This post is part of the “The Spectrum of Personal Finance”. In this one-day event, comic-book nerd Brian from My Next Buck, will discuss eight different emotions (taken from the Green Lantern comics) and relate them to personal finance. Here at GRS, Brian looks at Compassion.
One of the most rewarding parts of personal finance is being able to give back. Giving is powerful, and it’s contagious. But maybe this year times are too tight for you to give in ways you’ve done before. That doesn’t mean you should disregard the needy this year. Let’s talk about some alternative ways to give.
Here are some ways to give back without having to dig deep in your wallet:
- Donate clothing. Goodwill is a great place to make donations, but also look for local clothing drives that give items directly to the homeless. Don’t forget things like hats, scarves, and gloves; it is nearly winter after all.
- Keep small bills in your pocket. If you live in a city, you likely pass by homeless people on your commute to work each day. Carry ten $1 bills, and pass them out until they’re gone.
- Host others for Thanksgiving. Have a neighbor who is out of work? Open your door to share Thanksgiving with her family. This is the sort of act of kindness you usually only see in movies, but it’s easy to do.
- Clean out your cupboards. Sort through all of those canned goods that haven’t been eaten for months, or that your children decided they didn’t like after one sitting. Donate them to a food bank.
- Make room in your budget to donate $25 or $50 to charity this season. Then, when you’re asked to donate an extra $1 for a cause at the grocery store, or asked by girl scouts to buy cookies, you can say yes.
Even when times are tight, there are always opportunities to give back that don’t cost you a cent. Here are some free ways to help you give to those in need this holiday season:
- Volunteer at a local soup kitchen. There are scores of ways to volunteer, but soup kitchens always need a lot of help, especially during the holidays. I volunteered at a soup kitchen with my family one Thanksgiving; it’s probably the most memorable turkey day I have had.
- Become a Big Brother or Big Sister. I’ve wanted to do this for a while now, but my life just doesn’t allow for it yet. It’d be awesome to be able to mentor (and hang out with) a little buddy, and to help them grow.
- Start a food or clothing drive. Maybe you don’t have spare food or extra clothing to donate. Others might. Maybe they just need an easy outlet to donate them through. Starting a food or clothing drive at your church, synagogue, or local school can be easy and rewarding.
- Donate your body. Donate blood, bone marrow stem cells, and plasma. This type of giving can make a huge difference in people’s lives and costs you nothing that can’t be replenished.
Are you still giving despite the down economy? What other ways do you contribute to charity or community that make an impact without draining your budget?
For further reading of the Spectrum of Personal Finance Event, please see:
- Fear at Bargaineering
- Hope at Budgets are Sexy
- Avarice at Consumerism Commentary
- Willpower at Debt-Free Adventure
- Death at Free Money Finance
- Compassion at Get Rich Slowly
- Love at Mrs. Micah
- Rage at Poorer Than You
To view a recap of the event, check out the Spectrum Roundup at My Next Buck.
This article is about Giving
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JD,
I am a Big Brother volunteer, and believe me, you do have the time for it. It only requires 2 times a month for an hour or more. I would think, even in your busy schedule, that you could schedule 2 hours a month to be a Big Brother. I know where I live here in Indianapolis, there is a long waiting list for little brothers waiting for their big. It is a really great thing to do and you’d be a great big brother. I hope that you consider it!
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To all you people who give things to homeless people: If I’m going to give something away, it certainly won’t be to some lazy, thieving, lying, worthless drug addict. It’ll be to someone who is honest and hardworking, and who will really appreciate the help. You’re at best enablers, and at worst circumventing natural selection. It’s not even about “giving them food so they can’t use it to buy drugs,” it’s a matter of “why would you do anything nice for someone who is such a bad person?” Why not help NICE people, instead?
That said, my “giving” comes in the form of taxes. If the government already confiscates a third of my paycheck for programs and infrastructure, why would I voluntarily give away even MORE? This site is still about “Getting Rich,” right? Don’t get me wrong – when kids come to my door selling chocolate bars, I always buy. But it’s only so they won’t egg my house at Halloween. And, I like chocolate.
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Our family works every 6 weeks in a soup kitchen. My husand goes in early to start cooking and I bring the kids after school to help set tables, serve, bus tables, wash dishes. It’s only a few hours every 6 weeks, but it’s one of the best ways to help out and get the boys (ages 10, 11, 12) started early on making charitable work a part of their lives.
