Would they work if they could? NF

[Big Cliff]

I have noticed a lot of people lately at on/off ramps with signs with things like "Hungry, Homeless, Please help!

God Bless". Obviously they are looking for handouts and I got to wondering; would they work if they could?

 

The other day as I was pulling off the highway I saw one of these people, I had just stopped at a coffee shop and bought a coffee and apple fritter, he looked hungry so as I pulled along side of him I handed him the bag with the apple fritter in it, I had to keep moving, there were cars behind me but as I looked in my mirror I saw him throwing the bag at the back of my truck.

 

There was nothing wrong with the fritter, I hadn't taken a bite out of it or anything but he threw it back at me. My first thought was "well tomorrow I'll try tossing you a cup of steaming hot coffee" but then I cooled down a bit and wondered if I just didn't understand.

 

As I was driving I started thinking about what I would do if I or my family were homeless, and hungry. Would I stand at the side of the road asking others to give me money? Well, I guess I might if I had no other choice but I am way too proud to ask others to give me anything other than an opportunity.

 

I remembered back to the late 60's when I lived in French River and worked for INCO. We went on strike (not my choice) and the strike lasted about 3 months. My strike pay was $11.00 a week, I had a wife and two kids and no money in the bank. Every two weeks I would hitchhike from French River to Sudbury, get my check, go and buy groceries (a lot of KD, it was only $0.11 a box back then), and hitchhike back to FR. (Had to walk it a few times that was back in the day when there was a prison farm at Espanola and big signs "DON'T PICK UP HITCH HIKERS".

 

We ate KD and fish/grouse/ (and anything else I could catch/kill) and we survived. Our landlady was kind enough to let us defer our rent until I got back to work (of coarse with intrest) and I changed the oil stove to a wood stove, we used candles and lanterns (couldn't pay the hydro), but we didn't ask anyone to give us anything (well I guess hitchiking is asking someone to give you a ride).

 

Do these people really need to be out there asking for donations? Don't we have systems and resourses in place to deal with things like this? I know that every year Sue and I donate what we can afford to food banks, the Unitedway and a few other charities but this is Canada after all. We donate millions if not billions of our tax dollars to other countries, are we doing this at the expense of our own people? If so, why?

 

 

 

 

[misfish]

They wont be out there for long Cliff. They are being kicked off their post here in Barrie. They are an obstruction and distraction to drivers and will cause accidents. And when it comes to, well I stopped to give him change and the guy behind me hit me. Who you think gets charged?????? Not the guy behind you. Not the guy you stopped for. YOU.

 

 

We even have one here that has " I have brain damage,cannot work" I don't buy that one bit.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Brian B

[Headhunter]

Cliff, the LCBO doesn't accept fritters as a form of payment.

I remember working down town T.O. and standing at the corner of Yonge and Queen streets. There was a homeless guy who sat there pretty much every day. I watched a young lady hand the guy a styrofoam food container. He opened it to find a club house sandwich, with fries and slaw. I watched him throw it at her and curse at her.

LCBO doesn't accept club house sandwiches either.

HH

[manitoubass2]

Just my opinion but if we held our resources, kept business and corporation Canadian, we would be wealthy and unemployment would only be those who couldnt work. Alot of issues arise from your post, no real simple fix. Ive went through tough times too and if I absolutely had to, I would be out there, and my kids would have ate your fritter. But where I live, you can easily forage hunt and fish, if you have the gear. Pretty cheap to snare rabbits as well, but again you need shelter and winter gear etc. People around here are also super kind, its no issue to find work, shelter, food, bartering etc. I feel for those truly in need in the cities though, id imagine it to be much tougher. The fellow that threw your kind gesture back at you, well he obviously wasnt starving, so i dont know what to say???

[Dozer]

Oh boy... this again...

[manitoubass2]

Cliff, the LCBO doesn't accept fritters as a form of payment.

I remember working down town T.O. and standing at the corner of Yonge and Queen streets. There was a homeless guy who sat there pretty much every day. I watched a young lady hand the guy a styrofoam food container. He opened it to find a club house sandwich, with fries and slaw. I watched him throw it at her and curse at her.

LCBO doesn't accept club house sandwiches either.

HH

i had a young guy ask for money once at the winnepeg bus station. We were on a family trip so we had packed snacks and sandwiches etc for the ride. I offered him a beverage and a sandwich after he asked for $5 to go to A&W in the bus station. He declined my offer, then threatened me? Drugs id assume but who knows? Sure makes a guy leary about lending a helping hand in the city

[ch312]

There are many ways to make money. Some temp agencies pay cash daily, the government seems more than willing to hand out money to anyone and many small construction businesses still pay cash for laborers.

 

The problem is these people begging for money are more than likely using the cash to buy drugs and alcohol. This is why you often see them rejecting food or clothing donations. They don't need or want that stuff, all they want is cash to buy their drugs or booze.

 

 

I say keep your money and don't fund their addictions...

[solopaddler]

Cliff, the LCBO doesn't accept fritters as a form of payment.

 

[Whopper]

This may sound harsh but it's a fact. There will always be people looking for hand outs period not matter what the unemployment rate is.

It's easy to take advantage of the kindness of others instead of getting off one arse to earn something.

[BillM]

These guys get dropped off in the morning then picked up later in the afternoon. Such a scam, I don't give them a cent. You'll see 4-5 of them, at the same on/off ramps on both the south and north bound.

