Justoldjim Loc: JUNCTION CITY, OR.

I stopped giving to them when I saw a man with a sign saying hungry please help so I went to the closest drive up bought a complete lunch drove back, gave it to him and as I drove away saw him toss it in the weeds

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

It was probably the pickles Jim. But on the serious side I am with you. A well dressed guy got me once inside a gas station where i just had paid at the cash only station.

Said he left his wallet home pointed to his car that was out of gas over by the pumps.

I figured 5 bucks should get him on his way. Heck that was just short of 2 gallons.

Went to my truck and as i was leaving i looked over he was coming out of the station smacking a new pack of cigs into his palm.

Okay he got me, lesson learned. What goes around will come around is how i cooled myself down.

Scudrnr Loc: Hancock, Wisconsin

Excellent post!! Too many people today want it all but think somebody else should give it to them.

Graywulff Loc: Cortez,Co.

Well Scud, how come it don’t work that way?? I’d have liked it if somebody gave it to me but I never even knew anybody that had it all so I worked and what I found out later was thatI actually did have it all. I had work. I had a paycheck not a big one but a paycheck nonetheless. I had a wife. I had kids. I lived in a house that the bank owned. I had regular meals and I even got to go fishing once in awhile. What more could I want? Had it all…….

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

And you even have us.

Graywulff Loc: Cortez,Co.

My life is truly blessed.

ghaynes1 Loc: Strawberry Plains, TN

And Cortez and the world has Wulffy. Seems like a win/win situation for everyone.

Graywulff Loc: Cortez,Co.

Thanks for that g.

Video Bob Loc: Norfolk, Va

Wife & I pass no less than 6 "street corner jockys" in the one-mile drive to our jobs every morning. Can't count how many times we''ve offered them a job & heard enough stories of why their jobless we could write a book. For those that turn down our work offer's we now let them know that there is a "cure" for the "Lazy-itus they all have. It's called a JOB.
The comments we get back from them would most probably put me in the attic.

Scudrnr Loc: Hancock, Wisconsin

And our welfare system promotes this lazy "you owe me" attitude.

Betts Loc: Finger Lakes NY

Facts about welfare, aka public assistance: in NY, a single individual receives, monthly, $390 cash grant and $234 in food stamps/SNAP benefits. That’s $58.50 a week for food only; SNAP cannot be used for personal needs and hygiene products. The cash grant is supposed to cover rent (there’s no free housing, btw - subsidized, yes, but the waitlists are over two years long), utilities, car expenses, phone, hygiene and personal items, clothing and everything else a person needs in order to get by. Food is getting more expensive by the day, rent is outrageous and affordable housing is scarce to non-existent. Single parent with one child gets $420/month and along with all the other expenses may also have to pay for childcare, also not free. And the cash grant is reduced when the recipient, single or parent, is earning an income. In that, the system doesn’t encourage employment - yet it doesn’t provide enough for people to meet their basic needs for food, shelter and clothing.

Also, in NYS, substance use evaluation is mandatory and if treatment is recommended, recipients must follow through or they’ll lose their benefits and be sanctioned for 45 days.

I’m not saying that there are no scammers. There are, in every walk of life, from BS panhandlers to embellishing on your income taxes, to not paying or overcharging for services rendered, to flat out embezzlement. But! If the percentage of welfare scammers is about equal to the number of non-welfare recipients who commit other scams, then it’s a small minority and not at all an accurate representation of the population.

I’d be disheartened too, if I gave food to someone and they threw it away or got angry. But it’s not a true reflection of everyone who’s on the streets.

DC Loc: Washington state

I have no idea about NYS here in Seattle here is a recent stat
"Seattle currently spends more than $1 billion per year to combat the escalating homeless crisis; that’s about $100,000 for every transient person in the county. "
That comes from a verity of programs, yet the problem is getting worse each year. The problem is not money, the problem is the programs are misguided and they refuse to spend the money in a way that will truly help the problem. KOMO TV recently had a special called "Seattle is dying" Where they offered some common sense programs that are working in other parts of the country that basically is we start by enforcing the law and then couple that with monitory treatment. It is something like this if you are camping out on the sidewalk or under a bridge high on drugs and all that comes with that they fist tell you that it is illegal to do that and you have to leave. If they refuse they are arrested evaluated and depending on if the person has addiction problems, mental health issues, or just a law breaker are given a choice those with addition problems are told they can go to a monitory lock down facility for drug treatment and rehab or go to jail, those with mental problems are locked up in a mental facility for appropriate mental treatment and addiction treatment as needed, and those that are just law breakers go to jail. the message is you can not live on the street and you can not break the law or you will be arrested. This is the type of program that works, and serves those in crises best and protects society. But instead we have people on the street out here in Seattle who have been arrested for violent or destructive crimes and released 30, 40 and as much as 70+ times to go harm others over and over again. We have homeless encampments that are known for human trafficking and drug dealing and nothing is being done. Those that have a addiction problem need to be placed in a lock down drug rehab place for as long as it takes, those with mental illnesses need to be forced to get the treatment or given the care that they need, and those who are just lawbreakers need to be placed in work camps and jails.

Betts Loc: Finger Lakes NY

With respect specifically to those with addiction and mental illness, treatment only works for those who are willing to do the work. We stopped institutionalizing people with mental illness in the 1980s because it didn’t work. Psych hospitals all over the country are shutting down. Sometimes compulsory treatment works for addiction, but the recidivism rate is around 80%. There aren’t enough effective treatment programs to serve the population and there’s no affordable housing for them to go to afterwards, so they end up back on the streets. I’ve been doing this work for 25 years. The system is a revolving door and an awful failure. It needs to start with housing first.

DC Loc: Washington state

then if they dont want to do the work then they do the time cant have thwm breakimg laws

DC Loc: Washington state

and no not houseing first. housing for those who ate willing to do the work not for those who dont. by the way what is the success rate for rescue missions out your way? hete it is much better than the government run programs they should see why