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One thought: I donate old books to the library rather than Goodwill. The ones that don’t make it to the stacks are sold by ‘Friends of the Library’ in an annual fundraiser, and they are more likely to be appreciated and make it into the hands of bibliophiles.
Another thing I do is shop bikes in summer. A couple years ago we found 20″ bikes for $20 each! We bought six of them and donated them to Toys for Tots at the end of the year.
The Walmart near our house has a perpetual problem with people asking for money. About every other time I went there I was accosted (I think they cracked down because I haven’t been approached recently). Sometimes if the person seemed sincere I would offer to buy them something. But I agree that giving cash is a big no-no for multiple reasons. But ultimately even addicts need to eat.
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I always save up change, turn it into dollar bills and give some of it to charity at the end of the year.
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@Kevin
I admit that your post made me laugh. You obviously have strong feelings but said that you buy chocolate from kids. I only buy things when kids are raising money if I can’t get it elsewhere. I buy girl scout cookies every year because those girls have a great racket going on. But why would I pay $2 for a Hershey bar? If you want $2 ask me for $2. Don’t pretend to ‘sell’ me something. Besides I believe at that point I can’t write it off on my taxes since I ‘bought’ instead of ‘donated’. And THEN if you read the guidance it pretty much tells the parents to do all of the selling because it’s dangerous for the kids to do it!
And as far as taxes, spiritually I take partial credit for ‘tithing’ when the government is ‘thirding’ on my behalf. But I also think the government does a piss poor job of covering my priorities. On top of that studies have shown that giving is good for the giver. It makes you feel good, makes you think of how thankful you are to be the giver instead of the receiver, and makes you feel more prosperous. After all you have enough to share, so that must be MORE than enough.
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I also am hesitant to give to beggars, especially those that stand at an intersection. I don’t want to encourage something that is dangerous. I remember once when I lived in New York and was stopping to get a bagel. There was a beggar outside, so I asked him what kind of bagel he liked. He said, “No, I just want money for my bus fare.” Considering he spent all day every day at that exact corner, I’m guessing he didn’t want the money for a bus fare. It’s really sad, because such experiences really sour you towards giving. I’ve also had beggars yell at me for not giving enough.
Having said that, I have had homeless people who are grateful for restaurant leftovers. I was visiting Chicago and went to a pizza place. Since I really had no place to re-heat the leftovers, it just made sense to give it away. I think, actually, that some homeless people sit near restaurants in touristy areas for that reason. I have no problem with that. They weren’t begging – just sitting. If I do give money directly to the homeless, I prefer to give it to those who aren’t actually begging. One night in winter there was a guy sitting right by a vent to stay warm. I felt really bad, since it was so cold, so I asked my boyfriend on his way home to hand him some money. But that’s unusual. I usually give to an organization.
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There’s a lot of judgment toward the homeless and beggars on here today. Honestly, that makes me rather sad. I’m not going to judge someone whose circumstances are obviously not as privileged as my own. Personally, if I choose to give someone on the street cash, I don’t care how they spend it. I’m not going to be so patronizing to think it’s my place to tell them how to spend their money (because, after I give it to them, it is their money).
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Another way to give food is to contact your local elementary school, and see if they have an early morning drop off program. In our community, those kids normally come to school without breakfast. Breakfast bars and juice boxes would be a great start to a kids day.
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@Gerty – Thank you for your comments. I feel the exact same way. When i wrote this article i was not anticipating the backlash of giving money to the homeless. However, i think the most important takeaway is that everyone seems to give, or want to give, just in their own way and how they feel most comfortable. Is there anything else we can ask around a holiday in which we are supposed to be giving thanks for what we do have?
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When the grocery store has buy 1, get 1 or sometimes buy 1 get 2, I can get a few bags to the local soup kitchen in our town without breaking the budget. Also every quarter I send a check to the food bank. My $25.00 or even $10.00 goes a long way because they can buy in bulk or get discounted goods from distributors.
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@Jane
All food banks and food pantries should have access to information about expiration dates. I used to work at a food pantry, and our regional food bank gave us a list of everything. Basically, dairy can last about two weeks in the fridge, longer if frozen. Canned things low in acid can last 5 years. Canned things high in acid can last 2 years. Mac & Cheese and stuff like that can last several years. If you have concerns about donating food, the best thing is to call up your local food pantry (http://feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx) and ask what their policies are.
