Most People Ignored This Homeless Man...

[Contrary1]

But Those Who Looked Closer Were In For A Surprise.

"Big Daws is best known for his prank videos, like eating junking food at the gym and pretending to know strangers. But this time he decided to do something a little different. He lives in Tempe, Arizona and found a unique way to bring awareness to the homeless population in the area..."

http://sharepowered.com/most-people-ignored-this-homeless-man-but-those-who-looked-closer-were-in-for-a-surprise/

[HappyMe]

1. That was good.

I'm glad he met and helped the woman at the end.

[Mnemosyne]

2. Definitely a heart-warmer. nt

[think]

3. K&R

[hifiguy]

4. Kick and rec

BIG time.

[Kalidurga]

5. The people that got the 20 dollars were as happy as if it was a million

I think this prankster learned a lot more than he thought he would too. He seemed very touched by the story the homeless woman at the end told him. Like he was learning for the first time how trapped people are when they become homeless. She seemed very grateful for the small amount of money as well. I hope I see an end to homelessness in my lifetime at least on the scale that it's on today. 600,000 people on any given night are without shelter. It's so not necessary. This is a national disaster and it should be treated the same way that it is when people lose their homes because of a fire, flood or other natural disasters.

[hedgehog]

6. I can't get upset with the people who walked by -

mainly because this guy does look too young and healthy to be out pan-handling.

I know that a lot of places with warm weather have a huge number of homeless. (Syracuse counts 30-50 brave enough for our winters.)
It's easy for me to give money to the guy sitting at the highway exit, he's the only homeless person I'm likely to see that day. I don't have to run a gauntlet of people asking me for money. I can understand that someone frustrated with not being able to solve the problem develops a hard shell or even becomes hostile. No one can remedy all of a homeless person's issues in 5 minutes on the sidewalk.

The real solution is to spread the word about how to solve the problem of homelessness:give the homeless homes.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/home-free

It is going to be very hard to get people to buy into this solution. Too many are convinced that people on the dole are living the life of Reilly. Since some communities do bear more than their share of the load, I think this would have to have Federal financing. (Good luck getting that past deficit hawks!)

[hunter]

27. Yep, it has to be federal.

Like anyone else, homeless people will migrate to places where the immediate risks of starvation, exposure, violence, and death is lower.

Often it's places where a substantial homeless community already exists.

Our California community is a little more friendly than most to the homeless, the weather is rarely deadly cold, and thus we get immigrant homeless from other states. San Francisco, Hawaii, and many other places suffer similar problems.

Federal programs to house the homeless would be inexpensive compared to the way we do things now.

[DeSwiss]

7. Excellent!

- K&R


[center]''The obstacle is part of the path''

[/center]

[Agschmid]

8. Thanks for posting!

[BeanMusical]

9. That's great!

[cascadiance]

10. And we shouldn't forget that there are those like Dennis Kucinich who was at one time homeless...

... who if given the chance to succeed, will do so and when doing so will be better people for it later in life and help many more in a better way too.



And speaking on the issue of homelessness, we still have way too many homeless people here in Portland that need to be helped to free them from that trap.

As a former resident of Turkey, I recently came across articles on two different topics that have given me an idea on this...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/turkish-stray-dog-feeding-machine-a-model-for-social-design-a-986392.html

Social Design Made In Turkey: Feeding Istanbul's Stray Dogs, a Bottle at a Time



There's a vending machine in central Istanbul that takes recyclable cans and bottles and in exchange dispenses free food to some of the estimated 150,000 stray dogs living in the city. It may sound a bit out there, but it is precisely the kind of idea being sought as part of Germany's Orange Social Design Award, a new prize created by DER SPIEGEL's monthly cultural supplement, KulturSPIEGEL, and SPIEGEL ONLINE. The following is an interview with Engin Girgin, the inventor of the "dog food recycling box."

