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What do you do when homeless folks ask for money?
(sh.itjust.works)
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this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2025
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When I was driving through an area frequently that had a large amount of homeless I'd pack a few extra sandwiches, granola bars and bottles of water to give out. I also kept gallon bags and a large bag of dog food for those who had dogs. I never once had someone turn down food and ask for money instead.
Guess it depends on your city. In my city I have literally seen a homeless person throw food back at the person who gave it to them and scream “I ASKED FOR A DOLLAR, BITCH!”
Yeah you gotta mostly ignore the homeless where I’m at. Heavy meth, fentanyl area. Street violence is not uncommon. Just keep it moving and don’t loiter too long if you know what’s good lol
same here,
You sure this isn't a scene in scary movie?
I've seen that show so many times but I can't seem to recall that scene
LMAO it literally is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gwKKT3XFJ0
Word for word lol
Probably is, but it also happened in my city. My city’s gone to meth in a real bad way.
Fair enough
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gwKKT3XFJ0
I've seen people get angry when instead of giving money they offered to buy food.
Called the bluff about needing the money to eat, I guess.
If possible, do not give food unless it is sealed. I prefer to give out canned food with a pull tab or sealed items like protein bars and granola bars. Many unhoused people throw away open items like sandwiches given to them by random people for their own safety, and I can't blame them
Protein is always a good choice because that's what you get the least in shelters and it's also the most important (aside from water of course).
"I'm, uh, gluten intolerant. And I don't eat processed foods."
Literally not even once. But keep strawmanning the homeless to make yourself feel better
Uh...I was just playing off of your last sentence, where you brought up the idea that someone could turn down food. I was imagining a scenario where someone would do that.
You can get down off your high horse if you'd like.
I had a homeless guy come up and give me a whole story about how he almost died of low blood sugar that morning. I’m a caregiver for a diabetic person, so I gave him a whole sealed package of emergency glucose tabs.
He looked it over and gave it back, said the only thing that helped his blood sugar was a certain flavor of Rockstar energy drink. He gave me a list and asked me to go buy things. It was in a Safeway parking lot, so tried to get what he asked.
They didn’t have his flavor of rockstars and they didn’t have organic raspberries, so I got conventional and a different flavor. He gave them back to me. I asked if he could give them away himself, he said it would be too much hassle.
He still asks me for stuff when I go to that Safeway, it’s his hang out. The first time after that I said “no, you were kind of a dick last time.” Now I just ignore him. I feel bad.
But, I have a hard rule for myself that if I’m going into a restaurant and someone asks me to get them some food, I get it for them. It’s often hard for them to even tell me what they want beyond “Just anything!”
Take it easy, Jesus! 😁