Do You Help the Homeless??

[freeztar]

I play guitar with this homeless saxophone player on the streets of st. pete sometimes (when I can find him, and he's already not playing) and I swear one night we made like 30$ in 2 hours. I didn't take any of the money, though...

 

You rock Orbs!

 

I am compelled to relate a similar experience. When I was 21, I set off on a trip with two good friends and we toured the country over, almost 2 months time. When we were hanging out on the beaches of Southern California, Oceanside, we met this great homeless guy who called himself "Guitar Dave".

 

The guy knew soooooo many songs and played very well. I was intrigued, so I grabbed my guitar and joined him. It was fantastic! It created a stir and more people joined. Soon we had a 3-person percussion section. :cocktail:

 

The money started flowing in and a crowd built up eventually. We played past sunset and well into the night. Guitar Dave made a lot of money that night and offered to share it. Of course, I declined. No money could ever equal that experience. :applause:

[Mercedes Benzene]

A couple weekends ago I gave a Jackson to a homeless person in Boston.

I felt compelled to help. Normally I don't like to give money to homeless people because often they'll use it for booz or drugs (somewhat stereotypical, but it does happen). On this day, I figured that I would attempt to help, and he can do what he wants with the cash.

 

I hope he decided to help himself. :cocktail:

[bongo]

i volunteer in an orphanage and i am in an international volunteering service... i love children and would do lots to see all of them happy.. as for homeless in beggars, nope i don't usually help as i've once seen a beggar get in a BMW car..

 

he is paralysed from his feet [i think as he's in a wheelchair] and one of his hands is not normal.. but he has rich family. so why need to help them when they're only tricking others?

[freeztar]

i volunteer in an orphanage and i am in an international volunteering service... i love children and would do lots to see all of them happy.. as for homeless in beggars, nope i don't usually help as i've once seen a beggar get in a BMW car.

 

This brings to mind another interesting anecdote.

My father worked as a commercial real estate agent. A co-worker and he were out to lunch one day and were walking along the street. They happened upon a bum which they were familiar with. He was a commercial real estate agent as well. They stopped, and in disbelief, questioned why he was on the street begging (my father was thinking he had gone downhill somehow-divorce, alcohol, etc.). He said that he grew tired of his job and decided that begging was a better alternative. They were shocked, of course, and had to ask him, why? He responded that he was doing better living off donations than working at his former job. :)

 

That story has always stuck with me...

[Snocrash]

I used to know people in high school who'd dress up in old clothes and beg for money... they told me they could make $20-25/hr doing it and so there was no reason to get a job. Pretty shady if you ask me...

 

I also used to work at a building where this one homeless guy always begged... he had a really messed up face but he was a nice guy and I ended up talking with him quite a bit. Over time I found out that he was a burn victim and that ever since the accident he hadn't needed to work because the government was giving him so much compensation for it.

 

He just begs to supplement his "income"... and it gives him something to do because he gets to talk with all sorts of people. He also does extra work (in the movies) every so often due to his unique looking face... but mainly he just enjoys having the freedom of living on the streets and being able to do drugs whenever he wants...

 

So I'm pretty jaded now... unless someone is asking for food or playing a good tune I just say "sorry no change" and keep walking these days. I'd probably be in the poor house too if I ended up giving every beggar I walked by some change...

[jungjedi]

being a schizophrenic,i can relate to the homeless,as well as to extraterestrials

[InfiniteNow]

being a schizophrenic,i can relate to the homeless,as well as to extraterestrials

 

I am compelled to relate a similar experience, a story which has always stuck with me. One day, while speaking with Barbara Streisand about pink elephants pooping on JFK...

[TheBigDog]

This brings to mind another interesting anecdote.

My father worked as a commercial real estate agent. A co-worker and he were out to lunch one day and were walking along the street. They happened upon a bum which they were familiar with. He was a commercial real estate agent as well. They stopped, and in disbelief, questioned why he was on the street begging (my father was thinking he had gone downhill somehow-divorce, alcohol, etc.). He said that he grew tired of his job and decided that begging was a better alternative. They were shocked, of course, and had to ask him, why? He responded that he was doing better living off donations than working at his former job. :shrug:

 

That story has always stuck with me...

When I lived in Colorado there was a guy sitting at the exit from Interstate 90 in Loveland. He was there every day with his sign asking for money "to help". I remember seeing people wave him to their cars while stopped at the light and giving him change or bills. Well, one of the local news stations did a story on him one night. They showed him getting money from people. They showed him drinking from his thermos and eating a sandwhich he had in his nap-sack. They showed him sitting in the blazing sun on the side of the road with his head down looking very pathetic. They showed him walking to a parking lot when the sun went down. They showed him getting into his Cadillac Escalade. They showed him driving to the house where he lived (a 5000 sq ft affair in an exclusive development). It was not his house, it was the house of his son, who he lived with, but he was not a homeless man, and he was not in need. He just played that in real life.

