Posted on 08/26/2005 7:09:01 AM PDT by Millee
I give money to panhandlers. It's not part of my daily routine, but every now and then, a homeless person will be in my line of sight when I'm feeling generous, and I'll hand him or her a couple of bucks.
I don't have any expectations about how the recipient will spend the money. Maybe he'll buy food. Maybe he's saving for a bus trip to another city. Maybe he'll use the money to pay for lodging. Or maybe he'll just buy booze. It doesn't matter to me. I give him money because I can see he needs it.
Last week, a study commissioned by the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District and the city's Office of Economic Development revealed that 44 percent of Denver residents are like me. Our occasional giving adds up to about $25 a year for each of us, which totals about $4.6 million a year to panhandlers.
Denver business leaders and city officials want us to stop. They say, with a straight face, that they care about panhandlers and that our impromptu donations only perpetuate the problems that beggars face. They say panhandlers need tough love if they're going to rise out of poverty. They point to the city's proposed $122 million, 10-year proposal to end homelessness, and suggest redirecting our $4.6 million a year in donations could significantly help fund this program.
With all due respect, I doubt that this study was motivated by humanitarian ideals. Business bureaus and economic development offices typically don't spend time trying to cure the complex problems of poverty, homelessness and panhandling. The objective was to figure out how to keep unattractive, malodorous, poor beggars from driving away tourists and other customers.
And I imagine their concerns are well-founded. There are many people who get nervous and/or scared when they see panhandlers, and they might avoid a shop that had a lot of beggars out front. But I'm not going to stop making my occasional donations to people on street corners.
Panhandlers play an important role in our society, because they are the visible face of poverty. The study in question focused on Denver residents, but a large percentage of middle- and upper-income families Click Here!
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Link To Article Print Article Email Article Article Last Updated: 08/25/2005 10:31:47 PM
reggie rivers Don't stop giving change to beggars By Reggie Rivers
I give money to panhandlers. It's not part of my daily routine, but every now and then, a homeless person will be in my line of sight when I'm feeling generous, and I'll hand him or her a couple of bucks.
I don't have any expectations about how the recipient will spend the money. Maybe he'll buy food. Maybe he's saving for a bus trip to another city. Maybe he'll use the money to pay for lodging. Or maybe he'll just buy booze. It doesn't matter to me. I give him money because I can see he needs it.
Last week, a study commissioned by the Downtown Denver Business Improvement District and the city's Office of Economic Development revealed that 44 percent of Denver residents are like me. Our occasional giving adds up to about $25 a year for each of us, which totals about $4.6 million a year to panhandlers.
Denver business leaders and city officials want us to stop. They say, with a straight face, that they care about panhandlers and that our impromptu donations only perpetuate the problems that beggars face. They say panhandlers need tough love if they're going to rise out of poverty. They point to the city's proposed $122 million, 10-year proposal to end homelessness, and suggest redirecting our $4.6 million a year in donations could significantly help fund this program.
With all due respect, I doubt that this study was motivated by humanitarian ideals. Business bureaus and economic development offices typically don't spend time trying to cure the complex problems of poverty, homelessness and panhandling. The objective was to figure out how to keep unattractive, malodorous, poor beggars from driving away tourists and other customers.
And I imagine their concerns are well-founded. There are many people who get nervous and/or scared when they see panhandlers, and they might avoid a shop that had a lot of beggars out front. But I'm not going to stop making my occasional donations to people on street corners.
Panhandlers play an important role in our society, because they are the visible face of poverty. The study in question focused on Denver residents, but a large percentage of middle- and upper-income families
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in the metro area live in suburban enclaves that are completely devoid of poverty. The tight restrictions of homeowner associations ensure that blight doesn't exist, and the cost of mortgages, HOA dues, assessments and mandatory repairs make it virtually impossible to maintain a home in these neighborhoods without a substantial income.
So if you live in a poverty-free area, drive on highways crowded with your peers, work in an office building full of successful people, and never see anyone on the low end of the economy, it would be easy to forget that poor people exist and that homelessness is a significant issue in Denver.
The suggestion that our $4.6 million in donations would be better spent on other programs is true, but irrelevant. I donate money to many charities, but these impromptu donations wouldn't exist if not for panhandlers. Beggars provoke impulsive contributions in the same way that tabloids near checkout counters provoke impulse buys.
Rather than asking us to boycott panhandlers, business and city leaders should think seriously about what they can do to reduce the social problems that contribute to panhandling. I don't know how much money they spent on this survey, but if their goal was to help the poor, the money could have been better spent by donating it to a program.
If you give money to panhandlers, don't stop. They're not getting rich off your donations, but they are serving a purpose. We shouldn't push the poor out of sight; we should push them out of poverty.
I patronize all sorts of people who piss in the public square: cable companies, politicians, university professors, journalists like Reggie, Freepers. There's no way I'm going to hold a homeless guy to a higher standard than them.
Caritas.
If you are so concerned about encouraging employment among the homeless, why not simply ask such folk to pray for you after giving them a few bucks?
Many years ago, some friends of mine and I did the same gig on a street corner in Pittsburgh. I played, they danced the Double Swords over a couple of broomsticks.
We made almost $100 and were so embarassed by that sum of money that we walked around the corner to the Humane Society and gave it to them!
I think encouraging employment amongst the homeless is probably a good idea, but what caused you to post to me? I give 'em McDonald's gift certificates, except for my favorite bum on the 14th street exit ramp, who always gets a coupla bucks.
Did you perhaps mean to post to somebody else?
I always say the same thing to panhandling bums: "I'll give you a couple of bucks if you promise to spend it on booze".
/not joking
Give it to me, I need it! And I don't mind working for it either!!
My point is, you can employ them by donating to them in exchange for prayers. A very informal "Little Brothers of the Street," if you will.
They are entrepreneurs! That is their job and every day is casual Friday for them ;-)
Many government employees look like unmade beds most of the time, hardly do any work and get handed a paycheck.........so what's the difference?
Back when I parked behind the Union Mission in downtown, I had a very interesting running conversation with a regular habitue of the mission who was a Sola Scriptura, "once saved always saved" guy. We went round and round, but we always had a good time. We'd pray for each other, and I'd help him out a little, and he kept an eye on my car so that nobody broke into it.
LOL -- and good for you!
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