Once I saw a homeless guy begging outside of a sandwich shop, I was going in to buy lunch, so I ordered two sandwiches instead of one. I came out and offered the extra to him. He scoffed at me and refused it. So, I had a sandwich for lunch and I had a sandwich for dinner, and both were delicious.
this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2024
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My parents have a well worn story of the time they were students and very poor and they saw a homeless guy outside the kebab shop and asked if he'd like a kebab to which he agreed. They brought it out to him and he examined it and threw it on the ground and yelled at them about something they now don't remember exactly but they think was something to do with not wanting chilli sauce. Guessing that guy wasn't in the best state of mind at the time, bit of a bummer for them though because they scraped together the last of their cash to pay for that and it would have been better if they could at least have eaten it themselves.
Yeah, those pan handlers are jerks.
I had a similar experience with a Subway restaurant downtown. Dude was begging for money on the sidewalk. We offer him a sub, and just gets mad at us, and goes back to playing on his MacBook while cursing us out.
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Do you think the best way to help homeless people is to give them money directly, or donate it to organizations that help them? Not sure if there's a right answer.
The right answer is "yes". Some cash in the moment is a nice thing to do, and will alleviate an immediate want or need potentially.
Donation to an organisation that will help the problem long term is a worthwhile thing to fund.
Why not give a man a fish to eat while you're teaching them to fish for themselves, if you're in a position to do so?
I don't because I'm concerned that they would use my generous gift to just go out and buy drugs. And that may be cruel of me. But I would rather donate to a charity that feeds the homeless, such as a soup kitchen. Or if I see somebody that would look hungry, I would rather buy them a meal directly than give them the money for it.