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Don't give them food either. If you live in a western country, or even most developing nations (India in particular has a great culture around this) food is av
by willcipriano 2y ago
Don't give them food either.
If you live in a western country, or even most developing nations (India in particular has a great culture around this) food is available to the homeless.
When you give them food they have to eat it on the cold wet ground often with filthy hands, not at a table with a knife and fork like they had gone to the shelter or soup kitchen. They don't get to feel human. They don't get to experience dignity.
The soup kitchens are strategically located, often in areas where begging won't net you much. This is intentional, its set up to drive the homeless into the arms of the social workers and help them stay sober so that they might have a moment of clarity whilst talking to them.
If you want to help volunteer, make the toast or wash dishes so the social workers can spend more time trying to reach their clients.
You aren't trained to help so don't try. Its a more complex problem than you are equipped to do anything about. Trust the people who dedicated their lives to this work.
- danparsonson 2y agoOr you could, you know, ask them what they need.
- johnisgood 2y agoWhen I was younger, I once gave a homeless man some of my pocket money, and I was pleased to see him buy a hamburger with it. > When you give them food they have to eat it on the cold wet ground often with filthy hands Seriously? There is a wide range of packaged food available, ensuring that your hands never have to come into contact with the food, and they give you napkins and plastic utensils, too, if you want. You simply hand it over to them in the packaging.
- willcipriano 2y agoI have volunteered for a decade, religious and non-religous organizations in the NYC and Philadelphia area. I have helped serve tens of thousands of meals. When the temperature drops I get called in for the code blue response. Every single expert I have spoken to, people who have actually saved thousands of individuals from the cycle of mental health issues, addiction and homelessness shares this view. In fact, I used to think like you prior to meeting them. I have learned that I was wrong. Your act allowed him to continue begging, this allowed him to obtain more of his drug of choice and only prolonged his battle with addiction. It did not help him, if he didn't get help like I previously described he is likely dead. You meaned well, you aren't a bad person, I just ask you to understand what the experts in the field have to say and perhaps consider that they know more than you.
- johnisgood 2y agoI am only arguing against "eat it on the cold wet ground often with filthy hands", as most food comes in their own packaging, not that giving them food does not benefit them long-term, I do realize it is sort of just a bandage.
- kadoban 2y agoDignity is only available if they are forced by starvation to be at some place they don't want to be (evidenced by them not just going there in the first place)? Doesn't sound like dignity.
- thinkingtoilet 2y agoI thankfully have never known what it is like to be truly hungry so I can only imagine how horrible it must feel. I'm giving them food.