Should You Give Money to Panhandlers?

Have always found this topic a bit hard to discuss, as there are good reasons for both giving and not giving. It feels like no matter which one you opt to go with, it feels wrong. On one hand, you're like "well I should help them out, it's not fair" and on the other hand, you're like "well, begging for money is not good, one should work his ass off instead of begging from others, this leads to more panhandlers, and should I always give my money to them? "

Tbh, I usually don't, because I barely manage my own life, not sure if I had more money and wealthy enough, I would've given money to them tho

Anyways, what's your take on this? which side are you in?

Beware. The panhandler could be John Stossel in disguise.

I use to give them change but I been robbed and have school debt I can't no more.

No. There are social services available to those in need. That's where your money will do the most good.

I don't give money to panhandlers. It's got nothing to do with trying to make my money do the most good. Basically, there've been way too many times when I gave someone some money only for him to insult me for not giving him enough. And i figure that if I'm gonna get insulted anyway, I'd might as well get insulted while keeping my money.

If it's a family or young person, yes. If not, no way!

It's hard to know which panhandler genuinely needs help and which ones are scamming. I remember hearing stories of panhandlers that worked corners that gave so much, they were earning an average of 10 or so dollars an hour.

Now, one to remember is that some of these downtrodden folk may have already sought assistance but are waiting for processes to go through the red tape. Just because there are social services available doesn't mean they're instant. So, you could have people who are waiting for a place to live or a job interview or some kind of help, but they need anything they can get NOW.

Honestly, though, if you just have a few dollars lying around your car, my suggestion is be generous. You may not change their lives with it, but you might make their day just a little more bearable.

I give them money sometimes. It depends on how much I have on me and the situation.

I don't live in an area where I really see them. But in most cases I don't think I would. I don't see it as right or wrong to give them money or to not give them money, though.

I give as I desire in my heart, as according to 2 Corinthians 9:7. Been a while since I gave. Had a few nice encounters with strangers down on their luck that sparked some intersting conversations.

Two absolute no's for me are beggers that come into a restaurant, and essentially try to put you in a guilt trip while you eat. And those that wait outside of a bank ATM. Absolutely no consideration that people's money is likely going towards bills. Not towards some Gucci shoes. Not that there's anything wrong with someone spending their own money. So I don't give in either of those scenarios, to do my part discouraging such unreasonable guilt tactics. Also had a few who asked me for money at a gas station. Didn't give them anything either. And that actually pissed me off a bit, as I was unemployed for over 2 years at the time.

No. It's hard to tell the legit ones from the grifters/scammers who are just faking. Also there's a good chance it will be used on drugs and/or alcohol either way.

I dont give anything to the panhandlers in my country because all them all are liars.

By the way these are the way they ask for cash

• (The most common)"Hey, my car is out of gas and I need money, could I have some money please?" (Are you serious? If you have the money to buy a car, you have enough money to buy gas)
• "Hey. what nationality are you? Oh!! I'm quarter "insert nationality" half "their nationality" We're brothers!!! (no we're not) can I have some money"
• They just follow you into a store, see if you pay in cash, wait till you get change and leave the store, they will stop you and ask for money
• They hold signs stating that they need money for medication for their daughter, later on you see them hanging out at the bar drinking

I always give money to beggars, if you come into the situation you need to beg, I can always spare some change for you.

If I think they are legit,then yeah

Nope. I don't even carry cash on me anyway, so even if I wanted to, I couldn't. But more often than not, they feel that I owe them money and get pissy when I give them nothing or even not enough, rather it being an act of charity and generosity. You're going to be an asshole to me? Two can play at that game.

No, it just encourages them to continue being beggars. I don't feel it's wrong to ignore them at all. In the countries that I've lived in there is plenty of support for them; offering food, shelter and even jobs.

@MrGeezer: My sister shared a story of one manager at her job.

