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How do you feel about feeding the homeless in public areas?

Puffnstuff

Puffnstuff

Lifer
I keep seeing stories where groups of volunteers set up homeless feedings in public parks and get cited by the police. The most recent story I saw was in El Cajon where 9 people were charged with misdemeanors for doing it.

With so many needy homeless people do you think that this could be handled differently? How do you think it should be done? I believe that the city should coordinate with these groups to help make a difference having a positive impact on those in need rather than just simply trying to discourage them from helping.

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/lo...or-Giving-Food-to-The-Homeless-469313843.html
 
It's a complicated issue. In Dallas a tent city was growing pretty rapidly under an overpass and the public was supporting the inhabitants through charity (food, clothes, etc). Then two murders occurred in that homeless encampment and the city shut it down.

Honestly I don't know what to do with homeless guys on the streets. Should I give them money and perpetuate their homelessness, as well as possible vices (it also may draw more homeless to the area)? Or should I give money to charities that may not help the homeless guy I am looking at or even do a good job helping homeless people in general?
 
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Ideally the money would go to charities whose job would be to help them and maybe even get their life back on track. The reality is the vast majority of those people are mentally ill to some degree. They either can't work or don't want to due to some paranoid fantasy about "the man" or some such. Way back when my roomate did a documentary project in Orlando where he walked around downtown for months getting to know and interviewing all the homeless there. You aren't going to see a single one at a regular job (at least for long)...they just are too far gone to handle it.

What's the solution? Who knows...probably none, but maybe more resources and money into preventative measures, whatever those might be. That's the kind of thing that people don't want to pay for though.
 
Stokely said:
Ideally the money would go to charities whose job would be to help them and maybe even get their life back on track. The reality is the vast majority of those people are mentally ill to some degree. They either can't work or don't want to due to some paranoid fantasy about "the man" or some such. Way back when my roomate did a documentary project in Orlando where he walked around downtown for months getting to know and interviewing all the homeless there. You aren't going to see a single one at a regular job (at least for long)...they just are too far gone to handle it. .
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That is just one specific group of homeless.
Did your roommate not realize that a quarter of the homeless in the U.S. are children?
If you want to help, you could start by not perpetuating stereotypes.


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...he-united-states-report-idUSKCN0T908720151120

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/arti...ount-rises-pushed-by-crisis-on-the-west-coast

 
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feralkid said:
That is just one specific group of homeless.
Did your roommate not realize that a quarter of the homeless in the U.S. are children?
If you want to help, you could start by not perpetuating stereotypes.


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...he-united-states-report-idUSKCN0T908720151120

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/arti...ount-rises-pushed-by-crisis-on-the-west-coast
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...he-united-states-report-idUSKCN0T908720151120
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Not to mention that a considerable percentage of homeless people are military vets.

Personally I don't think that it should be illegal to feed ANYONE that needs a meal, that is just being a decent human being. With that said, the large homeless camps do have some serious issues. One of the big ones is sanitation
 
Darwin333 said:
Not to mention that a considerable percentage of homeless people are military vets.

Personally I don't think that it should be illegal to feed ANYONE that needs a meal, that is just being a decent human being. With that said, the large homeless camps do have some serious issues. One of the big ones is sanitation
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Illegal to feed them? Of course not. We should be striving to feed them as a society. It's more the issue of whether giving to panhandlers on a mass scale (ie repeated hundreds to thousands of times a day by different people) is a net positive thing or a negative thing. I honestly have no idea. I see the pluses and minuses on both sides and neither seems particularly tolerable.

I think the homeless children issue is a completely different issue and problem however than the homeless loner you see on the street corner.
 
Homeless concentration camps around the US. You find a homeless person, you ship them to the nearest one. They are sheltered, feed, doctored, helped, etc. And it cleans up america's streets and gives them shelter. If we can do it for criminals we can do it for homeless. Have doctors and teachers there to help try and rehabilitate them back into productive members of society if able. If not, well they are stuck there until they want to help themselves. It seems a more humane way then letting them to rot away on the streets etc.

Idea not fully fleshed out 🙂
 
I completely understand the health side of food preparation but if people are handing out prepackaged store bought food and fruit I believe that not allowing them to feed the hungry is simply ludicrous.
 
MagnusTheBrewer said:
I think those with money need to be reminded of the real problems in the cities where they live. I'd prefer the homeless were fed in corporate boardrooms but, I'll settle for public parks.
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This is great Idea, I bet with a push some companies would consider doing this just for the PR boost.