 

I wonder if he donated his collections to a charity for the homeless? Two years after the report aired he was still sitting there. He was probably there today.

 

There is nothing at all wrong with being charitable and choosing to help those who are less fortunate. In fact this is a core value I see everywhere I have lived and traveled. It is sad when people without need take advantage of the charity of others by posing as someone in need.

 

Come to think of it, the Salvation Army is is an organized begging institution. They employ professional beggars in Santa suits to gather money on behalf of those who do not have the time to go out begging for themselves. I have never really thought about it that way until now...

 

Bill

[Michaelangelica]

Not a lot, but some do a lot, perhaps because they can.

 

Hilton leaves family fortune to charity

From correspondents in Los Angeles | December 27, 2007

 

HOTEL magnate Barron Hilton has pledged $US1.2 billion ($1.37 billion) to a family charitable foundation and plans to leave the bulk of his fortune to the body when he dies.

 

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation said its chairman would place $1.2bn from the sale of Hilton Hotels Corporation and the pending sale of Harrah's Entertainment into a charitable trust to benefit the foundation.

 

Hilton, 80, also indicated at a recent meeting of the foundation's board of directors that he intends to leave 97 per cent of his entire net worth - estimated at $US2.3 billion ($2.63 billion) - to the foundation at the time of his death.

 

"Speaking for the family as well as the foundation, we are all exceedingly proud and grateful for this extraordinary commitment," said Steven M. Hilton, president and chief executive of the foundation.

 

The foundation was set up Barron Hilton's father Conrad in 1944 and funds humanitarian initiatives such as providing water and sanitation systems in developing countries, housing for mentally ill homeless people in the United States and blindness prevention and treatment worldwide.

 

Barron Hilton is the paternal grandfather of celebrity socialites Paris and Nicky Hilton.

................................................................................................................

Please buy watch or pirate "The Choir of hard Knocks" DVD from Australia (Melbourne.) (available from ABC (Oz) mail order)

If it doesn't touch your soul nothing will.

A wonderful initiative by one inspired man.

[InfiniteNow]

Every year, my company will match dollar for dollar funds raised to donate to the local food drive. This season, our group raised just under $600K, so when all was said and done and once the company matched that, we wound up donating $1.2 million to the local food bank. That's a lot of food for a lot of hungry mouths. :confused:

 

 

My favorite event was when we setup the Wii in the cafe of one of our buildings. We had three of them hooked into high def projectors, and projected on to the wall. The game was bowling. We had a tournament with a $5 buy in, which bought you three games. Everyone was having a great time, and it was for a good cause. That was just one event among scores of others that have been going on for about two months, but it was very fun. :)

[P3X491]

only when i feel like it.

[Michaelangelica]

Rudd seeks 'new approach' to homelessness

 

By Michael Edwards

Posted 10 hours 49 minutes ago

Updated 10 hours 22 minutes ago

A homeless man begs for money as pedestrians walk past

A homeless man begs for money as pedestrians walk past during peak hour in central Sydney. (File photo) (Reuters: Tim Wimborne)

 

* Video: Interview: Nicholson hails 'new leadership' on homelessness (ABC News)

* Audio: Homeless discuss Rudd's 'new approach' (AM)

* Audio: Australians 'failing to understand' homelessness (AM)

* Map: Sydney 2000

 

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says it is unacceptable that after 16 years of economic growth, up to 100,000 Australians can be sleeping in shelters or on the streets on any given night.

 

Mr Rudd wants a new approach to get people off the streets and back on their feet and has formed a committee to improve crisis services and help people get long-term housing.

 

Experts cite drug and alcohol abuse as well as mental illness as the main reasons people end up homeless. Homeless people give their own, varied accounts.

 

A train rattling into Sydney's Central railway station provides the soundtrack to 45-year-old Frank's life.

 

He's homeless, and along with dozens of others he spends his days and nights lying on the grass at Belmore Park, next door to the station.

 

"I wake up about six, go over and use the toilets and that at Central railway station, and then come back and sit in the sun in the park and find a paper to read," he said.

 

It might not sound like much of a life to others, but Frank says it suits him fine.

 

"Cost of housing, food, everything - it is so dear you can't afford to live," he said.

 

"I've got a back injury and the way the public health system is ... you can't work so therefore you can't live."

 

But other homeless people did not share Frank's enthusiasm. Not all would go on tape, but among them were former lawyers, tradespeople, and even a surfer.

 

They spoke of a lonely existence, their lives shattered by substance abuse, mental illness and families that would no longer speak to them.

 

Greg Cunningham, 45, is one of them.

 

Family man

 

Once a family man who had a good job, he now lives

Rudd seeks 'new approach' to homelessness - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[Michaelangelica]

Homeless will get a place to call their own

 

 

Adele Horin

September 10, 2008

 

 

A RADICAL proposal to move homeless people into homes of their own was revealed in Sydney yesterday by a coalition of government, business and welfare groups.

