I work through agencies who know a lot more than I do about the homeless and poverty in my community. They also know who is advertizing and not poor.

Still never met any homeless person.

Homeless takes a lot of different forms.

Here we have stupid fucking kids that pretend to be homeless: They are obvious and can fuck off.

Then you have the krusty Punks: Also can fuck off

Then you have the people that look really old for being 40 years old. It is pretty obvious when you see them.

I only give to the last group. Something terrible has happened in their life. It can be anything from Iraq, lost a shitty job, partner kicked them out.

I’m not asking for you to give them money. I am simply asking for people to not treat them like worthless pieces of shit. I feel pretty safe in saying that 75% of the people reading this would be homeless in six months if they they lost their job tomorrow and had to live off savings.

I recommend giving $20 to every homeless person you see who has a cat. Its a great way to weed out the good from the bad because cat people are always good.

I give to both. But it is a bit of a quick judgment who I give to, since I can’t give to everybody. I am close to @johnpowell‘s evaluation method, although not exact.

I feel no obligation to give to either, nor do I perceive them in a negative way.
I give if the individual catches me in a particularly giving mood & strikes me as especially worthy at that precise moment.

I give to whomever I am compelled to give to in the moment.
Yes, I used to give a few dollars to a guy that was in a wheelchair that had a sign and parked himself on an island exiting a popular retail strip mall zone in my old area. I also gave to a homeless guy that had 3 dogs and carted around his stuff in a little red wagon. I would buy him a bag of groceries and dog food and he also went to our local animal services that gave out pet food and care for his 3 Golden retrievers.

The guy was obviously somewhat mentally “off”, whatever his issues were. I like to promote random acts of kindness and strongly believe we should have no attachment to how our gift is used, it is all about a moment of shared humanity, not further shaming or humiliating someone by giving them the standard welfare fare like a box of oatmeal. I hate those that “give” with strings attached, with a superior ” I know best” attitude and those that think just because someone is poor or homeless they should be grateful for your sloppy leftovers or stereotyped bag of oatmeal, macaroni, top ramen, and nasty canned peas. haha

WHY do we “give” shitty food to others and expect them to be grateful?
When I give I give QUALITY items, fresh fruit, cheeses, nuts, jerky, sandwiches, not crap food, breakfast bars, bagels, peanut butter, healthy and easily kept items.

If I feel moved to give to a homeless person or panhandler, I will.

If I don’t, I won’t.

Not a lot of thought behind the decision…I follow how I feel at the time.

Doesn’t matter if they advertise or ask.