Hungry Homeless

robpur

robpur

Getting comfortable
Jul 31, 2014
319
1,602
Washington State
A woman had been pacing at the end of our driveway for a bit just before I left my office. While on the drive home I started getting Pushover messages from AI letting me know that someone was in our yard. When we arrived the woman was near the driveway so I spoke with her. I asked why she was in our yard and what she wanted. She said that she was hungry and she was looking for food. So we gave her some granola bars and some bananas. It was the only snack type of food that we had in the house.

 
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Around here we have panhandlers on the street corners with signs asking for money and sometimes there will be 3-4 of them working all corners of the same intersection. Other times people will approach you inside shopping stores or the parking lot asking for money. If you offer to buy them a meal or give them a job they usually won't take it because they just want the money.
 
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Starglow said:
Around here we have panhandlers on the street corners with signs asking for money and sometimes there will be 3-4 of them working all corners of the same intersection. Other times people will approach you inside shopping stores or the parking lot asking for money. If you offer to buy them a meal or give them a job they usually won't take it because they just want the money.
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Last year a man drove up to our church just as the Sunday morning service let out and was asking for gas money. Our pastor told him he'd meet him at the gas station about 1/8 mile away and put $20 in his car. Our pastor drove off, the guy followed in his car and then our pastor returned very soon and said the guy kept on driving and out of sight when he got to the gas station....he didn't need or want gas, he wanted the money. :confused:
 
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I looked for the woman today but I didn't see her in the camera or near the driveway when I got home. If she was around I would have given her more food if she wanted it. Yes, she looks like she could be a tweaker, but I don't know her story. She obviously has mental issues but I don't know if they are self inflicted due to poor life choices, or if her condition was handed to her. Whatever the reason the woman appears to have nothing and I believed her when she said that she was hungry and looking for food. I would have felt differently if she asked for money to buy food or gas. but at that moment she just wanted something to eat. Heck, we buy cat food for stray cats that come around, so I figure I should treat another human being with at least as much respect as a stray cat. She looks pretty sleazy, but until she treats me or someone else badly I will give her the benefit of the doubt.

If anybody wants to date her I'll put in a good word for you :)
 
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Her survival instincts are kicking in, druggie or not. I don't give the 'beggars' a dime. Why? Not because I am heartless, because I have seen and witnessed many of them putting on an act just to get money. Here in San Antonio, the south side is horrendous for this. We lived there for 2 years (section 8 housing) until we got back on our feet, then moved to the east side , which was at first a huge difference, then the drugs really came out. Finally, we made it to the far north side and we are good. I have had more then a few run in's with 'beggars' (I don't use the term homeless because I don't know if they really are). Even had a few threaten me when I was with my girls...they were younger then.

Now they are slowly making their way to the far north side. Have seen a few close to where we live, but not concerned yet (daughters walk to the bus). I like what the Chief of Police said: 'If you are tired of the homeless, if you don't want them in your area, then stop supporting them. We have shelters for this.'
 
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When I lived in the city we used to see them coming and head them off. In Savannah all the tourists would ask where Paula Deans restaurant was so if a bum got ready to ask, we’d just say either “lady and sons is over there,” or “it’s 11:30, time and directions is all I got for ya!”
 
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I grew up in a rural area of Florida (Lithia), then moved to Los Angeles when I was 18 where I stayed for nearly two decades before moving to rural Washington State. While in LA I had my fill of homeless drug addicts and gangbangers which formed my us-vs-them attitude that is helpful for survival in that environment. I've lived in WA for a long time now and over the years I've noticed changes in my behavior. When I visited a convenience store in LA I would park so that I had to walk across the front of the store to get to the front door. This gave me the opportunity to observe the people inside before entering. I still keep an eye on my surroundings, but not with the same intensity that I used in LA.