[manitoubass2]

Yeah, we also have to be sympathic to certain situations. Not everyone out begging is a drug fiend or alcoholic. Some that are might be war veterens who havent been properly helped by society/government and other similar situations. Its just a bad situation all around. Id prefer to continue to help where I can, but I also will not give cash unless it comes with a service(not hookers lol) but honestly alot of great people end up in bad situations sometimes beyond their control. You have to factor that in, or heaven forbid this ever falls on yourself or family

[Rod Caster]

I've seen the "drop off and pickup" scam a few times in north bay. Gave a girl leftovers from a homemade meal, watched her and some decently dressed guy walks up and wasn't happy with the food. It's like pimping for change

[Rod Caster]

So to answer your question: they are working or at least someone considers it "work"

[Big Cliff]

I think I can understand someone not wanting to take food from a stranger these days, there are some real nut cases out there and you might get who knows what. I mean we have nut jobs putting needles and razor blades in kids candy and stuff like that so I guess I sort of understand. The apple fritter could have been laced with anything I guess, I knew it wasn't but he had no way of knowing. Without being too judgemental I guess I need to understand what could have been going through his mind.

[bigbuck]

I do not bother any more. Last time I gave a beggar money was 15 years ago in downtown T.O. He had a sign that read: 'saving for a Ferrari, please help'. I gave him a finn for originality.

[Fisherman]

Yeah, we also have to be sympathic to certain situations. Not everyone out begging is a drug fiend or alcoholic.

You ought to see the ones in Barrie at the on ramps, outright crackheads, for all I care they can freeze there.

[Tom McCutcheon]

A number of years ago (mid 80's) when we lived in London, our son was in sick kids in Toronto. Very rare blood disorder and on life support. We were staying in hotels and eating in restaurants. To make a long story short, as we were walking down Young St., a young lady asked me for some change and I dug deep and gave her all the change in my pocket. It was probably about 5 or 6 dollars and mostly quarters and a few loonies. She threw it on the street and started cursing at me. My wife had never heard me use the language that I shouted back at the girl. To this day I will not help a beggar. Pity the fool squeegee kid who leans over my truck with his chains to wash my windows.

P.S. My son made a full recovery after about 3 months and is fine now.

[manitoubass2]

You ought to see the ones in Barrie at the on ramps, outright crackheads, for all I care they can freeze there.

i can understand your point of view.

[Mister G]

So to answer your question: they are working or at least someone considers it "work"

Where I grew up, work means either you produce something or provide a service. Standing on a street corner looking for handouts is called begging, not working.

 

This reminds me of a Al Linder show where at the end of his show he preaches something to the viewers and although I'm not religious I always enjoy his little sermon.

 

This time he tells the story of coming out of a bank or wherever and a women with a couple of young kids is begging for money to feed her children. Al Linder told her to follow him to a restaurant across the street and order whatever you and your kids what to eat and he'll pay for it. The women then started to swear at him until he walked away. He then warned viewers to be wary of these kind of beggars.

[BillM]

You ought to see the ones in Barrie at the on ramps, outright crackheads, for all I care they can freeze there.

 

Bayfield offramp is the worst. I saw two of them almost in a fist fight yesterday, lol.

[jimmer]

I would suggest continuing to donate to the United Way. Your donation stays local and assists many individuals. One in four people access a United Way funded program in your area Cliff. No reason to feel bad about those that beg on the side of the road. They know that there is a way to access assistance if they need it; they choose not to go that route for whatever reason. Food banks are also the way to help in your community as you have said. Take the safe route to help out and feel good about that. I know the people that access the United Way funded programs sure appreciate the assistance when required. I personally never give to those begging on the side of the road.

[DRIFTER_016]

There are always lots of homeless that beg for $$$ and I won't give them a cent because they just buy booze with it.

There is an old homeless native guy here that will ask for change or some food as he is hungry.

When ever I see him I will buy him something to eat. Saw him last weekend outside McDonalds so I got him an order of McNuggets and fries.

He thanked me repeatedly and I told him to have a good day.

I have no problem helping out this old fella.

[ketchenany]

I worked at Yonge and Eglinton for many years. the four corners were always occupied! One old woman actually sat on the pavement, wet, snow no matter. THAT WAS HER JOB! She had an apartment got picked up and dropped off in a high end car (made the papers)!

When it got hot there she moved downtown!

 

They are NOT looking for food!

[tb4me]

I just ran into this in Burlington this summer..Just after the floods. He was standing at Guelph line and south service road holding a sign..I was stopped at a red light when he approached me asking for money. Well I at the time was in mayhem remediating flood damaged homes, so I told him that If he had a SIN # he could come work for a few days and that id pay him $15 an hour. He just kept walking...lol Guess not.. Another time I was taking my daughter to A&W for dinner in Brantford and this rough dude approached me asking for money to buy food for he and his "old lady" I said no sorry, then looked down at my young daughter, she had the perplexed look on her face. Kinda like why didnt you help that man look. So

at that point I realized that I had a few 2 can dine for 10 bucks coupons, so I called him back said id be happy to buy them dinner..We went inside got mine and my daughters dinner he ordered his and his wife's dinner I paid for both, he then hugged me said thanks and put the food in his back pack and left the store..Sure enough out of nowhere pops his woman and they sat down to eat on the grass together..All the while my then 10 year old daughter has a big smile on her face..So in short don't offer money folks just offer to help in any way you can..If that's not good enough move on..

[manjo39]

I get my respect for an honest days work from my Dad and his generation. Growing up, when it was a struggle to get food on the table and not knowing where your next meal was coming from. By the time my parents had a family we were more stable thanks to his work ethic, but knowing how my Dad grew up will stick with me for the rest of my life. To this day, even though we are not struggling anymore, my Dad is happiest when he has a nice meal with his family sitting with him. He asks for nothing else.

 

I understand where Cliff is coming from.