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Bookmark http://www.goodsearch.com as your homepage or preferred search engine because it gives a small donation to the charity of your choice every time you do a simple web search … it definitely adds up and I feel like I’m making a small difference … but telling other people about it, and if they actually start to use it and spread the word, that will collectively make a big difference.
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We give to our local food shelf every month – they can stretch cash farther than we can. Plus they never send me junk mail. I try to balance local giving and international giving – so we’ve been supporting Heifer International and Floresta equally with the food bank.
Another place to donate time, since all of you can obviously read and use a computer – public libraries are often centers for job seekers, literacy students (adult, youth, or ESL), people needing basic computer skills, etc. Our public library is looking for helpers for their homework center right now, and in the past i’ve assisted with their computer classes.
Personally, my finances haven’t really been affected by the downturn yet, because we’re very lucky and because we’ve been doing the frugality thing all along. If we could get everybody out of debt and they would donate what they’re currently paying in interest, this would be a better world all around.
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My sister and her husband (both in their mid 20s) signed up to be a big brother/sister last year! I couldn’t believe it, they both work full time, both are in graduate school full time going for their MBAs, and still they find time (ask actually) to come up and see my son and daughter play their sports.
I’m still baffled on how they are able to do all these things… Oh, and on top of all that, my sister is pregnant.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that they both said that being a big brother/sister is very rewarding.
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@Gerty
I don’t think it’s patronizing to have some degree of expectation that the money you give to a homeless person should be used for something non-destructive and preferably something that will help them. When they use it to nurture an addiction that put them there in the first place, you are in no way helping them by giving them your spare change. If anything, you are harming them even more.
When I was younger, I used to say, “I don’t care if the homeless guy uses the money to buy booze. After all, if I were homeless, I would want to drink too.” But that’s really a shortsighted view of poverty and homelessness. The reality is that these people need more than spare change. They need organizations and infrastructures that can help them get out of poverty and off the street. And it makes more sense to fund these groups rather than hand out money directly to the homeless.
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If you’re going to give by “cleaning out your cupboards,” please remember to check the expiration dates on the goods before donating them. I work in a foodbank, and one thing sure to frustrate any foodbank worker is to have to throw away your donation because the food has expired. If it isn’t safe for your family to eat, it isn’t safe for anyone to eat.
The same goes for clothing donations–if you wouldn’t wear it because it’s stained or torn, please don’t assume that someone less fortunate will wear it. People are looking for quality clothing that they can possibly wear to job interviews or even just around town. Please keep people’s dignity in mind when giving this holiday season.
And finally, @Kevin– I think you would be surprised how many homeless people are not drug addicts. There will always be a few bad apples, but quite a few homeless people are responsible adults with kids who can’t pay all of their bills after being laid off. I know several homeless families who have jobs but the wage just isn’t enough to keep up. Think twice before you judge people in a situation you have obviously never experienced.
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@Jane
I don’t disagree with your second paragraph at all. Giving money to a person on the street is only treating the symptoms of a much larger social disease and doesn’t solve any problems.
However, you’re making a lot of assumptions about the homeless in your first paragraph. You’re assuming an addiction and you’re assuming its the cause of their homelessness. I think it’s the very definition of patronizing to expect that charity given to an autonomous adult, a complete stranger whose circumstances you have no knowledge of, be used in a way your deem appropriate and worthy. You’re judging someone else’s entire life for the cost of your pocket change.
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re: giving to the homeless
there are an awful lot of homeless who aren’t standing on those street corners, including working moms living out of cars or in shelters with their children… don’t forget them either
If you just want to give money away to autonomous adults, why focus only on people on streetcorners? You don’t know the circumstances of anybody that you don’t know, perhaps not even those of many people that you do know. Why not just randomly give out money to people? (There’s precedent.)
If your focus is on homelessness itself, then it makes sense to focus on organizations that reach out to a greater number of homeless than just those asking for money on the street.
(Me, I spend my money given out on the street on buskers when they provide a service I enjoy.)
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I’m definitely not judging anyone, or making assumptions. However, I simply will not give my charitable dollars to people who approach me on the street.
