Topic: What do you do with the homeless on the streets?
penlgrif's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:43 AM


i was homeless for close to 20 months, when the savings and loan fell, in sept 87- april 89. it was harsh, but could have been worse. i took showers outside, sometimes under a hose in 20 degree temps....pretended it was a mountain waterfall, lived in the woods with about 75 vietnam vets, and worked jobs during the night, bouncing nightclubs and exotic dancing, as well as signs and special effects jobs when i could get them. it was hard to come up with the money to get an apartment when you have to live day to day, with no refrigerator to save food, and come up with $1,500 first, last, and security. i did eventually, and i don't drink. most do. i was the only one to get out. the week after i moved in,...they started $99 move-in specials!!!! man was i pissed!!!!



Ummmm....WOW......shocked

lilith401's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:43 AM
I have been homeless. I strove to get out of it.

I don't just speak from watching others.


lovethelord's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:44 AM


Do you give them food or money?
Do you drive by and tell them "Get a job"

For thanksgiving this year my daughter and I served thanksgiving to the homeless.. It was our first time and it was an eye opener and made us both thankful for all we have.
The families together needing a meal did not get to me because at least they had each other..
But the ones alone eating their holiday meal next to complete strangers, messed up, filthy, drugged out.. NONE of them said as a child.."When I grow up I want to make bad choices and end up homeless, sick and alone."
It sucks! so much pain in this world... You just want to do moreflowerforyou

plk1966's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:44 AM
I use to volunteer for an organization called MY BROTHER'S KEEPER, until they left my area, that provided food.....blankets.....clothing.......and rides to doctors and such.

so I always try to get information from the homeless, like where they are sleeping, when was the last meal they have had. I will purchase a meal for them or buy them food.

Actually have given winter coats and other clothing items to them in the past and will always continue to do so in the future.

no photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:45 AM
When I give cash, I personally don't care where it goes. Whether it's for a bottle of rot-gut or a decent meal...IMO, giving shouldn't have stipulations...but hey, that's just me.

franshade's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:49 AM


i was homeless for close to 20 months, when the savings and loan fell, in sept 87- april 89. it was harsh, but could have been worse. i took showers outside, sometimes under a hose in 20 degree temps....pretended it was a mountain waterfall, lived in the woods with about 75 vietnam vets, and worked jobs during the night, bouncing nightclubs and exotic dancing, as well as signs and special effects jobs when i could get them. it was hard to come up with the money to get an apartment when you have to live day to day, with no refrigerator to save food, and come up with $1,500 first, last, and security. i did eventually, and i don't drink. most do. i was the only one to get out. the week after i moved in,...they started $99 move-in specials!!!! man was i pissed!!!!



wow - glad you made it out.

franshade's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:50 AM

In the city I work in you need a license to panhandle.

The average earned is about $100 a day for the better ones. I hear all the stories.... used it to buy crack, used it to buy a whore, used it to get a motel room with the whore, used itfor heroin, used it for meth, and so on and so forth.

Never once have I heard, saved it to get a place, or buy a suit, or get a resume together or help with a job application. NEVER.


check out darkowls post

Riding_Dubz's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:51 AM
I gave them a couple of my old out fits and shoes true story flowerforyou


rob and big inspired me flowerforyou :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Winx's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:52 AM
Edited by Winx on Wed 03/11/09 07:53 AM

In the city I work in you need a license to panhandle.

The average earned is about $100 a day for the better ones. I hear all the stories.... used it to buy crack, used it to buy a whore, used it to get a motel room with the whore, used itfor heroin, used it for meth, and so on and so forth.

Never once have I heard, saved it to get a place, or buy a suit, or get a resume together or help with a job application. NEVER.


We have a homeless shelter that trains men for employment. They even has a restaurant. The men have to work there while staying at the shelter. They offer counseling and AA too.


darkowl1's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:52 AM
maybe so, but i just enjoy seeing how our country treats our vetrans(looks the other way, it does, even now) i really like the fact that they shut off funding after a certain time,(supposed to be for life, after all, they geve their sanity) it really helps with the parties at the titty bars that these suits pocket for themselves, and gets those 6,000 gold toilet seats, or a new escalade in Iraq, just because the starter on the one year old one they had, had a bad starter (because sand got into it) and they used it for demolition and called it a loss.(true story) while our boys suffer over there.....but haliburton sure isn't. nor are the gov't suits....but our vets still find a way to homelessness..........sometimes with one leg.........tell me how that happens? if there's no foul play? i'd listen very closely........spock spock spock

lilith401's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:53 AM
Darkowl~

You are the exception to the rule. Here here!!!drinker

darkowl1's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:54 AM



i was homeless for close to 20 months, when the savings and loan fell, in sept 87- april 89. it was harsh, but could have been worse. i took showers outside, sometimes under a hose in 20 degree temps....pretended it was a mountain waterfall, lived in the woods with about 75 vietnam vets, and worked jobs during the night, bouncing nightclubs and exotic dancing, as well as signs and special effects jobs when i could get them. it was hard to come up with the money to get an apartment when you have to live day to day, with no refrigerator to save food, and come up with $1,500 first, last, and security. i did eventually, and i don't drink. most do. i was the only one to get out. the week after i moved in,...they started $99 move-in specials!!!! man was i pissed!!!!

