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Ok, winter is over and we are now seeing more an more homeless people everyday on our streets. My heart goes out to theese people, I do not give them Money...and I know many do but I have no desire to maybe suport the habits that got them to this stage in their lives.

However I find that when I do my spring clean out and thow aways, I do have tons of stuff that the homeless people need want and do appreciate.My plea to you all is put some of those hotel shampoos soaps and such in a plastic bag, A towel and a wash cloth, and maybe a bagie with a Tee shirt that doesn't fit you and anything you wish to discard they may need.

Even a jar of peanut butter some of those Jelly packs we get at Mcdonalds, and some crackers or even caned spam. Trust me theese things are much more welcome to them than just tossing them in the trash can.

So what do you say people can you just set asides a few things and bag them up put them in your car and the next time you see one of theese people on the corner just pass it to them with a big smile and a Good Luck to them.

Thank You
Jugsmalone

it is nice to see the initial prejudice that you show there..

supporting habits that may have got them there in the first place..

Why are there so many people suddenly becomming homeless? is it because everyone has bad habits? or could it be the banks foreclosing on loans because they have screwed up, causing businesses to downsize, forcing people out of work and thus to lose their homes?

While I wont disagree that there are some people out there that end up on the streets because of bad habits, and it is a good thing to help them through legitimate channels, and the vast majority of people on this forum will have no clue whatsoever as to what it is really like. Just remember to not pre-judge those people that are less fortunate. Cuz in this day and age, it could just as easilly be someone you know.

If you are going to try to help the homeless, use official channels, dont just hand things out on the street, if you have things to donate, find out where your nearest shelter is, find out what they need, volunteer your time, you'll find it much more rewarding.

Thus spake the sarcastic creature that has stood on both sides of the fence.

Well, I am sorry but I am not judgeing anyone and I will help everyone I can..and if I come off judgemental to you than you obviously do not know me and are judgeing my words and not my actions.

Thanks for bringing this up, Jugs.

Before I end up rambling on and on about this or that . . .

I'd urge anyone who would like to donate to a program to do some research. There are some great programs out there, some not so great. It's been too long since I've had first-hand experience in this, and those were mostly local Seattle-based, so I can't give any thumbs up recommendations with much confidence. But it's well worth looking into these things before giving goods, money, or your time.

Well, see the reason I do things the way I do them and hand stuff out to those on the streets is because I have first hand knowledge as to what happens to those funds we give from our hearts to theese foundations, $3.00 of every $10.00 in donations actually go to the speciafied areas or charity you wish to help. The rest goes into the pockets of the so called vollentere who make the phone calls or do the posting or pick ups .....and quite a bit is put into the trunks of thier cars and taken home or sold at there local flee markets... See not all people are in this to help some make a liveing off it. I would rather know what I do goes directly to someone in need. I do go to the Nurseing homes at Christmas and hand out the items that they need to those tht get no visitors or guest ever... I have a list that I follow and my daughter and I clean out 2 liter soda bottles and cut windows in them that we fill with efferdent tablets combs brushes socks, mints surgar free gum and candies..hair clips lap covers and other such needs... we also donate to a local soup kitchen, and make sure that the things we do goes to help those we want to give help too... so even if I were a billionairess I would not donate money to any of them....I would give it directly to someone I knew needed it. I have also be in the Need help position and find that very little is given out to those that have worked hard and just need a helping hand up...so Yeah I am not just talking out my ass, hear just was a sugestion that if you are going to toss it or you do not need it think of the guy that stands out on the cornner in the rain with no place to go... and hand him a small bag of goodies to make him smile. Thats all. or not its all in what makes you feel good to help someone else.

Here where I live there are a LOT of homeless people. A lot of them are the same people over and over. They don't seem to want to be anywhere but the streets. If it is someone that I've not seen before and have not given something to, I will give them a couple of cans of soup and a list of all the resources available to homeless people with a dollar for the bus to get them there. If I see them again, sitting in the same spot, I will not give them anything because they now know where they can go if they need help.

