Homeless. Why not live in a warm city?

Shelters have rules. You have to be sober and in and out by certain times.

 

Glad to see Moddy did the shoe thing. I applaud him.

Having done the same a couple times, I finally found a (slightly) better solution.

We almost always carry a backpack full of protein bars and Mylar blankets and socks with us when we go out. We do toothpaste and toothbrushes, now, too. We added feminine hygiene products to the bag a couple years ago when we started seeing more women on the street.

Anyway, to that bag, I've added a couple pairs of adjustable shower sandals. They're like $5 a pair if you buy 'em in bulk, and they fit anyone. With a few pair of socks, they can tide someone over until they get some shoes at the mission house, or a city shelter. Or, depending on the shoes I'm wearing, I can give them mine and make it home in the sandals.

The space blankets and the socks are big movers in the winter, of course. As has been said, lots of these folks won't go inside no matter what.

 

Nashville has a bunch of sidewalk grates that blow warm air. I don't know what for. This time of year, you always see homeless people huddled and sleeping on them.

 

When I was in college, my city had a can and bottle deposit law, so there were always a lot of homeless folks digging through the trash around campus to collect those cans and bottles. The city repealed that law after a few years, and today the homeless population isn't as noticeable.

What we do have is a seemingly coordinated group of panhandlers who position themselves at intersection traffic lights. White, black, men, women, some with dogs, some with coolers in hot weather. I'd love to know how much they make per shift and who is profiting from their efforts. I have given a few times, but I'm conflicted because I don't know how needy these folks really are.

 

For about 10 years I have had to pick something up in East Hartford, Conn., in late fall, and every year, a man would be panhandling at Route 5 north and I-291. After a few years I realized it was the same guy. And sure enough, every year, he was at that spot, and he was scoring well. Saw the car in front of me hand him a $20 once.

This year, he was gone.

 

Read the thread title and expected to see a Sam Kinison reference. Folks are slipping here.

 

This is how I feel, oh, every single day, when I drive past them at, literally, all of the openings/intersections into and out of our Walmart parking lot. I never give money -- I refuse to do it when I don't know what they'll use it for -- but have given food, and fast-food gift certificates. I think what they really want is money, though.

 

I don't think it's that sentiment, exactly. People are unsure, and worse, afraid, of them, and I'm not sure I blame them. There is also the actual wonder about "Why don't they go somewhere where they actually can get some help?"

But, of course, the problem is much bigger and deeper than that, and that would be thinking like healthy, rather, normal person...

It's a case of not knowing what to do about something, and, when that happens, the tendency for people is to do nothing, to ignore it, and/or, definitely, to wish it would go away. Same thing here.

 

Years ago, for a brief period between high school and college, I worked at an office in suburban DC that had a 7-Eleven nearby. One of my co-workers lived down the street from the office and I once saw her at the 7-Eleven while we were both on a break. She told me that the guy we always saw panhandling outside of the store lived in her neighborhood in a house bigger than hers.

That said, I still try to give a little when I can. I never know someone else’s circumstances and a couple bucks every now and then won’t break me.

 

We’ve been Doing granola bars for a while since someone gave us the idea. Related but different, someone gave us the idea to bring treats (donuts etc.) for tea workers during the shutdown, we fly tomorrow, so I hope to pick something up.

 

YOU LIVE IN A FUCKING DESERT!! NOTHING GROWS HERE! NOTHING'S GONNA GROW HERE! Come here, you see this? This is sand. You know what it's gonna be 100 years from now? IT'S GONNA BE SAND!! YOU LIVE IN A FUCKING DESERT! We have deserts in America, we just don't LIVE in them, assholes!