A friend of mine packs backpacks full of blankets, toothbrushes, toothpaste, socks, etc. and goes around handing them to homeless people around Christmas.
I was backpacking with my boyfriend and our dog one time and sitting in front of the supermarket with the dog while he went shopping. It was hot so I had a bowl of water for the dog. First a person dropped 5 euros in the water bowl, which I quickly gave back, explaining in broken french I was not homeless. Next, a kid gave me a bag of croissants and a bag of dog treats! I couldn’t refuse, so now we are always on the lookout for beggars and dogs to pay it forward. We already succesfully bought treats for two dogs and gave a bag of croissants to a woman with a young child begging.
There was a guy outside of Taco Bell in Columbus Ohio who was begging for money so he could get himself a burrito.
So I went inside and bought the man several burritos and soft tacos and a large drink. I walked back out and handed it to him, and he promptly threw it straight in the trash and looked in the eye and reminded me that he had asked for money.
In my city the homeless run a newspaper. Good on-the-street reporting and homeless people can also sell the paper to get money.
Anyways, got to talking to a paper-seller. His story was rough; had a job, a house… and then a major medical event that took his house and all of his savings away in bills. His job fired him for ‘poor attendance’. At least the people at the paper were helping him get back on his feet.
Bought his last few papers so he could go home, but figured he was probably cold and hungry after standing around all day, so I bought him dinner and some new warm socks too.
Hope that guy is doing all right.
Sitting outside of a club waiting for friends. It’s late and a guy comes up and asks if I’m ok, if I need an ambulance or something. I must have looked rough. Dude saw that I was just on my phone and apologized before taking off, saying he was just making sure I wasn’t passing out or OD’ing
Not much later I’m walking to meet up with other friends for an after party and see the guy setting up on some cardboard.
I stop and ask him what his deal was, he wasn’t strung out like other homeless around. He told me his story. I said I was headed to Denny’s and would buy him dinner if he wanted.
When we got there he said thanks but he didn’t want to bother my gathering and was going to decline. So I hand him a few hundred bucks that was my party cash. He initially declined but I insisted, because he was humble, genuinely concerned about my drink add, and obviously was going to get himself out of his situation with only a little help and some luck.
I’ve interacted with a number of homeless and never really met another person like that since. I’m sure they are out there, teetering on really hard times.