I worked at a major medical center in Chicago for 5 years, and was accosted (yes, many people, homeless or not, will accost you) too many times to count. I’m a big hearted person, and donate to many charities and individuals when I feel touched to do so. However, if I had given a dollar to every person who approached me while walking to another building in the medical complex, walking to lunch, walking to the bus stop, shopping at the grocery store, sitting in a park, or even just walking in the city on a date, I would be BROKE! It is ridiculous. People who have not experienced this harrassment day in and day out, many times per day, do not understand the firm stance against this practice some of us take.
I also don’t purchase anything from children at my door anymore. Two years ago I ordered two boxes of chocolates from two different children, and wrote a check to the school upon ordering. One child delivered, one child didn’t. Sorry, but that ruined it for me. Now had the child simply requested a donation for the school, then I probably would have helped. However, to “sell” me somthing, take my money, and not deliver? Never again.
I believe using children in this manner is inappropriate anyway. When my son is at that age, I will write a check to the school directly, in lieu of him selling door to door.
I am not a scrooge though.
My charitable budget is fairly large, but I am very discriminating as to where those dollars go.
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No, don’t give the homeless money. Save your money for organizations that help people off the streets. Otherwise, you’re more than likely funding and enabling their addictions.
Nobody needs to go hungry. There are places to eat free in every city, and even in our little town of less than 5,000 (there are four that I know of!). When you give a person on the street money, you’re contributing to their problem.
As far as kids door-to-door (who lets their kids do this? dangerous!), I always ask the child if it’s for a public school. It usually is. Thanks, but no thanks, I give to them every month without getting anything in return. Some are stunned enough to stand there for a few minutes and get a civics lesson
.
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Everyone in my family is at a place in life where we really don’t NEED more stuff. So I try and encourage charitable donations instead of Christmas gifts.
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@Shara, you can deduct the amount above what you’d pay for a chocolate bar in the store. If you paid $2 for the chocolate bar, and that size of chocolate bar is only $1 in the store, then you can deduct $1. Be sure and get a receipt, however. If you volunteer at an organization, you can deduct the mileage from your house to the organization and back. If you’re over 55, you can sign up with RSVP, and that organization will reimburse your mileage.
Our foodbank has a backpack program for kids that the school has identified as not having enough food on the weekends. For $250 a year, they get a backpack worth of food every Friday. It’s a great program, IMHO, and I believe it may be nationwide (U.S.).
One of the things I do every week is read to the kids at our local Boys & Girls Club and help with homework. It’s an hour commitment once a week.
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FWIW, the link for “Rage at Poorer Than You” does not seem to be working; I’d love to take a look at it, if it’s fixable.
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@Jane:
Those infrastructures already exist. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Addiction is a very powerful force. If the best efforts of trained counselors and an addict’s family members aren’t enough, then certainly no amount of government bureaucracy is either. You can’t fix someone who doesn’t want to be fixed. All you can do is offer them food, shelter, affordable housing, job counseling, and clothing, which as I said, already exist out there in surplus. There are plenty of places a homeless individual can go for food and shelter. And since counseling is ineffective, I’m not sure what additional “infrastructure” you think would make a difference. When someone repeatedly chooses to get high rather than help themselves, there’s nothing more you can do. The ones crying for more “infrastructure” are just government bureaucrats seeking to justify their jobs, expand their budgets, and tax us further. We don’t need more “infrastructure.” We need fewer addicts. And one way to accomplish that is to stop enabling them with your handouts. Another is to beef up the laws and enforcement and jail them.
I would willingly see my taxes raised $1000 to build more prisons before I’d consent to raising them $10 for more homeless shelters. Homeless shelters are NOT helping these people. They’re NOT getting better in these shelters. They’re just enabling them. Jails, on the other hand, would sober them up in a hurry and keep them from robbing us in the meantime.
I don’t think people really understand just how pervasive the drug problem is. It’s amazing how many crimes can be traced back to drugs. People don’t rob liquor stores for rent money. They don’t smash your car window and steal your CDs because they really like Bon Jovi. They don’t break into your house at night for grocery money. Gangs aren’t funded by selling cookies. It’s drugs! They all want the money to buy drugs. It really is as simple as that. You get the addicts and sellers into jail, and your crime rate plummets. Gangs disappear, property crime drops, your streets are safer and cleaner. We’ve waited for “infrastructure” to solve the problem, and it hasn’t worked. It just keeps getting worse and worse. Lock these people up, FORCE them to get clean (it’s pretty hard to score drugs in prison, although admittedly not impossible), and society becomes safer.
