Here we have The Big Issue magazine to help homeless people http://www.bigissue.com/ and I know it is in a few other countries ... and is just starting up in India.
I think it is a good way for people to help the homeless with both parties not having to feel like it's 'charity'
So are we strangers now? Like rock and roll and the radio?
i work with people living with HIV/AIDS that are homeless in Toronto and i hav eto tell you that the reason that i believe peopel don't care abotu the homeless is that people don't see it. not saying that they don't see homeless people but that they don't "see homeless people" here in Toronto abotu 18-20 years ago, our premiere (like your governor in the states) closed down some mental hospitals and kick everyone out whiel at the same time got out of government housing. hence creating a major problem. you still see people here that were at the closed hospital hanging otu around that area as that is teh only thing they know. there was a reprt abotu 7 years ago (that i wish i coudl find right now) that showed how much money teh government here in Canada waste and lose by having homeless people.
for example, i was working with a person who wa running for an elected post inteh governemnt and i told him that if you really wanted to change something he would tell people the truth and say that putting peopel in perm. housing it woudl be cheaper that having shelters open. he decided to do this and man was he blasted by teh other parties. peopel were saying that why shoudl their tax money go to people who didn't want to work. they never got the point that they woudl be saving money in teh long term as they will never close shleters.
as for people saying that they see homeless peopel spending money on alcohol and smokes there is a simple reason for that. they make you feel less hungary and when you don't know when your next meal will be that is very important.
good luck to the OP on your goal. i might not agree about openning more shelters but atleast you seem to care.
People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."
- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980)
EvilMerlin have you thought about maybe getting involved in a charity that already provides this kind of help?
There are many out there in the UK and I'm sure there'll be something near you. Maybe you can help from 'the inside' as it were.
Or maybe your local church has a volunteering scheme? From small acorns and all that....
Homeless people often need all sorts of support, detox, education, healthcare etc as well as a stable and supportive place to stay. There are all sorts of ways you could help in your spare time while waiting for your plans to come to fruition.
It's tempting to go for the 'grand plan' and it's a very commendable vocation to have, but just because you can't do it all NOW doesn't mean you can't make a very real difference today.
Anyway, I ended up losing a friend over that experience, which was really sad.
huh? why? where was this friend for the rest of the story?
also, not to burst the sunny little bubble you seem to live in, but people aren't "respecting" you in the bar. the reason you can walk into any bar anywhere and get free drinks is becos you have breasts and the people buying hope that if they buy enough they will get to see them. respect has nothing to do with it.
i don't care about the homeless becos it's not a problem that can be solved. it's a neverending stream and for every building you build, others elsewhere will be getting kicked out of their apartments. 100% literacy, employment, home ownership, etc are utopian impossibilities. i dont have the energy for it. every now and again ill give some change becos i hate change and i dont give a damn what they use it for.
"You've never been out of college, you don't know what it's like out there. I've worked in the private sector... they expect results." -Ray
I've always had a dream since I was a little kid that I'd help as many homeless people as I can. And that within my radial reach of help, I'd cure every homeless person and hope that it would pass on to all areas.
Everyone looks at me like I'm crazy when they ask me what I'm passionate about and I talk about this.
When I was a little kid I had this elaborate plan(for an eight year old) To make a self contained homeless shelter that can run itself by the homeless.
I've actually had two meetings with people before, project developers, and I basically get laughed out of their office. Not because the plan wouldn't work, but because it won't bring them millions. Which I understand, but some people just don't really care anymore.
It's really hard letting go of dreams, especially one that I've held onto for so long. Sometimes it's the only thing keeping me going...my mind trying to figure out a way. Any way, to get things done.
Sometimes I think I just care about too much with too many different things. I guess I kind of think that could be a case because it's killing me mentally and emotionally and draining any chance at allowing myself to be happy.
to answer your question as to why the majority of ppl
don't care about the homeless is easy to answer.
ppl don't give a fuck about much of anything unless they get instant
gratification. ppl in general are pretty decent i think but greedy and fulla shit.
alot of ppl make my skin crawl with how they treat others.
to many ppl do not give a fuck outside of their bullshit world.
i started something for myself this past christmas holiday.
i refused to eat for @ least oneday to see how it felt to go hungry
while most everyone was hogging down on more food
than most ppl will ever see in a lifetime.
huh? why? where was this friend for the rest of the story?
When I told my friend about the evening, he said I had put myself in a very dangerous situation and concluded that I must have some kind of death wish or lack of respect for myself. It's kind of complicated with him, which is why I didn't explain the whole story. He had a very paternalistic attitude toward me and thought that just the fact that I went downtown to bars was indicative of some kind of personal problem. Buying a homeless guy a drink was the last straw for him, and his accusations were the last straw for me.
also, not to burst the sunny little bubble you seem to live in, but people aren't "respecting" you in the bar. the reason you can walk into any bar anywhere and get free drinks is becos you have breasts and the people buying hope that if they buy enough they will get to see them. respect has nothing to do with it.
