On The Homeless

One day I was taking some canned goods over to a friend who had a canned food drive going at work. A homeless guy was sitting on the curb and asked me for some money. I was poor at the time, but I had the canned food, so I go "do you want some soup"? He said "yes" and pulled out a can opener, popped off the top of a can of soup, and drank it.

So maybe Louis you should carry around a can of soup, because that way, if the beggar's really hungry, he'll take you up on your charity, and if he just wants money for drugs, he won't. Plus it's better than carrying around an extra sandwich or something because it won't go bad if you don't see any homeless.

it'd have to be a can of gazpacho - i'd feel nauseous at the sight of someone drinking raw soup that's meant to be heated

Last time I stopped and fumbled w/my wallet on hearing the magic words "some change, mate" from some hunched dreadlocked guy with arm in plaster and scraggy dog, the guy said "no, I was offering YOU some change, it is my conceptual art project to make people think about how lucky we are here in the West" etc etc

anyway I mainly stopped because guy was reading a battered 70s sci-fi paperback

chatted until my bus came, A+ nutter, would give 50p again

^^^can you loan us some of your homeless folk plz

regarding kkvsg's soup idea, in Oxford there is a homeless shelter which costs something like 2 pounds a night, and a charity from which you can buy tickets for the shelter and hand them out instead of change, which I have considered doing but worry that it looks v. patronising and middle-class and "I don't trust you not to spend my money on drugs so you will have a bit of paper instead", but maybe that is what I am actually thinking, so uh

I quite like giving out change as it makes me feel like a slightly less bad person, but it is less enjoyable when someone gives you the epic sob story of missing the last bus and needing money for the train, and then you see them the next night, and the next. also I am in a permanent state of thinking I am running late

homeless guy hung around reception today for ages today complaining, eventually lost patience and kicked out our laughable security screen. but then i do actually work in a housing office.

on the mean streets of london they have a tendency to be mobile and persistent

― your favorite toy dinosaur ruined my asshole (acoleuthic), Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

idk, rly?

i think they have you down as a mark. you must give something off.

They saw him tipping the barstaff.

maybe they have a can of cold soup someone gave them earlier and they hope the hot air will heat it for them.

"I don't trust you not to spend my money on drugs so you will have a bit of paper instead"

I don't really have your class issues or compunction thereabout, so if someone says they're really hungry and I'm feeling charitable but suspicious, I've been known to buy them something from the dollar menu at a fast food restaurant.

damnnnnnn estela

:o

:O

:O=333

photo finish in a chicken leg race? i give up tbh.

thx for the new username

oy, spare a poppage?

yeah srsly lj, just start peppering your conversations with the word fuckwant and pretty soon the homeless dudes will be eying you nervously and trying to give you money

cudja spare us some fuckwant, please, i need some meatus for the night

no i was thinking more like "oh well i dont have any small change all i have is FUCKWANT and if you just give a second wont take more than a POPPAGE FUCKWANT..." by which point they will have almost certainly run off

once, sitting in a quite empty train station, I had a homeless gent ask me for money and, when I said no, threaten to stub out his cigarette in my face. It certainly did win me over and I think I gave him a whole pound. It's maybe a tactic more homeless people should try.

Generally I don't give out anything because no, I usually don't believe that you're not going to spend it on drugs, class guilt be damned for once. I do give money to Shelter, who I hope will be able to help you and others like you in non-heroiny ways, but on the personal level, no sorry. But I do have particular admiration for the wandering homeless woman who, when I was waiting to meet my girlfriend, asked me for money so she could get a bus, and then when she walked off and happened to run into my travelling girlfriend two minutes away, asked her for money because she needed to feed her child. I appreciate the personal touch.

(gosh typing that all out does make me feel like more than a bit of a heartless scumbag. I'll have to start carrying around spare sandwiches to make up for it all.)

maybe she needed to get the bus home to feed her child? life is a journey towards TRUST y'know

am i the only one who clearly remembers the disgusted look on the homeless man's face in 'twins' when achnold gives him a huge sandwich? that's stuck with me, and i've never offered one food since.

