# Do you give money to homeless people?



## MobiusX (Nov 14, 2008)

when they approach you in the streets and ask you for it?

I'm the type of person who wants to know before giving money to them what it will be used for. I don't know, maybe it's just me but sometimes I feel like doing something to help one of them like invite him or her for a real meal and then maybe give them a phone number or address to a place where they provide shelter or where they can be helped for look for jobs. I never did that. Only a few times I do it. If it's for liquor, drugs, etc... then I don't want to do it.


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## kj87 (Sep 30, 2012)

I gave a guy money for a "sandwich" and he asked if I had any money again 30 minutes later. jerk didnt even remember me.

Another guy I gave money to so he could get gas money to drive home. A week later he asked me for money again, for gas to get home, only this time he lived in a different town. Stop going out of town if you don't have money to get home jackass.

I learned my lesson
Never.... again.....

You wanna help, donate to charity. Dont give your money to people who ask for it.


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## Diacetylmorphine (Mar 9, 2011)

I have before, except the guy didn't look homeless. This was on the train and he seemed like a punk/bogan, with brand clothing from head to toe. I gave him some silver that I had in my wallet and he had the nerve to ask for more. Not making that mistake again. :roll

But yeah, I probably would give them some silver if I had it and they appeared to need it, but I try to avoid panhandlers if it appears they might approach me.


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## Double Indemnity (Aug 15, 2011)

As long as I feel safe to stop and open my wallet in front of them, I will give money when asked. I don't ask what it's being used for.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

Homeless people in my city will ask for "bus ticket money", which really means "money to buy crack with". They will even go so far as to ask you which bus you are taking at the bus station, then say they are taking the bus in the completely OPPOSITE direction(even if that direction is into Lake Ontario), just so that you won't know whether they got on a bus with the money you just gave them. It is so pathetic.

Some bums also give the story of how they need to gather some money to buy a plane ticket to fly back to Alberta. You can ask them about where they work, they will *insert a random supermarket here*, and you can usually catch them lying by just say "oh yeah? I work at the same place! Which department do you work in?". They will usually run away at this point.

They can't find money for food, but somehow they will ALWAYS find money in their budget for booze/drugs/cigs!


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## Brasilia (Aug 23, 2012)

Now I do, after 2 homeless people helped me arrive at a restaurant I was looking for safely after I had been lost for an hour and no one in my city cared enough to help me.


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## 50piecesteve (Feb 28, 2012)

i have a couple of times, i honestly dont care what its for. I mean they live on the streets it doesnt get much worse than that. I was homeless for a little bit and it sucked, drinking keeps you warm at night along with smoking cigarettes. So put yourself in their shoes before you judge


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## creasy (Oct 29, 2012)

Yeah. It's just instinct for me. I feel like an *** if I don't give them anything.


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## Zeppelin (Jan 23, 2012)

I don't because all they do is collect tons of money, and spend it all on cigerrettes, drugs and alcohol. I wouldn't want to just give them money and not know where it would be going.

Also, many cities in my area have passed laws against homeless panhandling, but they have offered the homeless people shelter and cloths and most of them just refuse it. 

I would rather just donate my money to a homeless shelter. It would be better because it would actually gaurenteed to help people.


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## MobiusX (Nov 14, 2008)

I wonder if there has ever been a case of a homeless person becoming rich like winning the lottery or a rich person making them a millionaire.


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## pati (Aug 15, 2012)

I do what I can. I guess I'm a sucker, but I think if they are desperate enough to do something as embarrassing as that then they must really need the help. And if they are pathetic enough to lie, well, they suck.


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## Whatev (Feb 6, 2012)

MobiusX said:


> I wonder if there has ever been a case of a homeless person becoming rich like winning the lottery or a rich person making them a millionaire.


Homeless man won $200,000 last month.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/19/homeless-man-wins-lottery-greenville_n_1989771.html


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

No, but then I'm never approached for money. Let's imagine how the verbal exchange might go if I was:

-Homeless: "Hey, can you spare some money?"

-Me: "Why?"

-Homeless: "Because I'm homeless."

-Me: "I'm disabled by severe anxiety & unable to work. How about you give me some money."

-Homeless: "Go f*** yourself!"

-Me: "I don't think you're going to get much money with an attitude like that."


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## fonz (Oct 15, 2008)

I've never really come across a homeless person but I voted no because I know I wouldn't.


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## FireIsTheCleanser (Aug 16, 2011)

I want to give them money but I never had and my mother never was too keen on giving them money because she thought they would just waste it on alcohol/cigarettes/drugs which I can see her point on but I still didn't feel right ignoring them or not giving them anything.


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## Xenos (Jun 24, 2012)

I used to give a lot, and I still do sometimes, but where I live you can go broke pretty quick giving money to every homeless person who asks. So a lot of the time I just say sorry and walk on.