@Kaitlyn:
I used to think like you: that maybe a good percentage of homeless people really are just honest, hardworking folks a little down on their luck. But after going on a few police ride-alongs and watching countless episodes of “Intervention,” I now realize the reality. Of course some homeless people are honest, hardworking people who are just down on their luck. But they’re not the ones you see panhandling on the corner, marinating in their own urine and vomit. The honest ones are at the shelter, eating a hot meal (the guy on the corner who claims he wants money for food is lying – he wants it for drugs. Food is freely available to him at the shelter). Or they’re at the counseling center, working on their resume. Or they’re cleaning themselves up for an interview, to try and drag themselves out of homeless poverty and back into productive society. But the bum on the corner doesn’t care about any of that. He’s lying to you to get your money. And if he doesn’t get enough to score a hit of heroin by the end of the day, he’s just going to smash the window of a local store (or some poor individual’s home) and steal what he needs to afford his next hit. I’ve seen it countless times.
And don’t give me the line about what percentage of homeless people have mental disorders. That’s a shameless mischaracterization of cause-and-effect. They HAVE mental illnesses BECAUSE they do drugs. Chronic drug abuse is widely known to cause various mental disorders, so it’s not like some poor schitzophrenic guy couldn’t hold a job and fell into drugs. He WAS a fully-functioning person who discovered huffing spray paint from a gym sock made the pain of unemployment go away, and now he’s messed up his brain. If he’s unable to turn his life around, then how much are YOU willing to pay to provide care for an individual who brought his problems on through his own poor choices? Personally, I’m not willing to spend one dime. But if he’s not able to at least play by the rules and not steal, I AM willing to pay for lifetime accomodations at a barbed-wire federal institution.
I’m not a cold-hearted person, but I have absolutely no tolerance for someone willing to steal from others to satisfy their own selfish desires, regardless of what “problems” the poor, poor soul has had. We shouldn’t be coddling society’s weak. That’s not how you strengthen the herd.
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Reading these comments has really hit home with me and my husband. However, we are experiencing kind of an opposite situation. We have given and given and have become exhausted. This isn’t a brag, however, for the past few years we have both been cub scout den and pack leaders, Sunday school teachers, church deacons, and PTA parents. We also volunteer one week during the summer at a church camp. All of these volunteer opportunities require loads of time planning and doing and since I am “crafty” I spend loads of money at Dollar Trees on little things here and there for the scouts and kids at church. Since October we have given to our church roof fund, stuffed stockings for troops with the scouts, made bird feeders, donated canned foods and money to the turkey fund at church and school, donated to and shopped for coats for children in need, worked the turkey dinner, decorated at church, . . the list goes on and on. . and we also constantly use a ton of paper and printer ink on Sunday School lessons and scout lessons. Honestly, we have become tired and bitter . . we have become burdened by “to whom much is given much is required” . . . all of December revolves around us giving our time and attention to others . . teaching at church, organizing food baskets for families in need, packing shoe boxes for Haiti, doing the scout Christmas party for 53 kids . . and all those little trips to the Dollar Tree for gift bags, poster board and whatever else we need for scouts, etc. is really adding up. We have learned recently the importance of knowing when the well has run dry. It’s great to give but important to stop to put on our own oxygen masks every once and awhile. There is no way for us to continue giving unless we take a break to recharge. I always felt that was selfish but now I’m realizing it’s the only way we can continue to be givers . . . balance.
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Wow, Kevin #75. You may not be cold hearted, but that is a cynical, cynical perspective you’ve got there. I don’t know what horrible experiences you had that put such a dark spin on the human condition, but I know a lot of people who are dark and cynical, and your discussion was a little shocking even in comparison.