HOWEVER I try to help homeless people because being homeless sucks. I've been lucky to have a charity help me get to my family when I had no where to go. I do give what I can. I choose to give the clothes and such to charities that I know deal fairly with the homeless because I've gone to some of the places and seen how they treat people. I would actualy not recommend one of the Goodwill places out here because the director at that branch is horrible, but the others are decent enough. Catholic Charities out here is one of the best ones, as well as the women's/children's shelter out here.

For those with stuff to give, it's about doing a bit of research and finding the good ones.

Good thing to do, helping others who are less fortunate.
A couple of my friends work at charity institutions (homeless shelter, soup kitchen) and so these are the places I give to because I know I can trust them and I know that my stuff gets to the people.
Some of the homeless are really cool guys and I got to know them better. Now, in summer, when they sit in the streets, I go to those I know if I happen to meet them and then we talk or maybe eat something together.

One of the best of them died last winter. He was real fun. He had been a university professor who somehow lost his mind, but he was an intelligent man if you had the patience to sort out the senseless stuff he also told you when you asked him something (we used to talk about English literature, mostly Shakespeare, Keats & Poe). In summer he used to sit at the river and drink beer or wine and he always asked people if they were in the mood for a game of chess. The problem was he never had a board or figures, he played in his head. I played with him several times and had to note every move and the positions of our pieces on paper.

I guess my point here is that you just cannot help everyone, so it is better to help some people, people in your own street or town. I am far from being a role model but some people saw me with that old professor and apparently they liked what they saw. Some came over and asked him, if they could help him. He used to give them the address of his soup kitchen and homeless shelter and told them to donate there because in his opinion he was lucky and there were people who needed help even more...
When he begged for money he used to keep only some of it to buy a beer or two next day. The rest of the money he gave to other homeless he knew.

Rest in peace, Lion, I know you will.
(He used to say his name was Lion. I think he came up with it because he was always sitting on or next to Lion Bridge.)

Huggles Sami and Thegen, I love you guys you understand, you get it and know just what I mean in helping, no matter how hard we have it at times, others have it worse than we do, It is a good feeling to know you helped someone threw there day.

Alot of people think since we are coming into spring and summer and good weather that the homeless do better during these seasons and thus theres less need to give. But the truth is that the mortality rate amungst the homeless is higher over the spring and summer than at any other time of the year. Part of that is a misconception on the part of the homeless themselves that they can live outside during those seasons. Exposure kills. Lack of medical care once they get sick because they can't afford it is what makes it lethal. When it's cold they seek shelter.

Homeless shelters are not pleasent places and most homeless try to avoid them as much as possible.

Look about your comunity. Ask yourself are their less park benches and water fountains than there used to be? How about publicly available washrooms? There is a very purposeful campaign to make our citys and towns unhospitable to the homeless.

Now ask yourself is it right to be so cruel?

Even if all you do is refill washed out soda bottles with tap water and give these to the homeless it's better than doing nothing.

All I will say is that if you haven't been there.. You have no right to judge, or make comment about how tough it is to be stuck on the streets, because you have NO idea.

But if you want to go around patting yourselves on the back thinking that you know what is best.. go ahead.

The following is drawn upon personal experience (as homeless in the Seattle metro area) only, so take what you will from it and disregard whatever you please.

Fishi3 wrote:Look about your comunity. Ask yourself are their less park benches and water fountains than there used to be? How about publicly available washrooms? There is a very purposeful campaign to make our citys and towns unhospitable to the homeless.

Too true. All too often, the "solution" is an attempt to drive away the homeless and others who are street-involved (for lack of a better term). "Anywhere else but here," seems to be the slogan.

When I was homeless, they ripped out a lot of bus stop benches to keep "non-patrons" from using them. (Side rant: this also meant patrons couldn't use them. And apparently those who were both homeless and patrons, which were a great many, don't factor into the equation at all.)