Wow, sunny little bubble, huh? Sounds like a nice place but, unfortunately, no, I don't live there. I'm very keenly aware of why (many) men buy (many) women drinks - but that's quite a diffferent subject for a different thread.
Although I don't believe I indicated that men bought me drinks out of respect, what I meant was that I was respected as a patron of the bar - allowed in, not harassed, treated like a respectable member of society, etc. - like everyone else who didn't appear to be homeless. Even if guys buying me drinks were just trying to get laid (which I don't condone), at least they didn't just disregard me as sub-human the minute I walked in.
(And for the record, it is possible for a man to respectfully buy a woman a drink in a bar.)
where i go to school there are TONS of homeless people... i was surprised since its not a real big city and basically in the middle of nowhere... not to mention theyre begging to college kids (nearly as poor as many homeless people)
anyway, what really gets me... i would ALWAYS try to help the homeless people that hung out by the laundry mat in my building... i would bring them extra food and stuff from my apartment... or clothes i had no need for... and its JUST like the south park episode about the homeless... its NEVER enough! and half the time they wouldnt even remember having talked to me the day before... granted thats probably all due to mental illness, but its hard to keep giving and giving and not feel like its making a difference... i would tell them how to get to the soup kitchen and then the very next day they would still be on the street using the same lie they had given me before... if they tell me they want money for food or liquor im more inclined to give because theyre honest...
its easy to say people arent doing enough to help the problem... but we cant just assume that the entire homeless population is doing as much as they possibly can to help their own situation... its not a problem i see any concrete solution to any time soon... unfortunately
Even if we were to assume that adults are homeless because they are lazy and don't want to get jobs, I wish we could all agree that something must urgently be done about the 1.35 million children who are homeless in the United States in any given year.
Start a non for profit organization......
Write people letters...
Ask someone to donate space/old property...
Ask people to donate items/food...
All they can do is say NO.... move on... but out of all those people you will find someone to help, someone to keep you determined, someone whom will say "YES!!!" to your dream....
Even if we were to assume that adults are homeless because they are lazy and don't want to get jobs, I wish we could all agree that something must urgently be done about the 1.35 million children who are homeless in the United States in any given year.
A buddy and I met up with this old homeless guy on the street. We sat down and ordered a full spread of chinese food, complete with flowing pitchers of beer. A huge bag of leftovers were set aside for the guy to enjoy later. We cabbed him around to 4 different places in the city to (finally) get him a room, of which we had to pay $40 even though it was a shelter.....anyhow the guy now has a huge bag of delicious food, and a warm bed, and nice tour of the city, and he wants another $80 for a train ticket. We said no, and he started swearing and spitting at us like we killed his parents.
fuck that noise...
Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
A buddy and I met up with this old homeless guy on the street. We sat down and ordered a full spread of chinese food, complete with flowing pitchers of beer. A huge bag of leftovers were set aside for the guy to enjoy later. We cabbed him around to 4 different places in the city to (finally) get him a room, of which we had to pay $40 even though it was a shelter.....anyhow the guy now has a huge bag of delicious food, and a warm bed, and nice tour of the city, and he wants another $80 for a train ticket. We said no, and he started swearing and spitting at us like we killed his parents.
fuck that noise...
atleast you tried... sorry you had that experience
thats the problem though... the homeless population is probably fairly diverse (though largely minority and/or mentally ill) but the incidents that stick out are obviously the negatives... someone mentioned it before, but it DOES take some kind of gratification to keep trying... and thats not just selfishness, its human nature... the only people you can continue to love and help when they push you away is your own children...
atleast you tried... sorry you had that experience
thats the problem though... the homeless population is probably fairly diverse (though largely minority and/or mentally ill) but the incidents that stick out are obviously the negatives... someone mentioned it before, but it DOES take some kind of gratification to keep trying... and thats not just selfishness, its human nature... the only people you can continue to love and help when they push you away is your own children...
I'll probably do the same again in the future, however that incident set me back a few years though.
Talk about feeling dumbfounded..
Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
I know. I'm just saying that this excuse (laziness), which is used by many to ignore the problem, can't be used against children.
matter of opinion... whole new issue though... child labor would prevent jobs being outsourced overseas... just look at the industrial revolution... good times for the US economy... might be the answer were looking for
matter of opinion... whole new issue though... child labor would prevent jobs being outsourced overseas... just look at the industrial revolution... good times for the US economy... might be the answer were looking for
Comments
I think it is a good way for people to help the homeless with both parties not having to feel like it's 'charity'
for example, i was working with a person who wa running for an elected post inteh governemnt and i told him that if you really wanted to change something he would tell people the truth and say that putting peopel in perm. housing it woudl be cheaper that having shelters open. he decided to do this and man was he blasted by teh other parties. peopel were saying that why shoudl their tax money go to people who didn't want to work. they never got the point that they woudl be saving money in teh long term as they will never close shleters.
as for people saying that they see homeless peopel spending money on alcohol and smokes there is a simple reason for that. they make you feel less hungary and when you don't know when your next meal will be that is very important.
good luck to the OP on your goal. i might not agree about openning more shelters but atleast you seem to care.
- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me."
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884-1980)
There are many out there in the UK and I'm sure there'll be something near you. Maybe you can help from 'the inside' as it were.
Or maybe your local church has a volunteering scheme? From small acorns and all that....
Homeless people often need all sorts of support, detox, education, healthcare etc as well as a stable and supportive place to stay. There are all sorts of ways you could help in your spare time while waiting for your plans to come to fruition.
It's tempting to go for the 'grand plan' and it's a very commendable vocation to have, but just because you can't do it all NOW doesn't mean you can't make a very real difference today.
Wembley 18/06/07
If there was a reason, it was you.
O2 Arena 18/09/09
huh? why? where was this friend for the rest of the story?
also, not to burst the sunny little bubble you seem to live in, but people aren't "respecting" you in the bar. the reason you can walk into any bar anywhere and get free drinks is becos you have breasts and the people buying hope that if they buy enough they will get to see them. respect has nothing to do with it.
i don't care about the homeless becos it's not a problem that can be solved. it's a neverending stream and for every building you build, others elsewhere will be getting kicked out of their apartments. 100% literacy, employment, home ownership, etc are utopian impossibilities. i dont have the energy for it. every now and again ill give some change becos i hate change and i dont give a damn what they use it for.
Denny Crane!
to answer your question as to why the majority of ppl
don't care about the homeless is easy to answer.
ppl don't give a fuck about much of anything unless they get instant
gratification. ppl in general are pretty decent i think but greedy and fulla shit.
alot of ppl make my skin crawl with how they treat others.
to many ppl do not give a fuck outside of their bullshit world.
i started something for myself this past christmas holiday.
i refused to eat for @ least oneday to see how it felt to go hungry
while most everyone was hogging down on more food
than most ppl will ever see in a lifetime.
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
When I told my friend about the evening, he said I had put myself in a very dangerous situation and concluded that I must have some kind of death wish or lack of respect for myself. It's kind of complicated with him, which is why I didn't explain the whole story. He had a very paternalistic attitude toward me and thought that just the fact that I went downtown to bars was indicative of some kind of personal problem. Buying a homeless guy a drink was the last straw for him, and his accusations were the last straw for me.
Wow, sunny little bubble, huh? Sounds like a nice place but, unfortunately, no, I don't live there. I'm very keenly aware of why (many) men buy (many) women drinks - but that's quite a diffferent subject for a different thread.
Although I don't believe I indicated that men bought me drinks out of respect, what I meant was that I was respected as a patron of the bar - allowed in, not harassed, treated like a respectable member of society, etc. - like everyone else who didn't appear to be homeless. Even if guys buying me drinks were just trying to get laid (which I don't condone), at least they didn't just disregard me as sub-human the minute I walked in.
(And for the record, it is possible for a man to respectfully buy a woman a drink in a bar.)
anyway, what really gets me... i would ALWAYS try to help the homeless people that hung out by the laundry mat in my building... i would bring them extra food and stuff from my apartment... or clothes i had no need for... and its JUST like the south park episode about the homeless... its NEVER enough! and half the time they wouldnt even remember having talked to me the day before... granted thats probably all due to mental illness, but its hard to keep giving and giving and not feel like its making a difference... i would tell them how to get to the soup kitchen and then the very next day they would still be on the street using the same lie they had given me before... if they tell me they want money for food or liquor im more inclined to give because theyre honest...
its easy to say people arent doing enough to help the problem... but we cant just assume that the entire homeless population is doing as much as they possibly can to help their own situation... its not a problem i see any concrete solution to any time soon... unfortunately
http://seanbriceart.com/
http://www.familyhomelessness.org/pdf/fact_children.pdf
Write people letters...
Ask someone to donate space/old property...
Ask people to donate items/food...
All they can do is say NO.... move on... but out of all those people you will find someone to help, someone to keep you determined, someone whom will say "YES!!!" to your dream....
Anything and everything is possible...
fuck that noise...
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
thats the problem though... the homeless population is probably fairly diverse (though largely minority and/or mentally ill) but the incidents that stick out are obviously the negatives... someone mentioned it before, but it DOES take some kind of gratification to keep trying... and thats not just selfishness, its human nature... the only people you can continue to love and help when they push you away is your own children...
http://seanbriceart.com/
I'll probably do the same again in the future, however that incident set me back a few years though.
Talk about feeling dumbfounded..
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
I know. I'm just saying that this excuse (laziness), which is used by many to ignore the problem, can't be used against children.
http://seanbriceart.com/
That's what I say!
My son is almost 2.5. That kid needs a job!
Thinking modeling or acting... Think Dina Lohan.
http://seanbriceart.com/