I work in a city emergency department, so I see plenty of the homeless folks and other people who are un- or underemployed and in need of help, people who can’t afford medical care and so forth. I think you’ve forgotten about a third group of people out there. There are the hardworking and honest who are having hard luck, and there are the drug-addicted criminals, yes. I’ve seen and taken care of many from both of those contingents. But there is also a third group of mentally ill homeless people who simply don’t have the skills to get jobs and function, but we don’t have much in the way of psychiatric help for people anymore so they just hang out on the streets. Some of them even seem happy to be there and are generally good natured and harmless individuals who don’t try to hurt and steal from people, they just don’t have jobs or houses or money. These are the folks who we hand a sandwich and a warm blanket to in the emergency department for a little while before sending them on their way. It’s cold up north here in the winter, and I don’t want these people to starve or die in the snow. They’re human beings even though they don’t live their lives the same way the rest of us do. A lot of them have PTSD or crippling other mental problems that have developed, not from using drugs, but from undergoing unbelievable abuse, sexual assaults, or other traumatic events at the hands of others. If you sit down and hear their stories, you’d be horrified at what these people have gone through. Being beaten with all sorts of things, burned, raped, seeing family members tortured, or even serving in the military and watching many people die. These things haunt and handicap people and make it very difficult for them to get through the rest of their lives in a normal way. I don’t know that I could hold up after being through what they’ve been though.
I still don’t give money to people who ask for it on the street, because as many have said, it makes more sense to give to charities that help those who live on the street. But I believe your characterization of all homeless as either drug addicts hell bent on criminal lifestyles who need to be locked in jail forever, or people who are normal folks who just need to get a job and buy a home, is very inaccurate.
I’ve also seen plenty of people recover from drug and alcohol problems through rehab, and I think your idea that the only way to cure addiction is by sending people to jail is completely misplaced and basically, just cruel. A lot of these people are not necessary hurting others, just ruining their own lives. They may have fallen into drugs because of some of the reasons I’ve stated above (abuse, torture, terrible trauma during childhood or adolescence). I think the less cold hearted approach is to admit that jail is not therapy, and that it is not part of a just and fair society to lock people away for life due to minor infractions of the law.
Thanks to all of those who help the less fortunate. It really does make a difference in the world.
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If you don’t want to give money, then give something. Food and drink – muesli bars, a juice carton, hot coffee on a cold day. Or, echoing Morah Mary, give gloves or socks (homeless people wear their few clothes hard, and don’t have great drying facilities). Give sanitary supplies (if people won’t give money, how are homeless women to pay for them). Or old books (sometimes homeless people are bored into alcoholism).
Or just a cigarette. Smoking’s bad for the health, sure, but being outcast is worse. The damage done by one cigarette is more than offset by the good of a little _ordinary_ kindness. The kindness is the most important thing: $10 is way too much, for the reasons stated, but $1 is most likely better than giving nothing, if all you have to give is money.
Talk to a damned homeless person. Some have really interesting stories to tell. Some will leave you awed by their ability to take a terrible life lightly. Some are pains in the bum, but a few minutes with a lonely pain in the bum isn’t that big a cost. Like someone said, if God appeared right now, and all he wanted was 10 minutes of your time, you’d ask “is that all?”. (NB: what Amy @76 says is important. Too many 10 minutes add up to burnout. Not enough add up to constipation of the soul.)
Other ways to give, besides conventional volunteering:
Teach a child, any child, to carve, cook, sew, garden, dance.
Make someone laugh.
Send a postcard to a sick or lonely friend.
Walk a sick neighbour’s dog. Pick up their prescription at the chemist.
Bake a cake for a Macmillan coffee morning.
Send a campaigning letter or email for a cause you support. Send a greetings card to a prisoner of conscience. (In the UK, Amnesty International has a greetings campaign over the holiday season.)
Donate spare craft supplies, lino offcuts, picture calendars, stationery to a pre-school.
Knit for premature babies – give to any special care baby unit -, or for an animal shelter.
Take your neighbour’s bin out when you take your own.
Give someone a lift.
Give your seat up on the bus.
Put a poster for a fund-raiser in your window.
In the UK, give left over paint to http://www.communityrepaint.org.uk, give old tools to http://www.workaid.org/
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‘Tis the season to think of others. Your post is timely, J.D. But no harm in benefiting yourself, too, by taking advantage of tax deductions that might be available to you through your charitable donations. I recently summarized a few ways to reduce your tax bill:
http://www.scienceandmoney.com/2009/11/23/giving-thanks-and-a-little-bit-more/
And StorchMoney (#48) got it right. You cannot deduct the value of your donated services. I hope Karen (#23) continues to do the pro bono work — the gift of your time, energy, experience, and enthusiasm is the greatest gift of all.
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Oy, Kevin #75, when you spend too much time on TV and organizations that singularly focus on crime, drugs and drug abusers, that is the worldview that will become your truth. But it is not in sync with reality. Come to New York and learn a little about homelessness.
