Business Association has managed, along with help from the police, to remove most of them. Aggressive panhandling and complaints from tourists prompted the effort.

One morning while on a smoke break, I saw five of our regular panhandlers get out of a spiffy Mercedes and go their separate ways. Around 7 pm, as I was leaving my regular pit stop, the same Mercedes arrived to pick them up. It's a lucrative business for beggars...and I doubt they pay taxes on their income.

 

[Againsheila]

I tried to give food to someone doing that once and they got pissed off. And one time a friend of mine was driving along and saw a woman with a sign that said, "Need food to buy diapers." He happened to have a pack of diapers in the back of his car, so he pulled over and offered them to the woman. She was angry and refused the diapers. Hmmm.

Right now my husband has finally gotten back to work after being unemployed for several months, and he is working at minimum wage to start. We have racked up quite a bit of debt and my company is being sold so I'm uncertain about my job. So, other than supporting the numerous animals I have rescued and I now support, I give nothing to anybody. My first responsibility is to keep my own home running. At such time as our financial situation improves, I may give some donations to animal causes. The animals are TRULY helpless.

I've been there, I much prefer being able to give rather than being forced to receive.

As for beggers on the street, I now tell them where the community suppers are and where they can get free lunches as well as help. I also tell them where and what hours the food bank operates. One time a man asked me for money for food and I said I didn't have any cash, but I could be back in about 10 or 15 minutes with some sandwiches. He said, "no thanks".

I try not to give out cash at all.

 

[asaratis]

Panhandler scammer - YouTube

Deceptively exploiting the innate generosity of mankind. Fraud is so easy when you lie convincingly.