As you can imagine, NYC has a big homeless issue. Her manager saw a pandhandler and decide to give him a dollar or so. When the guy said he (the manager) could give him (homeless guy) more. Her manager said "Give Me my Dollar Back". So ballsy, he took it right back and didn't give a damn if it would have started a fight.

One guy simply asked (nicely) outright if I can spare some money because he doesn't have enough to buy a meal. I gave him $10 which was all the cash I had in my wallet. He wasn't poorly dressed although he was riding a bicycle. I didn't even think about it. Just shrugged and gave him the cash.

I've had a lot of people who were nice to me. So, I try to return the favor.

My city has a crazy number of panhandlers. Some try to pass themselves off as hobos, others look like college kids. They stand at busy intersections by the mall, usually, and you'll see quite the number of idiots stop and give them cash....and they have been doing it for years.

There is one guy who stopped me and my friend outside of the same store on three different occasions within maybe 2 months. My friend gave him money twice, I gave him a few cents the final time. Funny how the guy always needed "something in his stomach" at any odd time me and my buddy would decide to go to the record store.

My parents, who are from an area where this sort of thing is not common, mentioned that there is a person who stands near their grocery store often doing this now. They drove to a town about 30 minutes away that they go to sometimes, just to find the woman there doing the same thing outside of a K-Mart that is closing. This woman supposedly has no car or anything like that, and yet she finds herself in a town 30 minutes away...hmmm...

I give them a good meal.

Eh, that's the funny thing about running into the same panhandlers. One time a panhandler asked me for money. I don't remember the exact reason, it was something about his car breaking down and him needing to get money to get back to his kids (which wasn't across the country, just across town), or something like that.

Anyway, a few weeks later he approached me at a different place about a mile from where I saw him the first time. And he clearly didn't remember me because he gave me the SAME excuse about why he needs money. And I was like, "damn, it's been three weeks. You still haven't managed to get to the other side of town yet?"

I should have probably not said that and just said no, seeing as how I don't know the dude and I'm not a fighter and I don't want to get stabbed. Fortunately though, the dude just gave me a really nasty look and then walked off.

I live next to Aurora (street) in Seattle. If you live in Seattle, you know Aurora's reputation. Bums, dealers, prostitutes, and...bums.

There's poor behavior and enablers of poor behavior. Panhandling is poor hevavior and I don't enable it by giving them money. I have many times but 99% of the time I try to avoid. If I gave away my money every time I ran into a pan handler I would actually have a pretty tough time considering where I live. If nobody gave them money they'd either have to migrate somewhere else, or better yet, actually do something else for money.

If someone's willing to stoop to such indignity as to beg me for some spare change, I suppose they've earned it. I rarely give out money though and usually offer only to buy them a snack. It's telling that most of them end up declining.

Nope !

last month i was at a traffic light. some panhandler came up to my car to clean my wind shield. not only did he do a terrible half ass job. he stuck his hand inside my car while my window was down 25% and wanted more money after i gave him $1 initially, i gave him another $2 and he still wanted more. I moved my car slowly upwards and his arm was almost touching my steering wheel even when i roll up my window. he still wouldn't take his arm out kept spitting at me and demanding more money. like what gives.

I have and I do, but I avoid giving money to "serial panhandlers" in the areas I'm familiar with. Everyone may need help from time to time, but if I see the same guy around town year after year then no.

-Byshop

I recently bought a homeless guy 2 tacos from taco bell. At first he asked for money and when I told him I don't carry money around he asked if I could buy him a taco. So I bought him 2. He thanked me and said god bless you and went along about his business. I'll never give money but I will always offer food.

I don't give money...if they say they want money for food, ask them what they want to eat & I will go & buy the food for them. :P

Something similar happened to me once. I was at taco Bell buying some tacos and a guy asked me for money while I was walking back to my car. I lied and told him that I didn't have any more money. He then asked if he could have some of what I just bought. Which kind of sucked since I was planning on eating it, otherwise I wouldn't have freaking bought it.

