In my line of work (homelessness), the one thing you hear all the time is ”Don’t give people money”. It is a truism. It is universal.
I sometimes ignore it.
(Read the rest of the story in Hugh Hollowell's article on Giving money to homeless people)
Depending on where you live and work, you may or may not regularly meet people on the street who ask you for money. What do you do? What could you do differently? How should you respond?
Here are a small collection of articles to help you think more about this matter and about the men and women who cross paths with you.
The first four articles (and the one above) are by Hugh Hollowell, who ministers with the poor in Raleigh, North Carolina. I like his perspective on things and often share updates on Facebook from his blog or the Love Wins blog:
1. Q and R: Panhandlers vs Homeless People
2.
"I recently pulled out of a parking lot and there was a line of panhandlers at the stop light. Is it OK to give them money?" In this short article, Hugh addresses this question including Jesus' instruction to 'give to everyone who asks.'
Panhandlers - do I give or not?
3. How not to be taken advantage of by panhandlers
4. This post is not about giving money to panhandlers
5. A related article by Jon M. Sweeney:
Can You Spare the Bread? Should You?
6. Hear it in their own words:
http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/
No comments:
Post a Comment