Such as these and all my life in law enforcement gave me the mental attitude I have, so many seemingly of 1 side of the coin seem it almost total denial to actual real life.
Haven't seen him for awhile, but we have a "somewhat", that's what he calls it, retired St. Louis P.D. Detective in our complex. When the complex was having some kind of get-together a few months ago, I met and talked to him. In fact, what he told us was so interesting that wife and I just sat at the table and listened to him. His wife an another lady was at the table also, but they moved over to a table full of ladies and talked to them. The things he told us he went thru...…...unbelievable! Him and I had something in common, when I worked in EMS, I worked with (not for) local law enforcement agencies and Highway Patrol. IOW, got calls for medical help at a scene they were at. From that time on, I've been a big supporter of law enforcement as my wife is. The only real big crime we've heard of around us, is a murder/suicide that happened in an apartment around the corner from us. It happened during a thunderstorm and nobody heard the shots. A day later, the bodies were found by maintenance and the lady's father.
Not all panhandlers are created equal...however, I trust virtually none of them. On another thread here somewhere, i talk about observing a woman who had her hand out, racked in $70 before noone and ate an ice cream sundae , vs a hamburger, because she was hungary? All the while her hubby has taken her spot asking for money also.I help people, and am not insensitive, but in today's world you can not just up and give money because they claim they are poor. And, I detest cigarette bumming. Even when i smoked, i never bummed cigarettes or lighters. If you can not take care of your own addiction do not expect me to.
There is a place near me that always has a panhandler there. The busiest shopping area in the county has a Walmart and a Lowes, with a bunch of smaller stores (fast food/restaurants and auto parts) that have sprung up around them. There is only one exit and it's a short light, so there are always cars back up at the intersection. The small grassy median is the perfect place for panhandlers to set up shop. Not long ago there was a couple there with their well-fed dog, a nice guitar (with a case), and they each had a cigarette hanging out of their mouths with their respective packs on the lawn beside them. Sure, I'm gonna give you money to support your $5-a-pak habit. A few months ago I was at a grocery store in Charlottesville and there was a guy panhandling inside the store, all the way in the back at the meat counter! He gave me the story about being a vet (he was wearing fatigues), I gave him some money and he walked over to the counter and got some of the pre-cooked food they sell. I figured that I had done good. Then he walks back over, shows me the sticker on the food he just got, and asked if I could pay for that! (I guess he knew a sucker when he saw one.) I said that I gave him the last of my cash. He says "You can charge it when you check out!" I finally told the guy if he didn't walk away, I was gonna take back the money I already gave him.
It's a definite "business" here. I've observed panhandlers being dropped off by a van in the morning and picked up in the evening. It's always the same van, an ugly beigey-yellow one. There are two major intersections in the area that are apparently "prime" spots.
The only thing I can say is that there are some people who are not "all there." I go to church with a woman in her mid 50s who can not work (except for light housekeeping & such) due to her limited mental capacity. She's had a rough life, abusive upbringing, the whole 9 yards. I sometimes give her rides to church, appointments, etc. I could see her desperately begging out of need, and doing just what that woman did the moment she got cash in her pocket. She's not using people, she's just not "all there." She is on assistance, and as soon as that month's funds are put on her card, it's off to the Dollar Store to buy sodas and junk food. She'll ask the cashier "What kid of soda do you like?" and then buy the cashier a soda. She's disappointed I don't let her buy me stuff, 'cause she's got EBT money on her card and that's just what she does. And it's all gone in no time flat. So I could imagine desperation driving her to beg, and then the shiny coins in her hand being immediately converted into some impulse-of-the-moment thing and the reality of "rent due" that drove her out to beg earlier that morning no longer existing in that moment. Lord knows what she would do if not for relatives taking her in her entire life. I don't know what's right in these situations. After all, I got taken by that "vet" who caught me in a moment of weakness...I either don't make eye contact, or I'll offer to buy them a sandwich. Those are the ones that upset me. If you're "there" enough to aggressively manipulate like that, there are honest things you could be doing to earn a buck. I live outside of Charlottesville VA (a university town), and there are a couple of long-term panhandlers there who have their schtick down pretty good. I've been here for 10 years and they were well-established when I arrived. Everyone knows them by name. You'll see them mentioned on the news every once in a while in some light-hearted "community spotlight" segment. They are sort of city mascots. Those guys are definitely running a business...and the community legitimizes them.
It has been said that the average panhandler in Anchorage makes $60,000 a year begging. I don't have any idea how they know that, but it is the figure used to try to get people to donate to charities instead of giving money to panhandlers.
Yeh, well, I'm not in love with most charities, at least the larger ones. I've worked with a few small ones where not only did every penny go to the cause, we often paid for stuff out of our own pockets in addition to our own donated time & labor. So I got no problem throwing dollars at the local community groups. Regarding that $60k figure...this subject always brings to mind an episode of Sherlock Holmes (the one starring Jeremy Brett.) He was "undercover" as a panhandler who happened to recite Shakespeare. Watson was astonished at how much Holmes was able to make in an afternoon. It's a tempting thought...
One of the charities being touted as a remedy for the homeless and hungry has a "CEO" that makes $140,000 per annum, and her boss, who is the head of the "non-profit" charity makes around $400,000 per year. They are the best panhandlers of all.
Interesting thing about charities: Depending on the state requirement for being designated a charity, the organization only has to use as little as 10% of its intake on "program services". The rest can go on "overhead", salaries (BIG salaries), advertising, etc. One charity in particular I read about (let's call it The Society to Save Foreign Dogs, mainly because I can't remember its real name) has four employees, Joe Blow the President, Mrs. Blow the Vice President, and the adult son and daughter who are corporation Treasurer and Secretary, all being paid nice salaries. And what consisted of their "program services" for the year, you might ask? Well, the four of them flew to Singapore, where they stayed in a fancy hotel and ate fancy meals. Then they brought back two "street dogs" to the U.S. and found homes for them, supposedly. There are a lot of charities like this. There are also a lot of great charities out there, run by people who have good hearts and good ethics. The challenge is to be able to determine the difference...…..
One of the non-profits I was with was the local affiliate of a nationwide entity. They hired a new CEO,and I was curious as to how much she was getting paid. So I went online and got their financials and looked at their Charity Navigator rating. Having inside knowledge, I knew what I was looking at (and looking for.) It seems that they had a high Charity Navigator rating because of the high % of dollars that went "directly to the mission." Well, "directly to the mission" includes the salaries and expenses related to supporting the regional affiliates, who were the ones actually delivering services. So a lot of this "dollars to the cause" stuff does not mean that those bucks go to those in need...it means that those bucks go to administrative staff on the "operations" side of the house. Another side note: we did home repairs for folks who otherwise could not afford to have them done. Getting local support for specific projects was not that tough of a hill to climb, because people are wonderfully generous when a specific need is put in front of them. Our challenge was getting the dollars to pay for our insurances. (Liability is the main thing that impedes churches and other kind people from doing this kind of work...no one wants to incur personal risk.) So folks would look at our financial statements and spit on the ground because 85% of the cash donations went to "overhead." What they could not understand is that "overhead"=insurance, and what was primarily being delivered were non-cash services to install donated materials. Our impact was great, but our financials sucked. After 14 years of helping folks (6-8 projects per year), the outfit went belly-up for want of $4,000 a year to cover insurances.
I made a rare trip to Richmond yesterday for some Greek food and noticed this sign as I was sitting at an intersection: I've never seen such a notice before. I find it interesting that (a) there was a need for it, and (b) in this day and age of enabling every type of behaviour that exists, it still remains.