KulturSPIEGEL: Working together with the company Pugedon, you invented something totally new. Can you please explain the concept behind the dispenser?
Girgin: The box itself has three openings: One at the front, more or less at eye-level, a second one for liquids below that and a third one on the right-hand side of the box near the ground. The first opening is for depositing plastic bottles or cans. A sensor recognizes whether they are recyclable or not. If they are, then a certain amount of dog food falls into a bowl in the opening on the lower right-hand side. If there is some water remaining in the bottle and the person doesn't want it anymore, it can be poured into the second opening and the liquid flows into a bowl located right next to the food.

KulturSPIEGEL: So one could describe the box as a classic dog food dispenser?
Girgin: Yes, one could say that. There is an incredibly large number of stray animals, especially dogs, in Turkey. An estimated 150,000 stray dogs live in the city of Istanbul alone. They don't have an owner, but they need to be fed or they won't survive.
...

As a person who's lived in Turkey, this touches on and helps with an issue that is especially a problem in Turkey, since there cats are far more in favor as being pets than dogs are there. Traditionally their culture regards dogs as more "unclean" culturally and less apt to be domesticated, and cats are revered more especially since there's a belief amongst many that the revered leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk would be reborn as a cat at some point.

I saw recently on France 24 this story about how Istanbul, though perhaps having a lot of stray dogs traditionally, hasn't had to this point a big problem with homeless people there. But now they have a large growing population of Syrian homeless refugees there.

http://www.france24.com/en/focus/20140725-syrian-refugees-turkey-istanbul-anger-wave-immigration-poverty/

I'd like to open a dialogue to those that invented that food dispenser there to help perhaps provide newer devices that might seek to help automate the process a bit more to help the homeless and not just the stray dogs, that could help both his country deal with a growing homeless situation and many of our own cities, including Portland here where I live. I think Portland being a "partner city" to building up a newer strategy to help feed the homeless in a targeted and hopefully effective way would be not only a good way to bring the west together with the middle east area, but provide a strategy to deal with this growing global problem as the rich get richer and the rest of us get closer to this state of helplessness. I think we've all felt being close to being broke recently. I know I have. But we need to provide a floor that people can't fall through, especially since welfare that used to provide that has been cut back.

I think if you could provide either emergency food ration kits or chits for things like food from food carts that we have many of here in Portland, or something along those lines so that even at hours when no one is wandering the streets, a homeless person can get perhaps some kind of food or other survival needs in an automated fashion would hopefully help them a lot, and perhaps eliminate the concern that some who might give but who don't that the money they give would be just used to "buy a bottle of booze".

[sabrina 1]

12. What an exceptional post with some excellent ideas. Thank you for posting all that information

cascadience.

I saw many homeless people in California, many of them veterans. I remember two who stood out to me, one was asking for help to buy some medication that wasn't covered by the VA. He had his papers with him, offered to show them to me, which I refused. Just told him to get whatever he needed and was so sorry he needed to do this, regardless of who he was.

That other was someone who I thought looked sick. He seemed embarrassed but he said, I just need to eat a meal if you could do that, God will bless you. I gave him what cash I had and asked if he needed a ride to the hospital. He told me he had been there and they had given him some medication 'I will be alright'. I asked if he wanted to go anywhere else, but he said no. It was outside a super market and he had some friends there.

I looked for him again, but never saw him.

Support the Troops!

I have read that one third of the homeless are veterans. Whenever I see the 'let's remember the troops' ads on TV, it makes me ill. There should not be a single homeless veteran in this country, it is shameful.

I wonder how many people we could house in the mansions of the war profiteers?

We are a wealthy country and if people were a priority here, there would be no homeless people.

Thanks for your post.

[cascadiance]

17. We used to have the welfare program to be the "gate keeper" for who deserved assistance...

With that program being gone, it is the wild, wild west for those who are homeless. We don't have a congress that will help us put in place other means for those who truly want to help the homeless do so, without feeling like they might be more apt to help scam artists than those who are really needy. That is a shame. So we really need to find some other way to locally build a model in some places on finding a way to truly assess who's needing assistance, and in providing them real assistance, and not just means to support some of their addictions that don't necessarily lead to better outcomes.

