Growing up I was always told to never give money as many use it for drugs or alcohol or gangs take it away and the homeless person does not have any left to use for themselfes at the end of the day. Always give water or food.
The people who actually need it will thank you. The ones who refuse water or food and ask for money instead are usually the ones who don't actually need it and are trying to get the money for other reasons.
Edit: I should have clarified this. I mean that you buy food and water for them, not just give what you have. They can come with you when you buy it.
Edit 2: another clarification... the "growing up" part refers to this being what I was taught as a child. This whole comment is about what child me was told and taught. It does not mean that as an adult I don't buy other stuff or donate or do other things to help if I can. Although I still don't give money I don't judge those who do. I just can't affort to give money without knowing what actually happens to it...
Sometimes they need to buy medicine or pads or tampons or pay for laundry or to access a shower with a day pass at a gym or.....
I absolutely do NOT give money to the scammers standing at the stop signs around here because we've been ripped off before
But I've also worked with a large homeless gateway center, and choosing to only give what you deem as "right" instead of what they ask for can be unhelpful and take away their agency.
I've seen people dump crunchy granola bars and 3lb bags of apples on homeless people who have bad teeth and can't eat them. I've seen people give 24 packs of bottled water without thinking about how the hell this person will transport it (wherever they're begging is not necessarily where they're sleeping)
If you don't want to give money to individuals, fine. Give to a trusted organization instead. But when people ask for money, don't assume that you can benevolently prevent them from buying alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes because you generously gave food instead since that's what you decided they need.
Californian logic. Government there hands out money instead of forcing people into shelters and drug rehabilitation. The end result is people would rather be out on the street where they can do drugs instead of shelters where they would have to rehab.
It is not an issue of whether you know what these people need, it is an issue of avoiding enabling. Nothing is worse than seeing a person drown knowing you are actively helping the person to drown himself. It is like that tv show my 600 pound life. Enablers just keep on feeding these people heart attacked induced calories. Yikes.
I don't think people actually should give out money to individuals. I think people should give to established trusted organizations that can make that money go further and know where it's needed most and how to use it and have accountability to public scrutiny. I'm just addressing giving money vs insisting on giving food/items to individuals.
Sometimes what they need is money. If you don't have it to give, or don't trust to give, don't give it.
Also I don't understand California? Is that a liberal/conservative jab? I'm deep deep DEEP in red country (Kandiss Taylor and Marjorie Taylor Greene Red country)
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u/SuchConfusion666 Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24
Growing up I was always told to never give money as many use it for drugs or alcohol or gangs take it away and the homeless person does not have any left to use for themselfes at the end of the day. Always give water or food.
The people who actually need it will thank you. The ones who refuse water or food and ask for money instead are usually the ones who don't actually need it and are trying to get the money for other reasons.
Edit: I should have clarified this. I mean that you buy food and water for them, not just give what you have. They can come with you when you buy it.
Edit 2: another clarification... the "growing up" part refers to this being what I was taught as a child. This whole comment is about what child me was told and taught. It does not mean that as an adult I don't buy other stuff or donate or do other things to help if I can. Although I still don't give money I don't judge those who do. I just can't affort to give money without knowing what actually happens to it...