Living in a rural area where there's far less threats has allowed me to relax and treat each situation on its own merits instead of pigeonholing people and applying a blanket policy. The Hungry Homeless woman is an example of that. I engaged her enough at the end of my driveway to find out what she wanted, and then I told her that I would bring her some food. I didn't invite her to my front door to get food because I wanted to keep that boundary. I certainly would not invite the woman into my house for a home cooked meal, just as I don't let stray cats in the house. I don't want the stray cats pissing on my living room carpet, or the woman pissing there either :-)

A few years ago a homeless guy showed up in my front yard on a bicycle with a shredded tire, asking if I might have a spare tire to give him. I said that I might but I would have to dig through some stuff to find it. I told him that if I found a tire for him that I would leave it at the end of my driveway. I found a tire but I didn't have a tube. I had already planned a trip to town so while I was there I got a tube from Walmart. I put the stuff at the end of my driveway and it was gone the next day. For a few weeks after that I saw the guy riding his bike to and from town.

The point is that in a rural setting there can be less pressure from homeless and drug addicts, which can make it easier to show a little kindness.
 
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Starglow said:
Around here we have panhandlers on the street corners with signs asking for money and sometimes there will be 3-4 of them working all corners of the same intersection. Other times people will approach you inside shopping stores or the parking lot asking for money. If you offer to buy them a meal or give them a job they usually won't take it because they just want the money.
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And it's been proven that most of these are simply scammers.
 
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Starglow said:
Around here we have panhandlers on the street corners with signs asking for money and sometimes there will be 3-4 of them working all corners of the same intersection. Other times people will approach you inside shopping stores or the parking lot asking for money. If you offer to buy them a meal or give them a job they usually won't take it because they just want the money.
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I recall when I lived in Austin it seems like every corner had a panhandler and every day I drove by it would be a different person. Eventually a local news station did a story only to reveal it was a planned scam group. They actually would meet up and assign street corners so that there was no overlap and so that it seemed like random homeless people rather than career people day in and day out in the same spot. One time the reported followed one of them from the street corner at the end of the day where they eventually walked to their Mercedes down the road and drove off.

It's sad that some people either by choice or no choice end up without a home/food. But it's disgusting that some people pray on the good intentions of others then drive home to their warm bed in their Mercedes.
 
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robpur said:
I looked for the woman today but I didn't see her in the camera or near the driveway when I got home. If she was around I would have given her more food if she wanted it. Yes, she looks like she could be a tweaker, but I don't know her story. She obviously has mental issues but I don't know if they are self inflicted due to poor life choices, or if her condition was handed to her. Whatever the reason the woman appears to have nothing and I believed her when she said that she was hungry and looking for food. I would have felt differently if she asked for money to buy food or gas. but at that moment she just wanted something to eat. Heck, we buy cat food for stray cats that come around, so I figure I should treat another human being with at least as much respect as a stray cat. She looks pretty sleazy, but until she treats me or someone else badly I will give her the benefit of the doubt.

If anybody wants to date her I'll put in a good word for you :)
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It's been a while since @Holbs has had a crazy :lmao:
 
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robpur said:
I looked for the woman today but I didn't see her in the camera or near the driveway when I got home. If she was around I would have given her more food if she wanted it. Yes, she looks like she could be a tweaker, but I don't know her story. She obviously has mental issues but I don't know if they are self inflicted due to poor life choices, or if her condition was handed to her. Whatever the reason the woman appears to have nothing and I believed her when she said that she was hungry and looking for food. I would have felt differently if she asked for money to buy food or gas. but at that moment she just wanted something to eat. Heck, we buy cat food for stray cats that come around, so I figure I should treat another human being with at least as much respect as a stray cat. She looks pretty sleazy, but until she treats me or someone else badly I will give her the benefit of the doubt.

If anybody wants to date her I'll put in a good word for you :)
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Does she like car tires? Rubber? Carry sharp objects? Stand in middle of the road like a zombie?
If so...I'll take her cell #! I mean, her address. I mean, her shopping cart plate number.
 
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