I think that homelessness is sad. I did a report on them and i have
notice that homelesss people live the roughest life. They have to
search for food while we just get our food handed to us. And we
always think that life is hard for us because we are teens. Think how
hard it is for a homeless teenager to live on the street. There is
nothing i can do by myself but i think that the people of america need
to help there own people. We are all united as one why cant we be
treated as one. Homeless people should get a second chance of life.
To get off the streets and start a whole new life. While i was doing a
interview with a homeless guy i met Charles Wilson he made me
wonder about people and there actions he qouted "It's just rough
everywhere. No matter how well you're doin’, no matter how good
you're supposed to be. A lot of people are at risk because the world is
crazy. So no matter how high you are on the scale, no matter how
low you are on the scale, it’s really the person that counts. Like
uh--my mother raised me in the church, and I believe a lot about the
Word. Those who, uh, those who try to be on the top are goin’ to be
on the bottom, and those on the bottom will be on the top. Those
who try to be first will be last; and those who be--try to--who--don’t
try to be first--well you know what I'm sayin’. You could have nothin’
and be the happiest person in the world." Even though i could not
understand him, i still knew what he was talking about

I am going at 5pm today to serve soup to the homeless. I go every week and yes i enjoy going and i hope they feel a little better when i serve them their food.

My english class is doing a whole report on the homeless, mostly focusing on homeless teens. Every time I start working on it, or researching, I almost can't even see cause of the tears welling up in my eyes. The stories I've read and everything just hit me so hard because I know I'm lucky that I haven't been homeless. Throughout my childhood me and my mom were always boucing from house to house (more like trailor) and I can't believe that I was so close to being one of these kids I read about. I wonder how different my life would be now if I had been homeless at 10....

I'm all right now Billy, my mom started getting a bit better when I was eleven, and got a minimum-wage job. We ended up getting a crappy apartment on the bad side of town that I was ecstatic about. After two years there and four job changes, she seemed almost normal.
She ended up marrying a guy who felt sorry for her, and things were the best they had been in my life for awhile... then when I was thirteen my mom recessed. Started beating me pretty bad again, kept talking about "getting away", aka, going back to the streets, because she didn't trust the government or my step dad.
At fourteen I got fed up and called my dad. My mom had told me the "horror story" version of him, and when I met him I was surprised to find that he had been trying to find me for years.
I'm in Vegas now, have my own room, computer, TV, life is awesome. I still have a lot of social problems, and people have learned not to try to approach me in the dark without calling first ^^*. (I'm ALWAYS armed with atleast one knife unless I’m on school grounds or in a "no concealed weapons" area).
How 'bout you?

I don't give them money, I'll give them a pack of gum or something like that along with the address of the local rescue mission (hope they can read).

so how are you doing now? I had referd to the scammers out there in earlier posts and people got all mad at me...but anyhow. I hope your doing alright now, me I had the "penthouse suite" under a bridge about 20 stories up, nice view!

ProudCanadian

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But, if i have to giving them money, i hope they don't take advantage of me and go to buy drugs or alcohol.

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This is another point, one you don't know if you really gave money to a homeless person or not. Two who knows what he/she will do with it. People in America, especially, think if we throw money at people or hand them food they will somehow be alright. This is so wrong, alot of these people as noted below have mental illness or lack skills to get jobs as well as social skills. And yeah some of them need some decent clothes to go look for a job...hey kids you can a pair of pants and a shirt for $1.50 at my Salvation Army. When I see people with "will work for food" signs, I consider work I need done around the house, not because I am lazy...because I know I'm not going to be handing them a bottle of Jack Daniels...most likely I'll be grilling up a nice healthy steak.

i hear ya billybarrio... i've made due with a "mobile home" quite a few times in an alley next to the crackhouse... and for the rest of ya, being seven years old and having a mentally impaired mother doesn't leave much opening for job oppurtunities, now does it?
I'm not trying to get sympathy, i DON'T want sympathy... i'm just saying that sometimes it's harder than you'd think to get off the streets.