Now, in a perfect scenario, I'd just go back inside and buy him some food. Problem is, I already lied to him about having any money, since he initially asked for money instead of asking for what he REALLY wanted (which was apparently food). So now I can't exactly go buy food for him (which would mean that I have money) without revealing that I just lied to his face.

So I made a bad call and tried to cover that lie with another lie about how I couldn't give him my food. The problem is, he saw straight through that lie and started cussing me out for being an asshole as I walked away.

And he kind of had a bit of a point. If I didn't want to give him anything, I could just say so instead of lying about it and treating him like he's stupid. In my defense though, if he actually wanted FOOD then he should have said so from the start instead of asking for MONEY. Sure, he asked for "money to buy food", but how the hell was I supposed to know that he ACTUALLY really just wanted food?

@mjorh:

I follow my own personal motto...

"Generosity is great for those who can afford it."

Since I'm barely scraping by as it is, I can't really just give my money every struggling soul on the street. Sure, you can put it in argument that helping the needy isn't your responsibility but it's a dark and cold world we live in. It's up to us to look out for one another as humans because if we don't then who will? You never know if you might end up in the same situation. To all those who ask, "Why are there so many struggling souls out there in the world?" The answer starts with you and me. What have we done to make it better? But again at the same time, you shouldn't give more than you have.

No, never, because I know how much they actually make. In Solothurn city, which is in Switzerland, there was an illegal immigrant who begged for money. When they found out he was illegal and wanted to send him back they found, that he made over $5000 a month with begging. That's money he didn't have to pay taxes for and considering that, he made more money than an average person working. I had mony other experiences with deaf people suddenly being able to hear and turn around when you say behind them you want to give them money. So yeah, I don't trust anyone who begs for money.

It might be different in the US, but here in Switzerland everyone can get a lot of money from the state if he wants to and even the beggers live a good life.

Good point.

Damn that's terrible lol

That's the thing, it's really tough to distinguish between fake and real ones.

That's rational and makes sense, but it's kinda tough to do, I just hope governments do a better job with panhandlers and homeless ppl, it's never a good sight to see your own kind begging on the streets

@randomHALT: @superbuuman: @jun_aka_pekto:Yeah I guess food makes more sense, but again, we're kinda contributing to this behavior, one day they get food from us and the other day from someone else

Holy shit! that's messed up!

This is a good approach

I'm in the same boat, and I agree.

Damn!

Have heard a lotta great things about your country and it seems that they're indeed true, lucky you for living there :P

@JustPlainLucas: "they were earning an average of 10 or so dollars an hour."

This or they use the money to buy drugs/liquor.

Sometimes I do it but lately I have been refusing more often, guess that's just how it goes now.

Plus I dislike the ones that make it seem like you own them a living and throw a hissy fit if you refuse. Forget you.

I can relate

Nice avi btw!

Most of the time it's hard to tell if they are professional panhandlers or if they are just down on their luck. So I opt for the easiest option which is I tell them sorry I don't have any cash.

@eliminatorpaige: "I gave a homeless guy 10 bucks recently."

Did he/she buy beer and cigarettes?

Absolutely not. They know they can take advantage of people's gullibility and generosity and gain thousands of dollars in tax free income.

The best thing you can do is give them something to eat (if they say they are hungry) or volunteer your time at a soup kitchen or food bank and give actual benefit to people who have trouble holding down a residence or a job.

Giving drug addicts and alcoholics money just feeds their habit and does them more harm than good.

Hmm a lot of concerns about legitimacy. Would it be an idea if homeless people got a certificate or something so they could show people that they are legitimately homeless and hopeless?

I gave a guy all the change I had in my car because he needed to "buy lunch once he got to mars"

That was really the only time.

If they ask for food I usually feel more compelled to give it to them over if they only ask for money.

@eliminatorpaige: "why would you even ask that?"

The ones where I live use it for other things besides food.