Can I have some change?

[Im going home Donny]

oh I'm glad you said you've handed out drugs and booze on occasion...'cause so have I but was timid to say so.

[Tickler]

I am along the lines that if they are making any type of effort for the money, then I usually give them some. Anybody can sit on their ass and yell at me as I walk by. Some of them I swear wisper they speak so low, but you know its coming the moment you see them there.

I always acknowledge their presence and say sorry or that I have no change though. I think its important to at least show them that I at least have the respect to answer their question.

In China it was unreal. The beggars that I saw there were the most deformed humans I have ever seen. One guy had no limbs and just laid there on his stomach with a tin can in front of him and he just kept bobbing his head. I was told that these people are severly taken advantage of and are dropped off and picked up everyday by their "caretaker" and that most of the money does not even go to them. It was very very sad.

[Calamity Jane]

In China it was unreal. The beggars that I saw there were the most deformed humans I have ever seen. One guy had no limbs and just laid there on his stomach with a tin can in front of him and he just kept bobbing his head. I was told that these people are severly taken advantage of and are dropped off and picked up everyday by their "caretaker" and that most of the money does not even go to them. It was very very sad.

Tickler...we expereinced the exact same thing in India....staggering poverty (and apparently a type of mafia even runs the begging 'industry'..... turning deformed and dirty kids and babies onto the street to beg, then taking a percentage of their take at the end of the day.) Once when we offered food instead of money, the child burst into tears, telling us she wasn't allowed to eat until the end of the day, and she was looking around her very scared as if she'd get in trouble for taking the food. We ended up giving her money as well. The begging there is absolutely relentless and begins to wear one down, seriously. I came away from the whole India experience (and SE Asia to a lesser degree) with the firm belief that NO-ONE in Canada could ever have it so bad, and that NO-ONE here needs to live on the street and beg. We DO have services for these people to access. So when I came back, I was quite "hardened" and for years refused to give any money! (though I would buy coffees on cold days)

Now, though, I've softened on it all a bit...why? Because the Harris years made things tough for a lot of people, and in my years in TO, I saw the number of people on the streets grow year by year! and I've also learned about how rigid, scary and unsafe the shelter system can be.

will our spare change (when we feel flush/generous enough to give it), make a difference? No, not really and that's where the frustration comes in, b/c in TO, there is no end in sight to the homeless "problem." So we give until we 'snap' from frustration that we gave and gave and the problem is still there....

[mattm]

In China it was unreal. The beggars that I saw there were the most deformed humans I have ever seen. One guy had no limbs and just laid there on his stomach with a tin can in front of him and he just kept bobbing his head. I was told that these people are severly taken advantage of and are dropped off and picked up everyday by their "caretaker" and that most of the money does not even go to them. It was very very sad.

Same in Cambodia at the border. The dude with absolutely no limbs was in a basket though. Same thing with the caretakers except the locals I talked to called them "mafia" rather than caretakers and also said they get all the money and just give scraps to the beggars. It was the kids that got me though. Hundreds and hundreds of them swarming and beating each other, missing limbs, etc, etc.

I came away from the whole India experience (and SE Asia to a lesser degree) with the firm belief that NO-ONE in Canada could ever have it so bad, and that NO-ONE here needs to live on the street and beg. We DO have services for these people to access. So when I came back, I was quite "hardened" and for years refused to give any money! (though I would buy coffees on cold days)

I felt the same way on this but what gets me is that we have so many resources here to help the poor but we use it on superflous things.

Here in Ottawa they are building a light rail transit system. It will go downtown following roughly the 95 bus route down Slater I think and will go to quite a few other places but all along the bus route. This is a great thing but hey, we have busses that do the routes already. Why would the thought of the train even pop up in someone's head as a light bulb when there is even one person living on the streets?

Also, my mom works for Community Living and when Harris got hold of Ontario a while back he cut their funding like mad. She said most of the folks that were almost at the point of living independantly (but not quite, they still needed a half way house type thing but were functional enough other than that) were put out on the streets. She told me some numbers that were staggering but I forget them. The moral of the story is that lots of homeless folk aren't there because they got addicted to drugs or had bad childhoods or whatever, they are there because they were born with inferior processing capabilites up top and when put out of their homes, can't build up the skills to get work, etc. I don't explain it well enough and should have numbers, facts, blah, blah, but that's one thing that gets me giving once in a while. If I see someone who looks like they fall into that category I'll give.

Edited March 29, 2006 by Guest

[phorbesie]

to answer the original question, i don't really know what you could do deeps. obviously you care enough about the kid's welfare to want to help since you've posed this question. but if he is hooked on crack you are going to have to put a lot of effort in to get him off of it and off the street. i wish i had advice but i just don't know what you should do maybe talking to him some more to get a better idea of his situation/possiblilities, to start?

[Tooly]

best panhandler exp. ive had was aafter the keller show in toronto in january. we were walking to the car, and this guy, in his 20's, backwards ballcap dude, he starts walking backjwards so he can look at us as were walking, he says hey guys, im from the Olympic Pan-Handling Team for Canada... thats all i heard because I started laughing so damn hard! i mean thats a great line!! i gave him a few bucks and a roach that was in my pocket of change too

[MarcO]

A stroll through downtown Hamilton - as I do daily - really gives one pause and sheds some light on what is going on.

People are falling through the cracks of our Social Services and Mental Health safety nets and winding up begging on the streets so they can buy something (here, it's probably crack) to help ease their confusion and pain. Sure, there's some just plain losers out there who see this as an opportunity to stick it to the man and live some romantic notion of a hand-to-mouth existance but they'll always be around. Let's not worry about them.