Automated systems would have to think on how to ensure that it isn't people that don't need handouts from scamming an automated system too. Need to provide some mechanism to help us guarantee that those getting it would be those who need it. But if we could find a solution that could work even through private non-profit organizations and not just through government, then perhaps we'll find a way to help us all help each other avoid such problems of extreme poverty. Then perhaps many will push government to help with such efforts to make them better too later, even if they have to appeal to Republicans. If a Republican congress turns their back on such efforts, that would be one more big issue we can hang over their heads in retaking congress in 2016.

Instead of weaponizing police forces with our government's money when defense contractors no longer have wars to sell their wares for, we need the government to put that money in helping those coming home from wars that they've neglected so much over the years.

If we could help these people get jobs and turn their lives around like Kucinich did early on, think of all of the newer voters we would have with real addresses that could help drive a progressive movement in retaking the presidency and our congress in 2016!

[Hulk]

11. I must have a calloused heart...

I refuse to give a dime. I feel like we are enabling scam artists to multiply along our highway on-ramps, exits and on our sidewalks. I'm sure there are truly needy people out there, but there has to be a better way. I dare not writ any more, because I know the trolls will come out of the woodwork on what a heartless, evil SOB I am. I donate in other ways, and I'm unable to donate much in any case after my basic necessities are met with my fixed income.

This video just seems so wrong in so many ways.

(We'll see how long I can leave this post up before the trolls jump all over my post.)

[ohheckyeah]

15. I won't jump on

you because I felt the same at one time. Once I changed how I thought I realized I had cheated myself out of beautiful moments that blessed me more than the person I gave to.

[matt819]

21. Yep. You have a calloused heart.

sc artists how? Are they going home at night to their McMansion? Give me a break if you want to give, give. If you don't, don't. But don't jump to the conclusion that they are con artists or scum.

I mentioned in another post on this thread that I just started volunteering at a shelter. I now see these folks around town. You know what, they are not panhandling. You may not want your children saying a homeless person, and no one's asking you to invite them to dinner. A little decency now DNS then won't jill you of break your bank. And there are ways to make a difference without responding to panhandlers donate time or clothing of food from your garden. If your community is anything like mine, the effort will be appreciated.

[Hulk]

31. appreciate the post

...but just FYI, I never referred to them as "scum". "Con artists"? I think probably a good number are. How you differentiate the needy from those that are milking the sympathy of others?

I agree....helping how we can. I drop a buck in every Salvation Army pot I walk by. I won't bore you with how I do what I can, but there is a limit to what I can give and still pay my own rent and utilities. It was a hard post for me to write, as I had to erase stuff a dozen times, but I wanted to make the post because I think many of us have that question for not wanting to give a dime. It's not that we don't think there are folks that need a helping hand, but rather those that could be doing something to help themselves and prefer manipulate the "giving" from those that have something to give.

It's a travesty that we have people needing so badly in this country that they are willing to lay down their pride and dignity, but we do. For many of them I think it does them a disservice as well. It seems to be an epidemic today, as we never saw people asking for a hand out along the freeway on and off ramps 10 years ago. Now, almost every ramp has them in Portland and Vancouver, and they even appear to have a shift set up on certain spots.

[LiberalElite]

25. You're doing what you can; some don't do that -

Here's my story: I used to be very conflicted about giving to panhandlers. I felt like a chump if I did and a meanie if I didn't. Then Mayor Koch (I live in NYC) proclaimed that no one should EVER give to panhandlers and that annoyed me. I thought, he's not gonna tell me what to do! So now, I give if I feel moved to and if I don't then I don't and I don't feel bad about it. Koch got to be an increasingly annoying antagonistic jerk during his 3 terms in office but, I give him credit for clearing that up for me!

[nilesobek]

29. Is that how you go about unchallenged?

By labeling anyone who challenges your statement a "troll?"

