MetaChat - Trends in Panhandling : 1 - Dogs, 2 - Humor, 3

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28 June 2008

Trends in Panhandling : 1 - Dogs, 2 - Humor, 3 - Giving →[More:] My neighborhood has a sort of sometimes ring of panhandlers - they'll take shifts, and probably pool for a room and split the take/use the take for whatever they use it for.

1 - Dogs: There is one dude who has a dog. This conflicts me. The dog is well fed, shaded and watered in the heat, and wears a modified ski-jacket in the cold. She's not fixed, and I fear she doesn't have shots. If I had funds and courage, I'd like to go up to dude, and offer to fix up the dog and he could take her back.

I worry that he's one of the better panhandler dog people, too. (I've seen it other places.) I really don't want to support or encourage the panhandlers have dogs trend. It's disturbing. Like they are props. But then, why can't they have dogs? Like I said, this guy seems as reasonable as possible with his. Who knows, she may have been a stray herself, etc.

2 - Humor: While there are still the standard signs like "Disabled Veteran, God Bless." There are lately some new trends. One guy is sort of a performace artist - dances around and has a sign "Please support my alcohol habit!" Dog dude hug a sign on his dog for a time that said "I'm with stupid." Today. Oh, today. This was the sign: "I WOULD DRILL A POLAR BEARS FOR CHEAPER GAS."

So conflicted. Didn't have my camera, would have to have given him money to take his picture. Plus, grammar, yo. Plus, you don't have a car. Still, I have to appreciate the effort.

Anyway, do you give? I don't. Never have. I have that thing that giving to services would be better, but would it? These folks in my neighborhood don't appear entirely homeless - no shopping carts, not talking to themselves. They are like really really marginal business people.

post by: rainbaby at: 13:09 | 10 comments

The only time I ever gave anything to a beggar was to a woman in Paris asking for bread to feed her children. I offered her half of my baguette, and she turned away disgusted.

posted by rhapsodie 28 June | 13:52

Here in NY, I give money to City Harvest and the NY Times Neediest Cases, which supports seven other programs in the city. I do not enable addicts who refuse to use the resources available to them.

posted by brujita 28 June | 13:52

Yeah, there are a few charities that I support with donations, and a few I volunteer with, and that's how I do my giving. The hungry/needy people that I've come across through food-pantry aid and the like are not usually the same folks I see panhandling, though I don't doubt that many panhandlers may be equally poor; it's just that I have no idea. I'll be forever scarred by a 20/20 I saw in the 80s that profiled a few panhandlers and followed them home - a couple were genuinely needy but had disabilities/mental illness that kept preventing them from getting better help; a couple were addicts/alcoholics; and a couple more were actually scamming - living in really nice places, but making up to $600 a day on the streets. My my.

Anyway, giving to charities instead makes it pretty easy for me to avoid giving to panhandlers. I usually try to say "Sorry, can't" or something rather than totally ignore them, unless they're everywhere and it just gets you worn out to acknowledge them.

One exception: I almost always give a buck to street musicians, whether they're well-heeled and just busking for a few extra bucks, or visibly needy. That's just because I really like having street musicians and want to encourage more musicians to play on the street.

posted by Miko 28 June | 16:59

I never give to panhandlers. The few times I have, I have felt burned. . once this guy gave me a story about his wife in the hospital, in a supermarket parking lot. I gave him a few bucks and he flew into the market to buy whatever alcohol he could, with my money.

I DID see a guy the other day, holding an imaginary sign. That was almost worth a donation. But not quite.

I WILL give to street musicans, though. And I give, out of my paycheck, to a couple charities, including the local woman's shelter.

posted by danf 28 June | 17:12

I always buy the big issue from my regular vendor, a husband and wife who have a beautiful and friendly aussie that i have watched grow up from a tiny puppy.

posted by By the Grace of God 28 June | 17:42

When I think about panhandlers in the US, I think about how maybe we as a nation have done mentally ill people a big disservice -- we got rid of the warehousing of the mentally ill, which is a good thing, but then we ran out of money for the halfway houses and other supportive living situations and put them out on the street. Unless they're an imminent danger to other people, they can't be involuntarily committed, but at the same time, they're not doing a good job of self-caretaking. Many panhandlers are of this group of people, and alcohol abuse is a poor method of self-medication.

I feel mixed about giving to panhandlers. Part of me thinks, "Who am I to say what this person should be buying with the money I give them?" But I end up not giving, because I can't help but think that what they want in this case is not necessarily the most compassionate thing to give them.

Street musicians ARE a different story, having known several in my life (and once, while singing during a street fair in my folksinging days, earning a whole dollar!). They aren't begging, they're performing -- and they make daily life all that much richer. I remember talking to a violinist in the Chicago subways who had a pet ferret with him -- it's one of my favorite memories of Chicago. Incidentally, street performers in Chicago need a license (or at least did so in the 90's) to perform legally.

posted by lleachie 28 June | 18:09

alcohol abuse is a poor method of self-medication

Communist.

posted by jonmc 28 June | 19:20

Used to see a panhandler who kept a kitten on his shoulder.

Every few weeks he'd have a different kitten.

:(

posted by BitterOldPunk 28 June | 19:45

I don't know about other places, but I know San Francisco has an annual homeless fair in which veterinarians donate their services to give care to the homeless people's pets. Which I think is awesome. I think they distribute pet food, too.

I rarely give money to panhandlers. I always try to make eye contact with and say something polite to anyone who speaks to me, though (unless they're being scarily aggressive or sexual).

posted by occhiblu 28 June | 20:44

me, I don;t have a rule. I give if I feel like it and don't if I don't. Same for a charity.

posted by By the Grace of God 29 June | 11:11

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