I also think setting up picnics in gated communities in the suburbs with free bus service to/from various inner city neighborhoods would be a good public service.
 
Puffnstuff said:
I completely understand the health side of food preparation but if people are handing out prepackaged store bought food and fruit I believe that not allowing them to feed the hungry is simply ludicrous.
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Versus the other ways homeless people might be procuring food, like grabbing that half-eaten sandwich out of the dumpster?
 
I volunteer at a facility that is focused on helping the working poor (but also helps the homeless). I purchase food with my own money, prepare it, serve it, and clean up everything for ~100 people. I will give food to absolutely anyone who enters the facility: poor, homeless, wealthy, elderly, young, any race, any IQ, any drug/alcohol status, etc*. I also donate money to the same charity for job training, phone/mailbox for resume submission, mental health/drug treatment, etc. All with the goal of getting people back on their feet able to live on their own without charity or government support. Yes, you should teach a man to fish, but a starving man does not have the strength to reel in a fish. You need to both feed him and train him.

My philosophy is that I will gladly serve anyone food at that facility--no questions asked. But out in public, no I do not feed anyone nor will I give anyone anything. We do not need the rat/insect/disease infestations caused by having unprotected food and food scraps scattered throughout the city. Also, just giving food far from a proper charity means that they usually aren’t undergoing the other assistance/training needed to get back on their feet.

So, yes, I do support the policy of discouraging feeding in public. There are plenty of ways to feed the same people in better locations.


* At least in my midwest city, most tend to be white elderly people who didn't save enough for retirement, vets, refugees, and those with handicaps of various forms.
 
dullard said:
I volunteer at a facility that is focused on helping the working poor (but also helps the homeless). I purchase food with my own money, prepare it, serve it, and clean up everything for ~100 people. I will give food to absolutely anyone who enters the facility: poor, homeless, wealthy, elderly, young, any race, any IQ, any drug/alcohol status, etc*. I also donate money to the same charity for job training, phone/mailbox for resume submission, mental health/drug treatment, etc. All with the goal of getting people back on their feet able to live on their own without charity or government support. Yes, you should teach a man to fish, but a starving man does not have the strength to reel in a fish. You need to both feed him and train him.

My philosophy is that I will gladly serve anyone food at that facility--no questions asked. But out in public, no I do not feed anyone nor will I give anyone anything. We do not need the rat/insect/disease infestations caused by having unprotected food and food scraps scattered throughout the city. Also, just giving food far from a proper charity means that they usually aren’t undergoing the other assistance/training needed to get back on their feet.

So, yes, I do support the policy of discouraging feeding in public. There are plenty of ways to feed the same people in better locations.


* At least in my midwest city, most tend to be white elderly people who didn't save enough for retirement, vets, refugees, and those with handicaps of various forms.
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The rat/insect/disease argument is a really really strong argument. Pandemics are not unknown in human history.
 
It's OK with me. It would be one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve their lives. And it would give them regular contact with organized efforts to help them. Of course, this is just a first take on it but on the surface, seems alright to me.
 
How do I feel about feeding the homeless in public areas?

I'm all for it. We should allow them to feed the homeless ANYWHERE it will remind our society of the sorry wealth gap between the rich and the poor. Possible feeding locations? How about upscale shopping malls, entrances to exclusive hotels and gated communities, etc.?
 
Puffnstuff said:
Very true but if you listen to the city councilman they don't want them fed unless you physically take them home with you.
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Actually doing some more readings, the next pandemic is more likely to arise from our filthy factory farms than from city streets. I don't how society would react today if 100s of millions died to the flu in a few months. It is probably inevitable but the horror is hard to imagine.
 
bshole said:
Actually doing some more readings, the next pandemic is more likely to arise from our filthy factory farms than from city streets. I don't how society would react today if 100s of millions died to the flu in a few months. It is probably inevitable but the horror is hard to imagine.
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I would respect the city if they sat down with the feeders and worked out an amiable arrangement that satisfied both groups goals. Here in Jacksonville there's a very large homeless shelter downtown not far from the main bus terminal where people go for assistance. If people really want to overcome problems they can work together and accomplish many great things.
 
bshole said:
The rat/insect/disease argument is a really really strong argument. Pandemics are not unknown in human history.
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Oh come on, because people that buy food don't leave scraps and wrappers all over the city already? Why do you think that a homeless person I give a sandwich to in the city is less likely to use a garbage can than a non-homeless person?
 
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