What really needs to happen is not to give these people spare change but to strengthen our Government agencies that deal with these issues. The resources are not there and people are suffering because of it. A lot of these people are drug-addled men and women that really need to be taken care of upstairs, if you know what I mean. But how best to apply this? I don't know.

[SevenSeasJim]

It must be hard for the beggars these days when lots of people use their bank card to purchase everthing they need. No need to carry change any more. I suppose it won't be long until street people take Interact.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

To me, to even start to analyse where your hard earned change is going when you give it to someone like that is ridiculous. It's as meaningless as telling one person in a saloon full of hippies that there's a field of mushrooms and space-pot next door and hoping that no-one takes anything from the field. (loose analogy admittedly)

Snakes on a plane.

from overheard:

Hobo: 'Scuse me. You wanna give a quarter to the United Negro Pizza Fund?

panhandlers union (I think this actually fizzled out somewhat)

Edited March 29, 2006 by Guest

[bradm]

To me, the best way to improve things is to help the groups that are dedicated to (and effective at) helping the people who want to be helped: your local food bank, the Salvation Army, the United Way, local missions, shelters, outreach groups, etc. While your donated dollar may get eaten at a bit by administrative overhead, I think that knowing the (rest of the) money is being put to non-destructive uses more than makes up for it.

Aloha,

Brad

[phorbesie]

this is what i do...but here's a pet peeve of mine...when they send you all kinds of literature asking for donations EVERY MONTH. i get so much crap from these organizations now, that it actually makes me want to donate less! i don't make very large donations, and so everytime i get more and more requests in the mail i just imagine how my donation has been used mostly for this stuff and it annoys me! asking them to stop sending you stuff doesn't work either, it just keeps coming. monthly. forever.

[Birdy]

The resources are not there and people are suffering because of it. A lot of these people are drug-addled men and women that really need to be taken care of upstairs, if you know what I mean. But how best to apply this? I don't know.

governments need to prioritize spending. quit wasting tax money on useless programs such as the 1-800-o-canada fiasco or the gun registry (it's not about the guns, it's about the "registry".) there are billions of dollars every year allocated to funding these ridiculous endeavours, when if you think about it and literally make a list of priorities, they are such small peanuts compared to the social welfare that some people honestly need. sometimes i think social welfare gets lost in government's undying need to fulfill the age old promise of "job creation".

on an individual scale, i'd tend to follow bradm's advice and give to those organizations which are in place to help those in need or even become active in those organizations yourself, or go grass-roots yourself and start a NPO. Just like the jambands.ca fundraiser, you can contact your local municipality, ask for a list of deserving charities, contact your choices, and throw one big mother of a fundraising party for their effort. get your friends involved and increase awareness, cause 'awareness' is really what it is all about. people have the capacity to care on their own.

[hamilton]

A stroll through downtown Hamilton - as I do daily - really gives one pause and sheds some light on what is going on.

People are falling through the cracks of our Social Services and Mental Health safety nets and winding up begging on the streets so they can buy something (here, it's probably crack) to help ease their confusion and pain. Sure, there's some just plain losers out there who see this as an opportunity to stick it to the man and live some romantic notion of a hand-to-mouth existance but they'll always be around. Let's not worry about them.

What really needs to happen is not to give these people spare change but to strengthen our Government agencies that deal with these issues. The resources are not there and people are suffering because of it. A lot of these people are drug-addled men and women that really need to be taken care of upstairs, if you know what I mean. But how best to apply this? I don't know.

I have seen the change in Hamilton since the Harris government took over. There are far more people on the streets, and most of them seem to be the ones who are in dire need of therapy and/or medication. Or perhaps a straitjacket.

[payce-ley]

I have seen the change in Hamilton since the Harris government took over. There are far more people on the streets, and most of them seem to be the ones who are in dire need of therapy and/or medication. Or perhaps a straitjacket.

definately... my mom works in mental health and came home with sickening stories of patients no longer recieving therapy but just being kept sedated due to major hospital cutbacks in staff and funding... needless to say this also basically put a freeze on patient intake except in the most severe of cases (and pretty damn severe at that)

besides blanket welfare cutbacks (including big cuts for single moms), the new levels of beaurocracy involved in getting and retaining welfare turned a lot of people towards drug dealing and panhandling just to avoid the unnecessary humiliation and time wasted jumping through hoops... people with a significant level of work experience or education shouldn't be forced to take no brainer courses on how to search the want ads 3 times a week, unless they want to... degrading people doesn't make them more employable

any type of social service defeats its own purpose as soon as it stops recognizing individuality

as far as panhandlers go, personally it depends on my own means at the time and also the person asking... generally if someone manages to put a smile on my face I'll give them something in return... otherwise its a toss-up

Edited March 30, 2006 by Guest
yes

[Hal Johnson]

I went to drop some change in a man's cup once, only it turned out he wasnt homeless and looked at me like I was an asshole. Boy did I feel stupid.

Edited March 30, 2006 by Guest

[ggrtrhhrtgg]

not to judge anyone on here, y'all have valid reasons to choose to handle this subject any which way you like.

Personally, I think I could probably count on one hand the times that I have not given money to the homeless. Yes, I am sure I have been scammed, yes, most are probably going to buy crack... however, I would suggest that by not giving them change, will in no way act as a detterent, nor will it save them from their demons. And perhaps, once in a while, that change does go towards food, or water, or maybe a night in a hostel.

Heck, it's only money.