Try going to downtown Toronto and not seeing a homeless person. It's so sad, when ever i go to a leafs/raptors game, i c them on the floor, begging for food/money. But, if i have to giving them money, i hope they don't take advantage of me and go to buy drugs or alcohol.

I think homelessness is sad too but only if you cannot help it. If someone does not work for anything in their entire life and then becomes homeless, what were they to expect? I know a lot of homeless people have just had it hard, but haven't we all? I mean, I know my parents had to work their butts off to get everything we have. But I do help out at a homeless shelter and I donate food to the foodbanks and clothing to places like the Salvation Army. I don't give money to homeless people though because you never know what they will use it for.

Also, Michael Jordan once said "If they can ask for your change they can ask if you want fries with your meal." It's just something to think about.

cool deal then, I sometimes forget when I speak that people don't always get what I mean. Guess you'd have to be there....

For instance a house usually consists of some boards nailed together. A mobil home usually refers to a refrigrator box that you can fold up into a shopping cart. The free electricity comes from the rail ways, they tap into the circuits along the tunnels. Most people in the city donate to homeless by paying higher token fees to ride the train. And a city is not say NYC, it is where non-tunnel dwellers all set up and sleep at night..say alley, field, garbage dump...wherever no one can find you. In NYC there was alot of "BUM" bashing...so yes I guess in NYC most homeless are more recluse then in other cities. Just recently someone set a kid on fire in his sleep...he lived, but was badly burned.

Our shelter has many workshops and stuff like that.

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I volunteer in a homeless shelter, and I've never seen any of these alleged bums to refer to.

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I think you are taking it too far, I said there are people who need help, and of course the scammers I refer to are not at shelters getting food. Being you work at a shelter, you do see the population of homeless who do need help. Not everyone is a pan handler. I guess I should clarify some more, most of the "beggers" are just that....beggers.

Also I'm not sure what your shelter participates in, but do they have a means of finding jobs for people? I have worked at ones who do, we find even the littlest jobs and those who need it and want it are greatful. If they don't have clothes, we went to goodwill and got them some decent clothes. As the saying goes "you can feed a man a fish and he won't go hungry that day or you can teach a man to fish and he won't go hungry for the rest of his life."

For all you rich, snobs out there. "Screw you!!!!!" You're acting all so rich and high up in the air. Come back down to the ground and look around you. There are a lot of homeless people in the world and no one gives a damn, except for the occasional few. Let's see you try to live on the streets. I bet you wouldn't even survive on minute. These homeless people need money so they can survive. You rich, snobs need money so you can spend it all on clothes, CDs, and stuff that you enjoy. Are those really necessary for you to live. Think of all those homeless people, they don't even have a proper pillow. Why would they care about CDs? Yes, some homeless people will just spend the money you give them on booze and crap like that. But most of them won't. How would you know if they do or don't? These people deserve a second chance, just like we all do. We all deserve a chance to live properly again if we were on the streets. So give them a chance. And as for getting jobs, not all employers want people who look dirty and who wear rags for clothes. It's pretty hard out there for homeless people to get jobs, so give them a chance. I almost became homeless. My parents had to search hard for food because we have a large family. They have four other kids to feed besides myself and them. Usually we had to wait hours after the usual eating time before we could eat, and what we ate was barely enough. So for all you rich, snobs out there, put yourself in their shoes and try living on the streets. If you don't want to because you might get dirty, then don't say a thing. Don't judge homeless people bcuz you don't even know what they're going through.