Here, you’ll learn how, with average rent near the $2000-range and job losses at an all-time high (with the financial sector based here, perhaps the highest in the nation), it is incredibly easy to become homeless. Physicians, teachers, professions of all stripes, are finding it difficult to keep or find jobs while keeping a roof over their heads. Many choose to avoid shelters due to the culture at some of the shelters.
The majority of people facing homelessness do so because of family breakdown or violence at home, eviction or financial difficulty, including job loss.
In order to be truly charitable, one must keep one-sided judgment in check, while exercising common sense. Maybe spend a few weekends in a soup kitchen….that will shed some light on your theories about homelessness. I also suggest reading the incredibly inspiring stories of the CNN heroes.
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Great post and interesting comments. I will disagree slightly with the food bank volunteering – many food banks in my area need folks YEAR ROUND and in fact are swamped with more volunteers than they can handle at the holidays.
If being a mentor is too much commitment for you, you can find other volunteer opportunities at http://www.volunteermatch.org/
I really do encourage everyone who can possibly manage to squeeze even an extra $10/month for a local charity. Many small organizations are struggling and cash (even in small amounts) is so helpful. Trust me you will feel GREAT.
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Also – GREAT comment! Living in an apartment, I do NOT need more stuff so my friends and family have developed various traditions of charitable giving instead of more clutter!
Slackerjo Says:
November 25th, 2009 at 6:52 am
Everyone in my family is at a place in life where we really don’t NEED more stuff. So I try and encourage charitable donations instead of Christmas gifts.
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How about writing to a soldier overseas? This is one site that helps, but I am sure there are many more. Doesn’t cost money, but helps.
http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html
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Lots of posters here have remarked that homeless people are basically to blame for their situation. Please, realize that the US has an atrocious system for “dealing with” people who have serious mental illnesses and addictions. We simply do not take care of the people who really, genuinely need help. Acting like that is THEIR fault is counterproductive. I’m not sure if giving them money will really help their situation, but I do know that blaming all homeless people for their plight is simply wrong.
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Kevin, I wonder if your perspective would change if you met a homeless vet.
Vets routinely get screwed out of their health care, monetary benefits for disabilities they incurred while fighting wars the taxpayers backed, and suffer much more from PTSD and other really debilitating problems compared to the population at large. I’m sorry you think so badly of these people…please open your eyes and realize that there are lots of people who didn’t start out trying to mooch off the government, but still ended up homeless. I hope you realize this soon.
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http://www.ted.com/talks/becky_blanton_the_year_i_was_homeless.html
I admit to being a TED addict, and am including a link to a talk by Becky Blanton that she presented at TEDGlobal this year. While she may not fit the stereotype of “homeless” for some (she lived with her dog out of her van for a year), she has terrific insight into the psychology of homelessness.
There are some interesting reader comments, as well, where Becky states: “The mentally ill, the addicts, their chances of getting off the street are almost non-existent. Those who are working, struggling, wanting to get off the street, willing to do what it takes – need help. That was my point. That there are many homeless who want off the street and are willing and able to get off the street if they don’t give up hope and if they can meet those who can give them hope. My message is – offer hope if you have it to give.”
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Another way to give when times are tough is to become a foster parent. Not only will you be meeting a need in your community, you can get paid for it too.
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I always try to give away a healthy smile and a genuine compliment or thanks both to those who deserve it and those who need some cheers in their day.
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midwest bird: I truly hope that anyone who considers becoming a foster parent doesn’t do it to “get paid”. I’m sure you realize that many foster children have various issues, and some have experienced downright horrifying situations. A prospective foster parent needs to do it for the right reasons, and getting paid isn’t one of them. What a tactless suggestion!
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We also got ripped off by a fake homeless person. We were going to take out-of-town guests on a Christmas carriage ride, and my husband gave money to a man panhandling nearby. He proceeded to chat up my husband, telling him how he has an apartment nearby and makes enough begging at the holidays to not have to work the rest of the year.
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Meals on Wheels, which is often the only thing that keeps an infirm individual out of a nursing home, could also always use volunteers, if your schedule allows it. The time commitment is very low (typically 1 hr a week), but they have a hard time getting enough packers/drivers because they do their delivery in the late morning. Great for grad students and freelancers. And in a bad economy, programs for seniors are often the first things to get cut, because there are few regulations that require them.
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