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How can I help the homeless?
Don't give the homeless person on the street money. Not only are you breaking a panhandling
ordinance in a lot of cities, you're subsidizing their drinking and drug habits.
Not all homeless people are addicts.
You're right, because a lot of them are mentally ill.
That's a stereotype.
When someone talked about bums in the 1940s and 1950s, they were addicts or just lazy
people who didn't want to work. Now we have a stereotype of the crazy homeless cat lady
or the weird guy muttering while pushing a cart.
A stereotype.
No, not really. Around a third or more of the homeless are mentally ill, and they're
on the streets because we closed the looney bins.
That's a cruel term to use.
Is letting someone who can't stay on their meds or have enough mental capacity to get
help sleep on the streets compassionate?
When you put it that way, no. But how can I help, if it isn't a lack of money?
Drive past a homeless shelter and read on their bulletin boards what they need. They
usually have signs requesting urgently needed items like toilet paper, towels or soap.
I was hoping to donate money.
At least it is hard for a charity to misuse forty pounds of toilet paper, whereas money
can be stolen or embezzled. You can give money to the charity, if you want.
I don't know which one to support.
Donate to the Salvation Army. They have homeless shelters around the country, as well as give
financial assistance to those in need so they don't get evicted.
They're not high on my list.
So do a web search for battered women's shelters in your area. Give them money, though they'd
love diapers and soap more.
Why diapers?
If a woman fled to a shelter with her kids, she often has the money in her pocket and
clothes on her back. She doesn't have a 50 pack of diapers or the money to buy it.
That I can buy into.