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## Dissonance (Dec 27, 2011)

I'd rather give them food then give them money for knows whatever thing they are going to buy, but I don't even have a job so I am in no position in giving money away.


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## TobeyJuarez (May 16, 2012)

one time i was walking home from subway, and i saw a homeless man.... his shoes were all messed up and he was sitting on the curb.... he looked hungry so i have him my sandwich and 30 $ to go get some shoes... next time i saw him he had some flats...


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## Scorpio90 (Oct 17, 2012)

I used to think that all of beggars were miserable when I was a child. Now everytime when I hang out with my friends, I'm surrounded by a lot of beggars. They are really annoying to ask for money for 15 mins, and of course I don't have enough money to give them all. (Be careful, even they can steal ur money, they often do that with foreigners). To be honest, many people consider beggaring as a job, haha.
When my bf broke up with me, my face was covered with tears and a small beggar still stood there to ask for money, it was freaking annoying >"<


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## WD3 (Oct 11, 2012)

I go to school downtown so I get asked this a lot. I will never pull out my wallet but if someone comes up to me nicely and explains himself I will sometimes give them my pocket change.


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## John316C (May 1, 2011)

here and there. i give them coupons etc and i talk to them sometimes.


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## farfegnugen (Aug 16, 2010)

I have bought them something to eat before, but you need to watch that you're not being targeted as a mark of a pickpocket. I would keep some loose change or money in pocket and give that to them.


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## RelinquishedHell (Apr 10, 2012)

Yeah I've done it a few times.


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## Beamer (May 28, 2012)

I almost never do. If my instincts tell me that the person truly needs the help then I will. If I have the slightest doubt about it, I won't. However, I have a lot of respect for honesty. If somebody tells me straight up that they need money for booze, I'll help them out if I can afford it.


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## Wurli (Sep 15, 2012)

Always. In fact, I make sure to put some change in my wallet every morning before I head out because I get approached by homeless people almost every day given that I take public transit to and from school. 

In my opinion, if he's asking me for money so that he can buy some food then it is my duty as a compassionate human being to do so. As a person in a significantly better financial situation, I must do all that I can to help someone less fortunate. I don't assume that the money is going to be used for drugs or something other then what I am told.


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## Nekomata (Feb 3, 2012)

No. I'm poor enough as it is without giving what little money I have away.


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## ShadyGFX (Jul 18, 2012)

Maybe, if I had money to give.


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## T-Bone (Oct 1, 2010)

I have a few times, when i have money. I do ask them what they need it for. I offered to buy this guy a couple dollars worth of sliders one time because he said he needed it for food, then he refused. Another guy straight up told me he needed it for beer, so i gave him the money. I like honesty.


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## Gurosan (Sep 4, 2012)

when i can and feel like it i always try to spare some coin for beggers,street performers and people more in need of that spare change than i do.


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## Wednesdayx (Nov 9, 2012)

Gurosan said:


> when i can and feel like it i always try to spare some coin for beggers,street performers and people more in need of that spare change than i do.


If it was a street performer, maybe. Beggars, no.. If anything i'd give them food not money.


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## theseventhkey (Jul 22, 2012)

If I am feeling generous. I haven't in a while though. I remember the last few times I did something for a homeless person they were living in the woods, I bought him and his woman some breakfast.


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## Cyrus (Oct 25, 2009)

I usually give them a pound when I'm in town. I'm the one that goes up to them as opposed to them approaching me and they are always grateful even though it's not much


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## Ali477 (May 7, 2012)

I gave some money to a homeless guy outside a trainstation once, when i came back from college i saw the same homeless guy ride past me on a mountain bike listening to an iPod :?


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## Glacial (Jun 16, 2010)

No, for several reasons:

1). I rarely carry cash
2). I am not comfortable taking out my wallet in front of a stranger
3). Too many scams, as people have already mentioned above to include money needed for drugs etc. 
4). I do give to charities on occasion and donate to food banks...homeless people need to go to the charities. 
5). If I was going to do something to help, I'd do what my supervisor did once: offered to go in the McDonalds right by where they where standing and pay for his meal directly, oppose to giving out cash for "food" that could just end up going to drugs or alcohol.


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## BKrakow (Jul 8, 2010)

sometimes. and I don't particularly care what they use it for. $1 isn't going to make much of a difference in my life either way.


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## Dragonfly2 (Oct 16, 2012)

I have a lot of times and not everyone fits the stereotype. 
I've had both kinds of experiences and I found in the end most are just trying to survive and people treat them like they're invisible anyways.
I was homeless for a bit when I was younger and I can tell you people are cruel, they'd rather walk fast past you then stop and learn your story.