I bet you were but I think we have all had times like that we ae thankful we made it through.....flowerforyou


um, no. i was the only one to get out of that woods.......i was it! you were homeless love?

no photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:55 AM
I agree Dark...EVERYONE has a story & not all of them are about being self-destructive...

lilith401's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:55 AM

We have a homeless shelter that trains men for employment. The even has a restaurant. The men have to work there while staying at the shelter. They offer counseling and AA too.


We have a great shelter too. The rules tend to be too much for the street folk. So they leave or get kicked out.

There was a poster here, left about a year ago. He used to go on and on and on about how he was homeless and this and that....
I later learned he was homeless because he was a sociopathic alcoholic. At the time he was homeless, he chose it and deserved it.

Darkowl... you did not.

darkowl1's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:56 AM



i was homeless for close to 20 months, when the savings and loan fell, in sept 87- april 89. it was harsh, but could have been worse. i took showers outside, sometimes under a hose in 20 degree temps....pretended it was a mountain waterfall, lived in the woods with about 75 vietnam vets, and worked jobs during the night, bouncing nightclubs and exotic dancing, as well as signs and special effects jobs when i could get them. it was hard to come up with the money to get an apartment when you have to live day to day, with no refrigerator to save food, and come up with $1,500 first, last, and security. i did eventually, and i don't drink. most do. i was the only one to get out. the week after i moved in,...they started $99 move-in specials!!!! man was i pissed!!!!



wow - glad you made it out.

thanks! me too! i was wondering for awhile if i would. one really high paying job happened for me.

Winx's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:56 AM


We have a homeless shelter that trains men for employment. The even has a restaurant. The men have to work there while staying at the shelter. They offer counseling and AA too.


We have a great shelter too. The rules tend to be too much for the street folk. So they leave or get kicked out.

There was a poster here, left about a year ago. He used to go on and on and on about how he was homeless and this and that....
I later learned he was homeless because he was a sociopathic alcoholic. At the time he was homeless, he chose it and deserved it.

Darkowl... you did not.


I remember that poster.

no photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:57 AM

I have never been homeless but have come close. So when I see it I am moved to help. I keep a list of food pantries and shelters as well as books of McDonald's gift certificates. I never directly give cash because in most cases it doesn't go where one would wish food, shelter etc...But I do donate cash to established charities for the homeless.

That's a really good idea. The gift certificates are great, as they can get multiple meals over time instead of one meal given. Hopefully they don't sell for money, like they did in my old neighborhood, for drugs...kinda like selling there food stamps. Food stamps were sold usually for 50 cent on the dollar. So called "upstanding" citizens were usually the one's to buy them. There were a few people that couldn't wait till' the first of the month to buy the food stamps...regulars that the crackheads and dope feinds would frequent.

The soup kitchen I volunteered at had AMAZING food. Lot's of organic and high quality offerings. We would whip up AWESOME meals. They are really stringently monitored and very sanitary...very high standards...better than many restaraunts.

carold's photo
Wed 03/11/09 07:59 AM
Being good weather most of the time you see so many. I think as a nation if we really worked on the mental health issues we would see less. I help here and there alls different ways. My husband seen a man picking cans with a kid he wasn't asking for money and we were saving cans for school he came home and got the cans. The man was so happy. Plus my husband was missing a foot and when anyone was missing the other side he would give them that shoe. I'm sure some will use it for other things but ones act of kindness makes the world a better place.

Want2B5ft's photo
Wed 03/11/09 08:02 AM



Do you give them food or money?
Do you drive by and tell them "Get a job"


I tend not to give money as I am not sure what it would be used for, but have driven to the closest fast food, ordered food and taken to them.


This is what I do, too. Most smile and say, "Thank you". I have only had one that said he didn't like hamburgers! I told him to give it to a friend, geesh!

darkowl1's photo
Wed 03/11/09 08:03 AM

I agree Dark...EVERYONE has a story & not all of them are about being self-destructive...

in fla, i've seen it happen to many, and in new orleans, ive seen it happen even more. nobody wants to be homeless at first, it's just that they loose hope, and they can't get more than a little hand up. the ones who really need it are imbarrassed to ask for handouts, and the panhandlers make it, because they are aggressive and have less of a consience, and they believe somebody owes them, from what i've seen first hand.