Are you afraid of the homeless?
457459
No, is the opposite! I love and help homeless people, because we never know, I might end up like one of them, which I hope it never happens, but thats why I help them, in case I ever need their help.
88270
I'm not afraid of either.\n\nBut I have to admit, if I saw a knight riding his horse down my street, I'd probably be a little scared.  I'd wonder what the heck is going on here, is this knight gonna kill someone and is he on drugs?
545556
Can't be done.  Human nature is greedy and acquisitive on one hand, and lazy on the other.  I've worked with homeless folks in a couple of large cities, and in the US at least, many of the homeless I've encountered are unemployed by choice -- they don't want to live 'the straight life.'  They don't want to follow directions from a boss; they don't want to get up early in the morning and work all day; temporary help is available to get them back on their feet but they simply choose not to do what it takes.  Some of them admit to making several attempts: getting a place to stay, getting a job, getting decent clothes to wear to work, and then after a few weeks dropping out because they didn't like the lifestyle.\nMany others are unemployable because of mental illness, retardation, or other reasons, and that's a different issue.  But the lazy and character-deficient will create a permanent underclass even if we find a way to take care of the rest.
4242
Organize a group of people together to feed the homeless that are in the street. There is such a homeless problem in California and not enough shelters to help all of the homeless. There are a few different people/groups of people I have witnessed that have made it their business to make hundreds of sandwiches a day and pass them out to the homeless. There was a lady in Los Angeles who would cook great healthy homemade soups and drive around to the different spots where she knew the homeless people would gather and she made sure they had something good to eat as regularly as possible. But sometimes people can't do that on such a grand scale and it still makes a big difference on a smaller scale sometimes. Just giving something to a homeless person - a warmed plate of your leftovers from dinner perhaps - is a great thing.\n\nWalk up to a homeless woman who is minding her own business, not begging off of anybody, and give her 10% of your weekly income. I met a man one time who did that because he no longer attended church and it was his form of paying tithes. See how big that woman's smile gets. Depending on what you make, you might be able to divide that among 10 homeless women and still get great, surprised, thankful, almost wondrous expressions of happiness.\n\nVolunteer to mentor or assist a homeless person who is not totally beyond help. There are plenty of homeless people out there who look beyond help. Homelessness is a battle of hopelessness. The longer a time a person remains homeless, the more hopeless they feel about everything. People who have been homeless for more than a year become "The Chronic Homeless" and their chances for being able to escape the confines of homelessnes are statistically decreased. Sometimes people just need an address for employment opportunities, a contact phone number for messages, encouragement, food, a safe place to store clothing and personal belongings. When homeless people don't have at least these meager advantages, it can be intensely difficult to make it back into a more normal type of living environment.\n\nBecome a mentor or a Big Brother.\n\nVolunteer to tutor children or speak to children to motivate them to study well so they can become a graphic designer or whatever they want to achieve.\n\nDonate some of your graphic design services or discount as a donation to help non-profit charities advertise events that can help them achieve their goals.\n\nCounty hospitals often welcome volunteer administrative help.\n\n(Just a few ideas - I could go on forever with this. So many worthy causes out there need volunteeristic people.)
707870
Homelessness can have an alarming impact on the health of those who find themselves in this situation\n\nIt's hardly surprising that at this time of year when it is cold and damp that many end up in A&E with chest infections and hypotherma.\n\nThose who escape any noticable illnesses now will probably develop diseases such and asthma, heart disease and arthritis in later life as a result of roughing it.\n\nI get very upset when I see anyone who is obviously without a roof over their head. And would glady and offer them a rood over their heads for a day on two. However, my husband is not be so tolerant and obliging. \n\nWhen I was single I had two or three homeless people dossing in my house for several days at a time. This short respite gave them the opportunity to recharge their batteries and get some decent food inside them.\n\nSo if you see anyone who is roughing it...help them with cloths or food as many do not get even one square meal aday.\n\n\nThere but for the grace of god.
829674
(A.) Who has offered you this once in a lifetime chance to be homeless??\n\n(B.) Are alleys and under bridges your ideal sleeping places??\n\n(C.) Are loonies and drunkards that reak of piss your ideal friends???\n\nP.S. Homeless people that smoke are really quite ridiculous. You obviously had a few extra dollars if you've got a pack of smokes, why didn't you invest that in some food or a truck stop shower?
