Giving Money to Homeless

The best philosophy I've heard about giving money to the homeless was from the show Sports Night, of all places.

The Robert Guillaume character said something to the effect of:

I give them whatever's in my pocket at the moment.  Yes, I'm sure they ARE going to use it to buy booze.  In fact, I hope they do.  It's not like these people are one sandwich away from becoming functioning members of society.  If a little booze helps ease their pain, so be it.

That said, I don't usually give money to people I see on the street.  If I happen to have some change in my pocket, or the person seems a bit more sympathetic, or I'm in the right mood, I might give the what I have on hand. 

I give (sometimes.)

In Houston, homeless panhandle at major intersections - no pedestrians, so they ask for change from drivers.  Some days, I have food in my car to share.  But I will give change at other times, if it is handy and I feel so compelled. 

The Bible says "give to him that asks" - that is a toughie.  Ultimately when i do give, it is more about protecting my own heart from getting hard.  The homeless are people.  It's about how i view/judge/treat people.  We are all made in God's image, however far we may appear to have strayed from the original design.

sorry if i can't articulate this particularly well without getting real preachy & self-righteous - ack.

More often than not, I'll give something if I can. 

When I worked in the city, there was a homeless gentleman in a wheelchair that sold newspapers.  (The paper company worked w/these folks so they could have some sort of job) - many days I bought a paper, told him to keep the change, and went on with my day.  I was happy he was at least trying to do something. 

On the average, I do not give money.  I use to, but there are so many now, and most of them that I see, smell of alcohol, amongst other things.  When I had money, I would sometimes give, if they seemed sincere about needing food.  More often, I would buy them a sandwich instead.   It breaks my heart, because I am a very caring person, but I feel that giving them money just encourages them to keep living on drugs and alcohol.  I would rather give to organizations that do good works for the homeless. 

One pet peve I have, is the "vendors" outside my grocery store, that hit me up to sign their petitions, or give money to certain organizations.  First off...how do I know they are actually from said orgainization, and second...I really hate being bugged on my way into the grocery store, or coming out. 

About a year ago I was running an errand and kind of got harrassed at an intersection (to the point I had to get out of my car to get him to stop "patting" the hood). About 45 minutes later I was in a convience store at the same intersection and the "homless" guy was just leaving the store and talking over his shoulder in a joking, mocking way.

The clerk was shaking his head and I mentioned the issue I had just had with the bum. The clerk told me that that guy made about 1500 per week at that intersection and that every day after rush hour the beggar would come in, by cigs and beer, flash his wad and talk about his day at the office.

I don't know if the specifics are true, but I would not be surprised.

There are guys like this where I live....I see them in certain convenience stores.