Man, I OWE money... a lot of it to. I can't give away money. If I see a person street perform though (play an instrument, do a dance, selling art, etc) I might give them some money. Though usually no more then 2 bucks because I rarely carry much cash with me and when I do I usually plan on using it for something.

When I was in San Francisco there was this guy playing a saxophone on the side walk and I wanted to give him money because he was really good. but I didn't have any money on me and I felt bad, felt like I was sneaking into a performance and not paying for it.

bizarre story:
was was waiting for my family to finish picking books at a library and a hobo looking type with crazy eyes and a beard that appeared to merge into his coats gave me a piece of jerky like meat and walked away. I was utterly and totally baffled by this as I had never seen him before and he didn't speak a word. I thought some shit was up or something so I started feeling kind of paranoid after that.

I did not eat the meat he handed me... I threw it away after he left.

If I were rich, I'd give them money. However I can barely make ends meet with my job as paperboy. I get out of my bed during the night everyday except sunday to walk those crappy newspapers, even when it rains like hell. Yeah, I'm sure homeless people have it tough. Most of them. I'm sure their life is crappy and they really need the money. But I have it tough too, and I don't have any money to spare. In before "at least you have a bed": I can't help that I was born in this environment, and I don't think people should have to feel guilty about having a good life.

Whatever. I don't feel obligated to help them out, especially when they can't say so much as "thanks" after you gave them money. Even if it's not much, you're going out of your damn way to get some change out of your pocket and give it to them while trying to smile. Yet all they can do is keep sitting there with their sad face, most of the times not even looking you in the eyes.

I pity them, but sitting around asking for money won't make you rich either. I honestly don't know what to do if you're ill, have no home or no relatives, but there's got to be some better way to achieve things and get through life.

The second isn't awful if the homeless in question is healthy. He should be happy with his good health and try to achieve something.

I read the book Sidewalk a couple of months ago and it was saying how some panhandlers if they go in the right spot and know what to do can make over 70 bucks in a day or so.

I have seen statistics that are a lot higher than this for Toronto but maybe they were made up?

My problem with giving money to homeless people is that it is immediately burned away, usually not on food. I work downtown and I see the same totally crazy looking homeless people day after day grumbling and sleeping on the subway and generally being stinky useless members of society. I'm not angry at them or anything, but if you argue that they are anything but useless dregs then you are dumb! I'm not a libertarian and believe that homeless people should be cared for by the society as a whole, but I just don't see the point in given them change. I am pretty cheap though!

I'm not trying to come off as a dick here but I just legitimately don't see the point in it. If someone could explain to me the end result of giving these people change I would be most obliged. Don't say "SO THEY CAN EAT YOU DICKHEAD" because there are a huge number of social systems set up to ensure they aren't dying that they aren't taking advantage of. The fact that they have a brain problem that makes them unable to accept help from giant organizations designed to give them help isn't going to be solved by me throwing some pennies at them.

edit: it is important to note that Toronto has a disproportionately high number of crazy street people to regular homeless people who need the money to survive, and they are everywhere stinkin' up the city and it has made me incredibly callous toward them. Sorry I am an asshole!

Also it is important to note that most people playing instruments, especially if you see them in the same place every day, aren't homeless people they're buskers. They have to get a license to play in that spot and pay taxes and shit. These people do this as a job and giving them money is cool (unless the suck then they should be encouraged to go away and let better street musicians play).

yes im going to give a beggar a 75 cent gift card to shaws

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging#Use_of_funds

Why did you post this? It's a dubious study that, in the next sentence, is pointed out as being dubious.

If you really think that the crazy homeless people of downtown Toronto are spending more on food than they are on drugs and alcohol combined then you are ???. Nevermind how many drugs they actually use, those three things are fucking EXPENSIVE. A package of cigarettes is anywhere from $7-$10 around here, which is two days worth of food if you are concerned about spending wisely (which admittedly they are probably not). That's one package of cigarettes! Nevermind the huge costs of alcohol! I am also disregarding the cost of illegal drugs because let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

Alcohol is super expensive, and so is tobacco. I don't really care what they buy with it anyways because they are never going to buy a better life so =)

do you do volunteer work/charity?

i built a house for habitat for humanity and im probably going to do it again this year, it's a Good Thing