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As for getting a job, I agree with Marine. I know many people who needed help...they just didn't want it. I asked this kid living in the sub way why he didn't get a job once and he had the best answer. "Why would I get a job when there are so many nice folks willing to hand me their cash for nothing"

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Billy... We've been getting along sooo well lately, why go and spoil it? Now I'm gonna have to argue with you. I volunteer in a homeless shelter, and I've never seen any of these alleged bums to refer to. Maybe it's just where you live. Anyway, as for getting a job, if there was a job for everyone, there wouldn't be unemployement and companies would be advertising for jobs, which they're not doing. Basic law of statistics: something or someone will always be at the bottom, which means someone will always be poor (but that's not an excuse for not doing anything).

marine says:

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Work harder and longer. get a new job. If people reallt have a full time job they can afford rent. Will it be the nicests house? Probably not, but a house is a house. Everyone can raise out of poverty, but they have to want to.

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and then someone else says...blah blah your rich suburban blah blah. To that person I say you get out of your suburban wonderland and get off your high horse.

As someone who spent a year and then some on the street. You will be surprised to know one) not all homeless people want your help. I know plenty of people who chose to stay homeless, this is what they would say. I have free electricity, a house and no responsibility at all, why would I want to leave. Keep in mind this came from "tunnel dwellers" homeless people living in NYC subway system. There's a guy Chicken George who does TV commercials and is said to have around $100,000 in the band...he lives in the subway system still to this day.

2) Now the scam. Most homeless people you see on the streets of the city are not homeless. In fact I could not list to you the amount of people I know who used your charity to pay their rent, buy them fashinable clothes drugs and I knew one kid who bought a car. These people would put on some ratty clothes and pan handle for a few hours each day. And it is amazing how many of you plop money in the cup...I bet you felt sorry cos' the cup was empty...next time check their pockets!

Yes there are people who need and want help, but the ones who are usually in your face asking for some change are full of it, that is why when you go to the city it may seem mean, but people just walk on by. THe people who need help are usually rather unsocial and in many cases mentaly ill.

As for getting a job, I agree with Marine. I know many people who needed help...they just didn't want it. I asked this kid living in the sub way why he didn't get a job once and he had the best answer. "Why would I get a job when there are so many nice folks willing to hand me their cash for nothing"

Ah. That's capitalism for ya'. I personally don't believe the problem can be eliminated in today's day and age.
Tax dollars are usually a big problem in these programs to help the homeless, and political figures are sometimes not willing to bother with cleaning up neighborhoods and such because their votes come from the rich (statistics show). Helping the less fortunate doesn't get them votes, very often, I guess.
Secondly.. those of you who gets all over people's backs about their stand on this issue.. jeez, stop. Express your opinions, but don't ***** others out for their own. I'm not the person who gives money freely to people on the streets.. I don't believe in it. I believe in programs that help these people find work, and get their life on track. Call me rich, spoiled.. anything you'd like to make yourselves feel better. Such false accusations are worth laughing over.


the eternal enemy of dubbed/cut anime,
Lydia

I was homeless from the age of five to the age of eleven... it's not fun... ...

Hey everybody! There are homeless ppl everywhere.In fact where I live we have many things for them! We have this thing called the STREET MYNISTRIES. It ia a church for homeless ppl. They come down and worship God, then they eat, and they get supplies for there camps. I know from stereotypes that we always think that it's there fault for being homeless. Thats not always true! In fact I know this homeless guy who used to be a college professor and then came home and found his wife and kid murdered so he has become mentally ill. Yea, homeless ppl do drink but not cause they wanna get drunk it's usually because there out in the cold, or heat, and rain. Homeless ppl are everywhere they could be livin in ur town or whever ur @. I'm not telling you to go out and look 4 em and give him some food or nuthing. That would be nice of you but it could also be SUPER dangerous. Thats why when I go down on the streets I stay close to my Mom and Dad. But I still talk to them, and I'm kind to them. Thats how I feel bout homeless ppl ther just like us except there trying to survive.

iv never been homeless but i live a mostly rich town but ironicly my family has 2 borrow money from me and my brother and my aunt 4 food homelessness is a terrible thing and i feel 4 thoes ppl but dont 4get thoes in the projects or in trailer parks

how you