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## Still Waters (Sep 18, 2008)

When I was more naive than I am now,I'd give once in awhile -I've toughened up a lot and don't anymore.- If they had a child with them though,it would be a far different story.-I'd be wracking my brain trying to figure out how to help and probably having to restrain myself from giving them every penny I had.


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## Canadian Brotha (Jan 23, 2009)

It depends on my mood & how much "available" funds I have at the time. If my mood is good & I have a little extra I give it, I don't really care what they use it for. I had a guy tell me he was a few bucks short of a 6-pack once & I gave him the change he needed because he was honest. That said it's nice when you can tell they are trying to get things together or when you can see they aren't completely desperate but could use a hand at the moment


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## IcedOver (Feb 26, 2007)

Probably 90% of the people who say they are homeless are liars. In my city, this jerkoff regularly stands in the middle of a busy highway, where rush hour cars slow so they can merge lanes, and begs for money by claiming to be homeless. I was on the bus with a young woman who said to her seat mate that she knows the guy and that he is not homeless, that he's a heavy drug addict who told her he can pull in $100-$200 a day to feed his habit. He has a house, too, although she said that it's such a rathole that he may as well be sleeping outside. The only verifiable homeless people are those who set up bed cushions and sofas under a highway overpass. That'd dedication. 

Even if they don't claim to be homeless, the bums usually are only using the money for drugs or because they are addicted to free money for doing nothing (maybe a byproduct of our sadly increasing entitlement society hell?). Some are just slick swindlers. When I was younger and naive, I was conned out of $20 by a shyster who told me he was a counselor for at-risk inner city youths and that he was dressed like a bum to fit in with them. He said he needed cab fare to get uptown to where he had his real clothes in a locker, but that he would meet me later in the day outside a pizzeria to refund my money. He was so convincing that I fell for it. I wouldn't do that now that I'm older.

You also have the panhandlers who have their "routes". They go by the same areas daily and beg, not realizing that the same people are waiting for the same buses on the same days at the same times. This a-hole habitually came by my old bus stop a couple times a week and asked anybody he encounters "You got any change on you? Any change? Man, I gotsta get on da bus!" Why would anyone give this scumbag anything when he's so indelicate? If you're going to bum money, at least say "Excuse me, can you spare some change?" I would just glare at him, and I think he's caught on because he quit asking me.


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## cloister2 (Sep 2, 2011)

UltraShy said:


> No, but then I'm never approached for money. Let's imagine how the verbal exchange might go if I was:
> 
> -Homeless: "Hey, can you spare some money?"
> 
> ...


Never approached? You must never leave the house.


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## cloister2 (Sep 2, 2011)

In SF someone approached you every block, so I can't help everyone.


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## FadeToOne (Jan 27, 2011)

Sad responses in this thread.

Yes, not all homeless people use the money really for food. Yes it's hard to know for sure what their intentions are. But guess what? A lot really are in need. A lot of them really are starving. If you think there are social services taking care of them all, boy are you wrong. Not in America. Capitalists don't care about the poor and the starving. There are some charities that help some people, but a lot are still not getting the help that they need.


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## IcedOver (Feb 26, 2007)

^^You can tell which are sincere and which are liars, and to those who seem sincere I have given money. I used not to have the best radar for sincerity among beggars, but now I do. If people keep throwing money at poor people, how will they ever learn to fend for themselves? It's just perpetuating the problem. They can get a job just the same as anybody else, even if it's going around sweeping up trash. Even shelters and associations that feed and house the homeless have put up advertisements in my city telling people not to give beggars change, with the slogan "The More You Give Change, the More Things Stay the Same." You know who fund a lot of charities? Those dastardly rich people that socialists hate.


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## BrookeHannigan (Mar 29, 2012)

no,waste of my money


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## FadeToOne (Jan 27, 2011)

IcedOver said:


> ^^You can tell which are sincere and which are liars, and to those who seem sincere I have given money. I used not to have the best radar for sincerity among beggars, but now I do. If people keep throwing money at poor people, how will they ever learn to fend for themselves? It's just perpetuating the problem. They can get a job just the same as anybody else, even if it's going around sweeping up trash. Even shelters and associations that feed and house the homeless have put up advertisements in my city telling people not to give beggars change, with the slogan "The More You Give Change, the More Things Stay the Same." You know who fund a lot of charities? Those dastardly rich people that socialists hate.


There is no hope for this world because of opinions like this.


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## Ali477 (May 7, 2012)

FadeToOne said:


> Sad responses in this thread.
> 
> Yes, not all homeless people use the money really for food. Yes it's hard to know for sure what their intentions are. But guess what? A lot really are in need. A lot of them really are starving. If you think there are social services taking care of them all, boy are you wrong. Not in America. Capitalists don't care about the poor and the starving. There are some charities that help some people, but a lot are still not getting the help that they need.