 

Common Ground Sydney, whose supporters include Housing NSW, the City of Sydney, the Mercy Foundation and KPMG, is looking for a site suitable to be turned into units for about 100 chronically homeless people and some low-paid workers.

 

It aims to improve on what homeless people are usually offered in Australia - a few nights in a crisis shelter, "transitional" housing or a berth on a housing department waiting list. Some people alternate from park bench to night refuge for years. They cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars in services that assist them but do not end their homelessness.

 

Therese Rein, the Prime Minister's wife, launched the project, designed to help the most difficult cases. Felicity Reynolds, a leader of the coalition, said the model had worked well in New York and Adelaide, and was being applied in Melbourne.

 

"There's 20 years of evidence from the US to show once people are in stable housing, and provided with the support they need, they can get get better," Ms Reynolds said

Homeless will get a place to call their own - National - smh.com.au

I think the present system that only gives people a 2-3 day stay in a shelter per week perpetuates the problem.

If people have a proper address they can get established, help, support, cleaned up, given a sense of worth and belonging, pointed toward a job and start repairing their lives.

A much better way to go I think. It only needs money & community support.

[Moontanman]

Yes, my wife and I cook for them every sunday at church!

[Michaelangelica]

Saturday, November 29, 2008

 

 

 

Brotherhood of St Laurence welcomes COAG $800m for homelessness

 

 

 

The Brotherhood of St Laurence welcomed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s announcement that the Council of Australian Governments has agreed to spend an additional $800 million over the next four years to improve the nation’s response to homelessness.

 

 

 

“This is an increase in real terms of more than 50%. Only the extremely churlish will fail to acknowledge that this is by far the most substantial commitment ever made to tackling homelessness in this nation,” said Tony Nicholson, Executive Director of the national welfare agency.

 

 

 

“It represents a massive turnaround from recent years when the Commonwealth Government’s contribution to tackling homelessness has declined in real terms,” Mr Nicholson said.

 

 

 

“When combined with the Commonwealth’s commitment to an additional $400 million for social housing, it holds out the very real prospect that we can make a major assault over the next four years on Australia’s scandalously high number of homeless people.

 

 

 

“Because our indigenous people are grossly over-represented amongst the homeless, the unprecedented allocation to indigenous housing will make one of the biggest contributions to reducing our overall levels of homelessness.

 

 

 

“The great challenge is to now ensure that these funds are allocated to best effect. This will require a bold reforming strategy. It will require a much greater emphasis on prevention, and on strengthening existing homeless services so that they are more effective in ensuring that those they help are able to take their place in the mainstream economic and social life of the nation.”

 

 

 

Media inquiries: Jeannie Zakharov on(PM me for phone number if you need it)

[Ahmabeliever]

Yes! - I give them free weed. My last show (the stoner show) all profits went to the shelter.

 

I was homeless in Australia. It was a blast the bums there are professional. So easy to live on the streets in OZ. Many of them want to be homeless. Some are there by circumstance yes.

 

We, the caring, do not understand the beauty of having no responsibilities. Think about it. It's so warm you can sleep out at night, there are free meals handed out daily in all major centres, your government gives out travel passes so the bums shift around doing seasonal work to supplement their pension...

 

No rent, no power bill, no phone account, no mortgages, insurance, school fees....

 

An aboriginal called Sarge in Sydney taught me to survive on the streets within days. Where the meals were, the sheltered spots for if weather came, how to purchase $1 bottles of wine...

 

It was a better life than many of the 'styles' I've tried over the years.

 

Homeless by circumstance - or homeless by choice.

 

The hard luck stories are for their own benefit most the time, more handouts. We here in 'society' are so easy to play/prey on.

 

The real problem is the large numbers of mentally ill who swell the ranks of the homeless. this is directly societies fault, governments trying to save on institutional spending have released all manner of patient and there are many news items pertaining to violent offending that can be traced back to mentally ill people deemed 'safe' by society.

 

This thread is patronising.

[pamela]

Do we give to get?........

there is nothing worse than a self righteous attitude in helping someone , especially the homeless. A few years back, I served a Christmas meal for the homeless. The volunteers attitudes disgusted me. Dressed in their finery and new Christmas clothes, was a stark contrast to the many people their in barely enough to keep warm. They were demeaning when asked for a second helping and you could just feel these poor folks pain.

I gave seconds( while giving the volunteers the "eye") and was ready for any confrontation, yet none occurred. I sat and had many conversations with these people and had so much fun.There is no difference between us we all are part of the big picture. Yes, I give cash to people on corners and so what if they are buying booze, that cash may have just prevented someone from going into delirium tremors.

I am not gonna sit in judgement of what they are doing with the money; its none of my business. We give, we care, we chat, we play, we sing, because we are a part of humanity