is of little concern to me.

2) Once I give money to someone, it is their money, not mine.

Exactly.

While it would be nice if they were able to squirrel it away, that's not reality living on the street. When ever I hear someone say something like "they'll spend it on booze" I counter with "ya, they should be investing in the stock market, or at least mutual funds."

and I have always hoped they enjoyed it, whether a full stomach or a nice bottle.

Perhaps a do-unto-others thing. I was often homeless as the child of a mother suffering from major depression, and in the back of my mind the notion that someone like me could be homeless has never really gone away. Not a fear, certainly not an expectation, more like awareness of another way of living one's life that happens to some.

I'd look at the homeless people attending the free concerts in LA and think, okay, warm winters, summers with free concerts enjoyed with a wide spectrum of people, probably joining in or watching a protest here and there. Maybe get some friends for protection. It's a life. Not the mentally ill, of course, a whole different story. But still...sorta taking notes. And of course I'd prefer generous handouts by far to virtuous, disapproving ones.

I like Pope Frances so much.

and for some of them, it really is alcohol. Untreated withdrawal is 50% fatal. I've seen full blown DTs and they're scary enough to watch, they must be absolutely hideous to experience.

So yeah, stranger, I've got a buck or two that isn't needed for anything right now, I might as well share them with you. And that's it. Infantilizing people by telling them how to spend their money just makes the whole thing humiliating and much worse.

Not only do so few people give, but buying things when you have to shop at the convenience store and can't really store food (even canned food they then have to lug around).

I probably see one beggar pass through a subway car every 5 minutes. If they are smelly, have a lot of junk that they are dragging over people's feet, and have an unprofessional spiel, they get very little. To me, these are the people most in need. They obviously are carrying everything that they have in the world. Vs the very polished folks that talk about recently losing their job or how they the VA mixed up their check this month and how they are not robbing anyone, they tend to do well. They have nothing in their hands except for a container to deposit contributions into. The interesting thing is when 2 different ones enter a car from different directions and ignore each other. I actually know buskers (musicians) that panhandle the subway. Ran into a couple of friends on the L train today. The goal is to get a steady gig on Broadway and play the occasional party. But in between, they work the subway in the winter and the park in the summer.

I used to give to panhandlers, but since I live at ground zero for the heroin/fentanyl problem I've stopped. The last time I gave money to a young woman because she supposedly needed bus fare she headed in the opposite direction from the bus station and to an alley known to be frequented by dealers. It's very sad, but we have many charitable organizations in my area who are open on a daily basis to provide food and a bed on cold nights. I'll give to them now. I don't want to abet an overdose death.

As a non-Catholic, I really like this Pope, but I'm inclined to disagree on this point.

Where I live there is a meth epidemic, and I feel the same as you on this.

and lay some bread on them for a dime bag, a nick or something.

He occasionally attacks people, probably because he does not have weed. I have no problem giving him money. But that women on the subway, with a well rehearsed spiel about being recently homeless and taking care of 3 kids. I do not believe her story, so no thank you.

Most of the local panhandlers do not seem to drink booze. I did see a guy get up from begging in front of a movie theatre and hand $80-100 to a worker at a Wafels & Dinges cart. He got a very small yellow envelope in return. Assume opiates. Is the Pope good with that?



NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) — A panhandler holding an ‘I Need Money For Weed Sign’ apparently stabbed a rival panhandler in the head with a pen in Times Square on Friday.

Witnesses told police that the ‘Weed Guy’ went after a man who was holding an ‘I Need Beer’ sign shortly after 10 p.m. on 42nd Street near 7th Ave, as a number of Broadway shows were letting out, 1010 WINS reported.

When authorities arrived on the scene they questioned individuals dressed as Predator and Alien, charges against the alleged assailant are pending.

she bought a homeless woman soup and a sandwich with her own Christmas money. They woman cried when my daughter handed the food to her. I guess she must have wanted food more than booze. You can never know.

When I came out I gave him a bag of dog food.

It has become something of a business. There are panhandlers in the Grand Central area that claim certain locations regularly, which bring in over $100/hour. It occasionally makes the news.

I'm pretty sure that if you truly thought you could make $100/hr you would be there.

Worse and more nefarious than the Mafia. Instead of robery and intimidation, they use guilt and manipulation to get their "marks" to give up the goods...or in this case pocket change. At night they go home to their cozy apartments where they take hot showers to wash off the grime of the street and laugh at all the suckers who gave them money.

It's been many years, but I've been homeless and hungry and addicted. If you haven't been there, it's a difficult scene to describe.

Making little packs in a ziplock bags --with a bottle of water, a little bit of food, candy a buck or too is an idea I've done before--you can make up a bunch of them and hand them out. If it's a younger women, maybe some menstrual supplies. You can vary them as much as you like and they don't cost much

With a funny hat to confirm I am more moral than God. I've always done this.

I'm sorry / not sorry, but this proclamation of Pope Prettywords is as two-faced as anything Trump says.

He still hides molester priests.
He still moves parish money out to avoid paying retribution to victims.
He still calls transgender people a threat to humanity.
He still tells his hospital administrators to base medical decisions on religious dogma.
He still shames single mothers.
He still tells women our place is to serve men.
And so on.

The worst part though, is how transparent these feel-good media sound bites are. Every time he has done so in the past via the well-oiled Vatican media machine, within a week or two he has said the opposite to a much more captive, intimate, private audience of Believers.

But beyond all that, it would far more moral and ethical if the Church stopped preaching from the pulpit to vote GOP as they've done here in America for the past 8 years.

They are in no small part responsible for those homeless people having no where else to turn but begging.

Especially the point that the church preaches from the pulpit to vote gop and the gop is the LEAST likely group to address the homeless issue. The recent proposed changes to the ACA will insure that more people become homeless due to medical debt, if they don't die first.

So I have mixed feelings, because the messages this pope put out there are still better than the previous popes. Whether they are crumbs to pacify and re-brand the church, or the words of a man who's leading an institution that is to large and corrupt to be actually changed is another question.

Insofar as the Pope's messages, in regards to women & LGBT people he really does speak from both sides of his mouth. Like Trump he says one thing one day ("Who am I to judge&quot and the opposite another day ("The family is threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life.&quot . The media gets one message & promotes him as a nice guy, the followers get the other message and maintain the status quo or worse, vote GOP.

This newest pope is re-branding, no doubt about it. He doesn't creep me out as much as the previous pope though, so there's that. But that's the best I can say about him.

want food, others want booze or drugs. Maybe they need the booze or drugs more than they need food.