798914
I once helped a friend and her 19 year old daughter out when they became homeless.  They were living in their car.  During this period I paid their car insurance, fed them,  loaned them money and let them spend the night a few times.\n\nI asked them to Thanksgiving Dinner, they came, they ate, they stayed 5 weeks.  When they left they never said a word of thanks \nNot one single word................\n\nI stood in the driveway waving bye........3 months later they asked to stay with me again?  My responce was, I can give you a couple bucks but I really don't want house guests right now.\n\nI think I would have agreed, if they had at least said "thanks" for all the help I had given before. Doing favors and helping out  friends is just something you do.  But I think the level of kindness becomes burdensome without appreciation.
304224
Okay, let me ask you something.  Have you ever gone to feed the homeless yourself?  Have you ever been homeless?\nI have gone on compassionate missions to San Francisco, LA, downtown Tacoma, Portland Oregon, and Seattle to feed the homeless, and to give them blankets.  I can honestly say that many of them are alcoholics and/or drug addicts who don't care to better themselves. \nThe church I attended for several years offered some of them jobs, in exchange for food and shelter.  The homeless that we offered jobs to wanted the food and shelter, but didn't care to work.\nAs for the second part, for two weeks in '99 I chose to spend all my time with the homeless kids in downtown Tacoma.  I squatted with them, "spanged" (begging for spare change), and observed them closely.  What I saw was that they spent their money on drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes instead of getting their clothes cleaned, taking a shower at the YMCA or YWCA, or getting a hotel room.  I saw heroin, crank, and prostitution for said drugs.  I saw overdoses, disease, and degeneration.  I also saw that they were apathetic to change their situation, and that even with the numerous homeless shelters, they chose to stay in abandoned buildings.\nThe fact that there are homeless is a neverending problem, but it's also an abstract idea to those who speak out against it.  They have no idea, they haven't seen it firsthand like I have.  There are government programs to help these people, and they don't take the opportunity.  Therefore, if these people really want to help themselves, they do so, and they don't stay homeless!\nI know this sounds cold-hearted, but I really do feel for the homeless...just not as much as I did before I tried feeding them.  And I have even less sympathy because I saw it as closely as one can.\nEdit:  I commend the people who volunteer to work in soup kitchens, and in food banks.  But just WHAT is the government supposed to do?  Honestly.  Throw some money at the people?  How are we supposed to sort out the ones who want to better themselves from the drug addicts and alcoholics?  There are homeless shelters, food banks, soup kitchens, low-income housing, churches with good people who try to help...\nAnd I'll tell you what.  In those two weeks that I ran with the homeless, I never went hungry.  There were always people giving us money.  I think I made more money in those two weeks than I have at ANY job I've had...and all that without resorting to prostitution.\nAs I said, there are government programs.  They can help themselves.  Throwing money at them will solve nothing, except putting us even further in debt.\nOne more thing, my sister has five kids.  They live in a four bedroom house, and the rent is $850 a month.  Not bad for Washington State.  She and her husband have a monthly income of a little over $1500.  Their electric bill comes every other month and is usually close to $400 even though they conserve.  One more thing:  My sister has yet to use Welfare.  Those kids are well-fed and cared for.  \nThe unfortunate thing, as I said, is if the government put more money into programs for the impoverished, there are too many who would take advantage of it.  Do you know who would wind up paying the price?  The taxpayers!\nThat there are homeless is tragic.  But there is nothing the government can do.
238933
if they did would that do away with homelessness? no it would not. there are people that give money to help fight homelessness all the time. yet it's still around.why not just give everyone a home to live in ? why ? because that would be to easy...yes i know, where is all that money going to came from?   how about some of this money that the tax payers pay in everyday that gets wasted on stuff that doesn't help anyone.....churchs do their part in helping with the homeless, so lets not take away the help that they do have. because i don't see to many others trying to step in and save the day.
738215
The homeless population on any given night now is 750,000 with 200,000 of those as "chronic homeless" these figures rise every year it seems. Despite the best efforts of those who work for housing, health care, and economic justice, homeless people will die in your community this year. Plan now to memorialize them on Dec.21, the first day of winter, "the longest night of the year!"
68872
Do you mean claustrophobia?
109464
Not that I'm aware of, but what exactly are you afraid of?