"Sweeps" were fairly common (particularly in spring and summer), in which the local police force were to focus on clearing certain areas (such as near the UW campus and tourist spots) of the undesireables (the homeless, street kids, etc).

There was also a huge difference in how the homeless were treated versus other citizens. College students liked to sunbathe/nap on blankets and towels in the park, but if a homeless person were sitting or lying on a blanket in the park during they day - they'd get run off. And it could get really messy if you tried to argue law with them (I don't know if the law's changed now, but at the time it was acceptable to lie on a blanket and sleep in the park during daylight hours - just not under one).

Similarly, laws pertaining to the blocking of sidewalks (either by sitting on them during certain hours or standing around in groups) only appeared to apply to the homeless population.

There are also businesses that pour bleach on food that's to be thrown out, so people don't go digging through their dumpsters in search of leftover pizza or whatnot.

That said, it just comes down to my original message. You don't have to do anything, but if you want to, do want you feel comfortable with. Anything helps, and it is appreciated (from my then standpoint and those I knew).

Fishi3 wrote:Even if all you do is refill washed out soda bottles with tap water and give these to the homeless it's better than doing nothing.

It's a nice sentiment, but I knew a few people who were poisoned by people who gave them things, even one who had ground up glass in a hamburger. I always worried about people thinking I didn't appreciate what they offered, but truth be told I was too worried about what they may have done to it to take anything that was open. I slept with an asp because there were people who went around beating homeless people in the middle of the night. There was even once when I was under a bridge with some of my friends on a friday night and a group of frat boys came down looking to beat on the old guy who lived there, you shoulda seen the looks on their faces when they jumped down yelling for him to come out so they could (censored) and ran in to a dozen big guys instead of one scrawny old man, what's really amazing is that they didn't report the beating we gave them to the cops.

Well, to bring it to a close, I've been to most of the local services here and there are only two I would say do a good job of distributing things fairly. Both of which I would support if I won the lotto, and one of which I intend to volunteer at when we move back in to town. The biggest one, with ads on all the buses telling people to give to them rather than directly to people, is honestly a cult. If you join their disciple program you get a bed, new clothes, enough sleep that you're not nodding off the next day looking like you're on drugs when you aren't. If you don't, they stick you in filth, violence and disease. All the best clothes go to the staff, the decent ones go to the disciples,and the stuff Goodwill wouldn't take go to the rest of the people.

Ceryn wrote:Why are there so many people suddenly becomming homeless? is it because everyone has bad habits? or could it be the banks foreclosing on loans because they have screwed up, causing businesses to downsize, forcing people out of work and thus to lose their homes?

Three words to sum it up...

Blame the economy

I used to be homeless, not for a very long time but long enough to know what it's like and on the rare occasion that someone (like Jugs) would show up with food or a blanket was most welcome

I've never encountered that kind of open violence to that extent. I've had frat jerks yell at me from cars as they drove by. I was homeless and living in a friends car for a very short time a few years ago.

I suppose I should encourage giving bottled water but I can't help but resent the scam that is bottled water. It's just plain tap water for the most part sold as if it was from a clean source.

On the subject of cults. Just about every charity is managed and overseen by some religion or other and pretty much all of them have the agenda of
recruiting to their belief system. The more dishonest run million dollar ad campaigns to feed and shelter local homeless then use the money to support missionaries over seas.

Donated food at soup kitchens can be as dangerous as ground glass. Chain grocery stores donate past due foods. I've seen meat come in encased in slime. It gets washed off and tossed into the pot where it contributes to food poisonings. Basically the facilities are just as much a business as any corporation and the homeless are just so many cattle they deal with. The shelters get paid roughly $2000.00 a month per person they keep. To house that person in a one bedroom apartment and give them food money would cost around $1400.00 per person.

In short charities exist to make money. Just like the rest of our society.

This is the reality. We don't have anything better at the moment but I am working at fixing things. And this is why I'm so damn political.