Changing gears:

New Gym For Homeless Also Creates Electricity

Detroit (WWJ) -- Detroit's homeless not only have a place to stay, they now also have a place to stay in shape.

The Green Gym opened at the warehouse of the Cass Community Social Services at 12025 Woodrow Wilson. It is the first gym of its kind specifically for homeless clients.

The lightbulb came on for Reverend Faith Fowler to combine a place where the homeless could work out and be environmentally friendly. The Green Gym uses special stationary bikes that generate electricity from their spinning wheels.

"I read about these bikes made by the green revolution and thought 'what a great idea to put a couple problems together for a solution,'" Fowler said.

Eric Brown took to one of the stationary bikes. The Cass Corridor employee says he hasn't worked out in two years. "It gives people a chance to work out but also produce energy and save energy at the same time," he said.

The specially-equipped bikes hooked to a generator will make electricity redirected to the warehouse. One cyclist over an hour's time can create enough juice to power two laptop computers for an hour.

Along with ten stationary bikes, the Green Gym also features two weight machines, a boxing bag and a treadmill.
Not only is the gym good for the environment, Fowler says it will also be good for the health of her clients who struggle with diabetes and heart disease due to a lack of physical activity.

Funding for the project came from donations made to the nonprofit Cass Community Social Services. The facility will be staffed by volunteers.

BTW, Cleveland has these things all over the place. They also have special yellow "parking meters" in which the money you put in goes to homeless programs.

[img]http://realneo.us/system/files?file=panhandling%20prevention.jpg[img]

Bah.

http://realneo.us/system/files?file=panhandling%20prevention.jpg

how in the fuck has someone managed to dress that up as a kind hearted scheme? genius xp

i mean, that's almost the fucking matrix

Having "Reverend" in front of one's name lets you get away with all kinds of bullshit tbh

we were talking about this tonight re: how quickly we give to far away crisis (eg, Haiti), how reluctant we are to give at home. Q: "Don't I pay taxes for that?" A: Less and less. Increasingly non-governmental org's like foodbanks and shelters, are doing the work gov'ts used to do and we're like "oh those noble food bankers" when really we should be "oh those fucking social spending cutters"

yep, as Merdeyeux says Shelter are a good UK-based charity for supporting the homeless, and this thread has most helpfully reminded me that I never did buy the Shelter-supporting compilation w/Michael Rother, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Four Tet, so that is my quest for the afternoon

Problem solved:

https://medium.com/architecting-a-life/fee8f3ee97a0

1. I will come back tomorrow and give you $100 in cash.
2. I will come back tomorrow and give you three JavaScript books, (beginner-advanced-expert) and a super cheap basic laptop. I will then come an hour early from work each day—when he feels prepared—and teach him to code.

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1673225/can-good-graphic-design-help-the-homeless

wow these are both horrible ideas

i feel like xref with this thread could be in order the most pernicious cliché of our times?

[unsmiling homeless person with hand-made sign]
[smiling homeless person with hand-lettered designer sign]

makes u think

Homeless man who's become a regular around my neighbourhood has a large female greyhound/saluki lurcher named Hoi Polloi.

i'm not trying to shit on individual acts of charity but "can good graphic design help the homeless?" is not the right question to ask imho xp

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/sf-threatens-sue-alleged-patient-dumping-20010793

hah just posted the revive link on the "shit that looks like an Onion article" thread

https://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/802162964.jpg

brilliant

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/wp-content/uploads/trading-places.jpeg

i am filled with hatred rn

"the unjustly homeless"

Once a guy asked me for change and I told him I didn't have any cash with me. He said "that's alright, I accept Mastercard, Visa..."

you're a standup guy, evidently

I really didn't have cash.

time was i was going to do a thread about whether there is a right to housing

this is the case in sweden i think