You can make good money doing it. As much as $20-40 an hour if you have a good spot I have heard espeicly if you are a women. But I would rather help everyone and let karma sort it out. If someone wants to lie that will not stop me from helping those that do need it. 6 can talk about trucks. I have had holmess men find me and thank me since they now have food. One time I was waiting in line for a New Year's eve concert. I gave this guy money and forgo about it. He came back 10 minutes latter with a fast food burglar saying "bless you. I want you to have some of this burger it is your money". I don't think a conman would do that. Not everyone is bad.
I wouldnt really call it a quaint occurrence, panhandling schemes seem somewhat common in the US. A popular one around here is to feed the person a long winded story about how their car ran out of gas on the way to take their sick child to the doctor, or on the way to get their parent's cancer meds, etc etc. The structure of the story is almost always the same, its like these guys attend the same panhandling school. I've been approached many times with sob stories like this, i've even been approached on multiple days by the same person with the same story. It doesnt say anything about the actual homeless population but it does the homeless population a great disservice because it makes people distrustful and less likely to lend a helping hand to someone who might actually need it.
People act like helping the homeless is such a chore. I am by no means a rich man, but when someone says they're in need, I help. I don't miss the money, and it's over and done with in like five seconds. What is the big deal? Just give. It's not putting you out that much. And most of you probably make more than I do, and you sit here and complain like it's really a problem for you.
I know I've read from somewhere (sorry, can't give a source) that about 1/3 of the homeless are mentally ill and should be in some kind of treatment, about 1/3 are either alcoholics or drug addicts and should also be in some kind of treatment, and the rest are genuinely down on their luck. This last third should have had some kind of course in family planning or money management or something; I've been poor too but learned very quickly...and I haven't forgotten what it was like. Having said that it's hard to help these people. When I worked at a restaurant they would come in wanting free food. We threw a lot away for sure, but if you gave the homeless free food they would tell their fellow homeless buddies and in no time you'd have a line of bums out the door. Not sure what the answer is...if there is one.
The figure of 30% completely baffled me. Jane and I calculated our food wastage over the last month and it was less than 1%. Other people who we have spoken to worked out roughly the same figure. Either it is the shops over ordering, or restaurants who must be largely responsible. However, I cant see how governments could possibly come up with a figure in the first place. If they were doing it by weight, they would be including the packaging and with fresh produce, even Jane and I don't eat the apple cores and banana skins. I imagine that just like Asbestos and Refrigerants, a group of idiots sitting in offices have got it all wrong again.
Working in restaurants really opened my eyes to this...homeless people are a completely different group than the panhandlers. Well, I should say around here where I live, they are 2 completely different groups. When I was the cook on 2nd and the bosses weren't there, I would give the homeless a couple of hot dogs or a cheeseburger. They (the owners) were too cheap to pay me squat...the waitresses literally made more than the cooks...they had a good hourly wage plus they got tips. Cooks got minimum wage and hard work. I never felt guilty or anything...sorry asses should have paid me more and I would have BOUGHT the homeless that cheeseburger or couple of hotdogs. These same people that would lose their minds if they had known I occasionally (not every day) gave someone a hot dog would take a handful of hot dogs and give them to dogs that came around begging, knowing these 2 dogs lived right behind the diner and had plenty to eat. lol I feel very very bad thinking about the homeless problem. We have these HUGE empty buildings, such as the old Toys R Us (just for 1 example)...they could easily be used to house people, give the vets a place to stay. As long as this sorry ass government refuses to fund or even truly acknowledge mental illness, there will always be mentally ill roaming around, homeless...and with no help and no meds.
Here (Canada), it is estimated to be around 50%. That includes waste at every stage - farm, transport/warehousing/grocery stores/end consumer. When I used to do the pickups for the food rescue program, I would usually get 4-5 of those large Rubbermaid plastic bins/totes/whatever you want to call them. Usually one with meat/fish, one veggie, and the rest bread/bakery stuff. We would get 30ish lbs of meat/day from just one grocery store. Before we started, it was all thrown out daily. The employees were so happy that we were using it, because they all felt bad throwing it out.
It must be hard to be homeless..... I often see people on the side of the road with a homeless sign. Some of them probably really are homeless and I feel bad for them... (Theres a chance some arent these days)
Not A Very Nice Post At All.......Did You Really Give It Some Thought Before Typing...???... Cheers Glen.
I could definitely be better about helping homeless people--although I don't think that giving them change or money is necessarily "helpful." I used to volunteer at a soup kitchen, and I was surprised by how many of our visitors were mentally disabled or mentally ill. I don't think I met anyone who was a typical healthy person. I am not sure what we can do to solve this problem though.
THAT COST RENT? I AINT A PUNCHING BAG & THEN I WENT 2 WORK AT WHATABURGER then YOU GO BACK TO THE HOMELESS SHELTER
