What do you say to panhandlers who ask for money?

I just say I dont have any cash. Its usually true, and its a lot less smartassy than asking 'do you take visa?'

 

Where I live, there are places they can go and eat a decent free meal. So when they're asking for money, it's for meth or heroin. I just say no, without excuses.

 

I generally say "Can't help you" but yesterday I did give a five to a lady in an intersection. I actually went back after stopping somewhere else, pulled in the parking lot beside the intersection and walked it to her. Sign said she had three kids and couldn't pay her rent. She appeared to be from India or Pakistan based on her clothing and accent so I tended to believe her sign since you just don't see people like that panhandling around here ever.

 

I have given a couple of bucks on occasion. I have also handed them the sandwich I just purchased at the deli, or gloves from my own hands on a cold day.

The responses have varied, but enough have been 'positive' that I will still do it.

 

If I have a two for one deal at fast food sometimes I’ll get the two-fer and give them one.
Back in the day when bums were panhandling for wine, I would give them a couple of bucks and make them promise they would only spend it on wine, nothing else. Talk about weird looks.

 

If they are up close, I give them a buck or two. The food thing? Nah , not so much, I've seen them either dump the food and stick in their backpack with the multitude of food they've already been given. I do my givng thru my church, I have at least some sense of how it is going to be used.

 

Once I gave money to a family who needed to get their car fixed, they were from out of town or out of state. It is sad you have to figure out if people are legit or just begging to be begging. I am always reminded of the verse in the Bible about entertaining angels, Hebrews 13:2.

 

I give to the needy I know... there's plenty of them!

 

That always goes without saying Charity begins at home.. I hate seeing people begging for money.

 

When I get off the highway to a stop light at the bottom of the ramp, there is always someone standing there looking for donations. Sometimes a sign, sometimes a dog, the person varies. While I donate my time, labor, and quite often my money to those in need locally, someone just standing at the stop light is trying to play to a 'captive' audience. Considering the number of jobs available locally, the chance of someone standing at the light in that desperate a need is unlikely.

Too many scammers have played the game. I'll continue with my personal efforts locally.

 

I never respond to any panhandlers.

But if the situation got 'in-my-face', I'd tell them to go visit the Colorado Democrat Party, located at 789 Sherman St # 110, in Denver, CO 80203. If anybody has lots of nice 'free stuff', paid for by U. S. taxpayers, to give moochers, slackers, beggars, and bums, it's the Democrats!







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I give to Church, the food pantry and CFC, a very liberal friend once told me there are 28 food pantries and about the same in soup kitchens in Portland, Maine, that's enough.

 

I don't give nothing to able-bodied men sitting on their ass begging money for alcohol and drugs.

 

My son had an after school job once at a pizza parlor. A bum came in asking for a pizza and they told him the back lot needed weeding if he would weed it they would give him the pizza. He did it and he got the pizza. Maybe I shouldn't call the guy a bum he did a job and return got what he wanted. Maybe just a hungry man.

 

I have read or someone told me about the cat drawings on fence posts in the depression era. If an out of work person saw the cat it meant they could probably get food at that house. Maybe that is what Colorado Democrats should do, draw cats on their building.

 

Back in the days of the dinosaurs, we had people that would occasionally wander through our neighborhood, looking to do odd jobs in exchange for food or cash. We had weeds pulled, leaves raked, lawns mowed, every possible odd job that we could find for them. Eating my Mom's cooking wasn't a benefit for most, so a couple of times we shared canned goods, or paid them for their labors. Several of the other neighbors did the same. Some would have nothing to do with them.

There was one guy who was a 'regular', and we got to know him rather well. He came around for several years, then just disappeared. Always wondered where he got off to.

 

One way to look at helping someone in need is to consider that you are blessed to be able to help a needy person. I think the blessing would be to help a person without actually giving money a home cooked meal, a warm coat or maybe a pair of shoes. Recently I saw the sheriff of the county I live in offer to buy this person a pair of shoes. The man wasn't a bum he was just a down on his luck person. The sheriff saw the need and stepped up. He would always get my vote.

 

Back in the day I think all parents were like that. Today you just don't know who to trust unless you know them personally.

 

The man who did the weeding and your son are both to be commended! I've been told this is how a LOT of folks 'got by' 90 years ago during the Great Depression. Work and compensation! It's a large part of what really did "make America great".







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If a person asks me face to face for money, I give them money. Yes, the person may use it for beer or cigarettes or drugs, or they may use it for food or medicine or clothes or gas. You never know. There have been a few times I know it made a real difference. And every once in a while, you get an opportunity to truly help someone beyond a few bucks because you took a moment to be charitable and talk to them.

 

During the depression, my grandfather was living in Baton Rouge with his wife and 2 kids. To get money he went to a trucking company in New Orleans (his wife and kids stayed with family in Baton Rouge), met teh manager as he was opening up the place and told him he would work for free for the day, if the manager liked what he saw would he give him a job? The manager said maybe.

At that time, the driver just drove, no loading or unloading. Granddad helped load and unload, skipped lunch, and got more deliveries than any driver ever. He was hired and worked like that for a year until he had enough money to go back to Baton Rouge and his family.

My dad had 2 jobs when he was 12 plus he picked cotton (5 cents a bag, and it was a big bag) during harvest. Not to mention milking cows, feeding chickens, herding cattle, and assorted other chores.

A lot of people back in the early/mid 20th century worked like that, good solid work ethic, refused welfare, my grandparents and parents all said "We never went on the dole, couldn't live with the shame of it".

There's a reason they are called the Greatest Generation.

 

~ If someone actually asks me for cash I reply ; " I was just going to ask you ! "
Very rarely do I get approached directly for money. Usually people hang out with a sign and a bucket. The last guy I noticed was outside a discount store playing a guitar with a sign above a can — ' Travelin' Money'

 

During the depression people learned charity and perseverance along with other character building lessons. They had good teachers from people who experienced the hardships of WW1 and the Spanish flu epidemic. That was another great generation of people and the things that were accomplished during that era. America has always been a can do country. Just maybe we can do a great generation again.

 

A couple of years ago a man was playing classics on a violin in front of the Publix. The man wasn't asking for money just playing his violin giving people a concert. He didn't ask for money. Perhaps he knew he was good and if someone appreciated music he would be rewarded. Anyone can be down on their luck we always have to remember,"There but for the grace of God go I."

 

~ I very often give money to panhandlers , GirlScouts and kids selling candy bars. I always keep a sense of humor.