I guess being homeless in the US must be much harder than it is here in the UK, begging/pan handling here is illegal but homeless people get access to free healthcare and dole money for food.


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## IcedOver (Feb 26, 2007)

"FadeToOne": No, a hopeless society is one in which dependence on government aid or charity is the norm. It's this kind of society that's been endorsed by duped slaves in the form of Barry's (hearteningly slim) re-election, and it's very sad. A hopeful society is one in which business thrives so much that jobs aplenty exist for those with the will to work, and it's this kind of world that should be the goal. If someone is homeless because of a natural disaster, they deserve any benefit that can come their way. I'll wager, though, that those benefits would be larger if people who can work but choose not to because of laziness would quit working the system.


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## shelbster18 (Oct 8, 2011)

No, I don't. I've never given a homeless person money before. I just wouldn't trust them and they'd probably use it to buy drugs anyways. It's not like I'd know what they're using it for, so I wouldn't do it. I've never even had a homeless person come up to me and ask me for money, though.


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## flowersforsarah (Nov 1, 2012)

I used to all the time but now I don't. It got to a point where I started to feel taken advantage of. . A young, blonde girl who smiles at everyone: Easy! Plus I've said no a few times and had people get angry with me. Which makes me sooooo mad hah. I don't think homeless people are bad people but ehhhh, I try not to anymore.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

cloister2 said:


> Never approached? You must never leave the house.


Like many with SA, I don't get out a whole lot.

I probably have been asked for money at some point, though don't specifically recall it. I once remember a religious-based charity coming to my door & when I told them I'm an Atheist & asked them to get off my property the man started loudly yelling at me about how "Jesus was nailed to a cross for me." That prompted me to ask if he wanted me to call 911 such that cops could assist him in getting off my property. He left, but continued to rant about Jesus as he angrily left.

I'm not sure what Jesus would do, but I'm thinking that screaming at folks wouldn't be the way he'd handle things.


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## Paul (Sep 26, 2005)

I don't want to be the cause of extroverts and liars having an advantage in life, so if I ever take up charity I'll give to the ones who aren't asking.


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## Octal (Aug 2, 2011)

If they amuse me, yes.


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## madsv (Mar 19, 2010)

Sometimes. It depends on a lot of things.


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## RenegadeReloaded (Mar 12, 2011)

From the point of religion, it doesn't count if the beggar is real or acting, if he uses the money to buy vodka and cigarettes and not food.

What matters is that you can face God and know in your consciousness that you don't say no when you are asked by a beggar, or you don't pass by a passive beggar.


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## Strwbrry (Jun 28, 2012)

Mostly I buy them food or something else they need (I ask them first). I don't want them to buy drugs from the money I gave them.


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## Strwbrry (Jun 28, 2012)

Octal said:


> If they amuse me, yes.


Commodus. Like a bawse.


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## ShyFX (Mar 6, 2006)

It depends. If I gave money to every homeless person who asked I'd be homeless myself since there are a lot of them in the city. I give money to the ones who look like they really need help and the ones who ask nicely. I hate when some guy comes up to me and shouts "Yo! You got a dollar?!" And for some reason regular people who aren't homeless, or don't look homeless at least, ask me for money all the time.


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## nubly (Nov 2, 2006)

I used to give them money back before I started using credit cards instead of cash. I didn't make a habit out of it though.



kj87 said:


> Another guy I gave money to so he could get gas money to drive home. A week later he asked me for money again, for gas to get home, only this time he lived in a different town. Stop going out of town if you don't have money to get home jackass.


These type of people I ignore.


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## nubly (Nov 2, 2006)

FadeToOne said:


> Sad responses in this thread.
> 
> Yes, not all homeless people use the money really for food. Yes it's hard to know for sure what their intentions are. But guess what? A lot really are in need. A lot of them really are starving. If you think there are social services taking care of them all, boy are you wrong. Not in America. Capitalists don't care about the poor and the starving. There are some charities that help some people, but a lot are still not getting the help that they need.


I told one guy I had no cash on me but I would buy him some snacks if he wanted to (I was heading into a grocery store). He said yes so I got him a loaf of white bread, two packs of cheap deli meat, a jar of mustard and one of those $1 Gatorade bottle. When I gave him the bag he looked like a little kid opening gifts.


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## identitycrisis (Sep 18, 2011)

I make a judgment call, I don't react the same to all of them. One guy in Seattle rapped for me before asking for money. I couldn't understand most of what he was rapping about, but at least he did something to earn it, so I spared him a couple bucks and talked to him a bit.

At the very least, I acknowledge their existence instead of ignoring them. No matter what they end up using their money for, I can't think of many things more dehumanizing than pretending they don't exist.


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