I spent 10 years homeless and only resorted to panhandling in California. There are homeless groups there that tag team the off ramps then pool the money together for the cold evening. There usually is an, "overseer," that's what I call it anyway, who makes sure these homeless panhandlers are organized and protected, like a pimp. He'll park a short ways away and make sure the panhandlers in his group are safe. Many of them are women.

Here's something I hope to get you to understand. When you are down, all the way down, and you cannot bath or find shelter, then you stop caring about what people think or interpret as, "scams."

I'd much rather be panhandling for money, honest begging, than the alternative: Picking up guns and just taking what we need. And yes, I'm sure you have a calloused heart, but you know, I don't really believe that. You're suffering from homeless fatigue.

[ohheckyeah]

13. Wonderful.

When I lived in Tucson a man asked for change and I didn't have any. We started to talk and it came out that he was suffering severely from ptsd from Vietnam. Before I left I handed him $20 - I really didn't have any change - I didn't have much to give him but he needed it worse than I did. He almost cried.

[TerrapinFlyer]

14. great post

everyone needs to watch this

[alphafemale]

16. Change for a Dollar

Some may not have seen this yet.

[daredtowork]

18. Wow that was terrific!

I liked that he also showed the people trying to remove him from the area.

If you are financially secure, you may perceive beggars as "eyesores", "annoyances", and even potential threats (businesses often try to say that "women" don't feel "safe" to walk in the area). So you try to Disnify your surroundings and shove beggars out of your territory. But downtown areas with a lot of shoppers and heavy concentrations of people are also where a beggar is most likely to get money. How is a beggar supposed to get donations from an empty street out in the 'burbs?

If there is a law preventing beggars from being in commercial areas, the police will remove them. But I hope people aren't cruel enough to pass such laws. Because with the collapse of welfare since the 80s, begging is part of what people do to support themselves. Sure some are scammers. Some may be trying to get money for drugs. You should use your judgment before you give. We all agree it would be better to for people not to have to resort to begging. But the system forces people to do this.

In Oakland, welfare is $336/month for 3 months out of the year if you are not disabled. For people who live in the area: think about the current going rate for a room. Think about utilities, transportation, all the basic necessities you need besides food (which can usually be covered by food stamps if you're poor enough for general assistance welfare). If you earn anything, it doesn't top up the $336 (which is just a loan in the first place) - it gets subtracted from the $336. Now you do the survival math.

There is prostitution. Criminal activity. Begging. Which one do you choose?

[matt819]

19. Volunteer

I just started volunteering once a week at a homeless shelter. What an eye opener. You know, there are people who for any number of reasons slip through the cracks, and the shelter provides just s little respite. If you have a shelter in your area, lend a hand.

[polly7]

20. Love it. I hope this is seen by many ...

I'm going to pass it around, too. I always give, it's not my business why they need money and I just assume that no-one would be living on the streets and begging for money if they had another choice.

[ohheckyeah]

22. Once I give someone money it's no longer mine or of concern to me how it's spent. n/t

[polly7]

24. Exactly.

I worked EMS in different large cities and we had so many calls involving homeless pt's. Some of their stories on the way were just the saddest things I'd ever heard. That's another reason I don't let myself wonder when I give ... it just hurts to think about.

[ohheckyeah]

26. I agree. n/t

[me b zola]

23. K&R

[CBGLuthier]

28. Two months ago, in my town, a man confronted a woman he had given money to

after he saw her get into her 2013 fiat.

My daughter used to work near an intersection and would watch a steady stream of "homeless" go to the corners and then back to the homes they lived in a few blocks away.

Help the homeless. Give to charities. But giving to scam artists who stand on corners encourages scam artists to stand on corners. I would wager at any given time 75 percent of these homeless are scam artists. Just like the lady who twice in one week came up to me in a parking lot because she needed gas money.

[Skittles]

32. I like that guy

righteous anger

who is filming that?

[Cha]

30. I'm crying that is so Sweet! Props to BigDaws! Mahalo Contrary~