730394
i think i understand your question a little.\nBeggers in any part of the country are hopeless and have no choice to make in their lives. It people who are generous who give enough money for organizations which can make a difference in people's lives. With people who do not care about the homeless and beggers, the world will never progress. Hopefully this answers your question. Take care\n\ntrisha
645450
Sorry, but I work for my own money. And thanks to the levels of freedom in this country, I can do what I like with it. And that includes giving it away to your version of an unworthy cause.\n\nHave you ever talked to a homeless person? Or some teenager on the street begging for quarters? Do you know what kind of shame and embarassment these people have to endure every time they have to look someone in the eyes and ask 'Any spare change mister?'\n\nAnd despite popular belief, homeless people, and kids living on the street are not just too lazy to get a job, they are not just too stubborn to do what they are told and go back home to live with their parents (for the kids). Not everyone who is homeless chooses to be homeless. Have you ever heard a 6 year old kid in an elementary grade class telling his teacher that he wants to grow up to be a homeless person, begging on the street to earn a living? I never have, and I doubt that anyone else has either. People don't want to be poor, they don't want to be homeless, they don't want to go to food banks, soup kitchens or beg for change either. But it's something that these people have to do in order to earn a living. Most of them are NOT alcoholics or drug dependant either.\n\nSo, get a job, go on welfare or something? Yeah, nice idea. But a little known fact about social assistance is that you have to already have an address to get some money. How do you pay rent with no money?? And how do you apply for a job when you have no address, no telephone for them to reach you? It's hard enough just to stay clean, considering that you don't have access to a shower or anything like that. Have you ever wanted to work with someone that smelled like old garbage? Probably not.\n\nHave you ever thought of what you might do if both of your parents were killed in a car accident? What if you had no other family to go live with? At 16 years old, could you fend for yourself? Or what if your parents didn't die. What if instead, they split up and neither of them wanted you? Then your mother moves across the country and leaves you with your 'dad'. He gets sick of your shitty attitude almost right away and kicks you out on the street because you're too much trouble to deal with. Without ever having graduated from high school, what do you do now?\n\nAside from that, there are plenty of homeless people that have become criminalized just to prevent themselves from freezing to death in the winter. I actually met a man who would commit a petty crime every year around October just so that he would have a warm bed and daily meals inside a prison for the winter months. But he wasn't a criminal. He did those things because he didn't have access to any other way to keep himself alive. He didn't know how to make the government programs work for him rather than against him. And with a criminal record, it became near impossible for him to get any kind of job, even one paying minimum wage.\n\nWith many cities making anti-panhandling legislation, even asking someone for spare change has become a criminal act. Do you realize that it is a crime to be poor? People treat you like dirt almost everywhere you go, and you develop a nasty suspicion that every time the police are around, they are there to do something to hurt you. Besides, you really think that it makes sense to give someone a fine for pan-handling when the reason they do it is that they already have no money?? What kind of sense does that make?\n\nAs for fining people that give poor people money, that is also an unfair idea. It's not against the law for you to give your money to the Heart & Stroke Foundation is it? Who has the right to say what I should consider worthy of my hard-earned money more than I do?? Hopefully nobody!\n\nAnd take some free advice: take an afternoon, walk down the streets where some homeless guy has had the nerve to bother you looking for a handout and take a minute to TALK TO
233166
No. I am one of those people who can't stand to see the homeless people on the streets and usually donate to them.  I've given them money and even food.  I know that some of them are not really homeless and do the begging routine to just get money, however I feel that if I do my part and help the ones you can, God will take care of the ones who are doing wrong.  I've donated to those who I've watched take the money and went and bought them something to eat and I've also donated to those who have went straight to the  liquor store.  Atleast I know my heart is in the right place and if they are doing wrong it's between them and God.
1065751
I would build a homeless shelter here in my city who has a city council that ignores the problem, even in the winter. I live in Canada where winters get to -40. These people die in the cold as they have nowhere else to go!
328060
I have worked in the VA and volunteered as a Homeless Veterans' Advocate and can tell you the numbers vary throughout the country.  In some places, the % of homeless who are veterans is high, and in others low.  \n\nOne problem for veterans is that we were taught to be very self sufficient during our military days and told that to seek help is a sign of weakness our enemy would prey upon.  That belief translates into refusal to seek medical care when very ill to not seeking assistance for financial problems, to refusing to use services local governments have set up for homeless veterans.\n\nThe federal government's response to any problems veterans have (homeless or otherwise) is to ignore the problem until it is covered in the media, then provide talking points and slick handouts to tide the media storm over.  After that, its back to ignoring the veterans again.