How does God want you to treat others?

[_just me]

I've only given to people on the street as I have lost my belief in the LDS religion.

It is really only my actions that have changed and not really my feelings towards those less fortunate than I.

Cuz, yeah, I used to think giving to the church was enough...was giving to the less fortunate. I will say that as a believer in the LDS religion that we did lots of good service in our community. The youth were just at the local food bank/homeless shelter a few weeks ago. We are currently doing a food drive in our stake for the same local food bank. Our stake is actually very involved with this particular place and there is always something being done with it. We dontated over 500 blankets to them last month. Some of the wards take home cooked meals in once a week to feed the people living at the shelter.

I think that serving and giving through a local shelter is even better than handing cash to a person on the corner. I prefer to give bags of food and water to the people on the corner, anyway.

[_Jersey Girl]

LDST

Second, every bit of money counts when you are poor. A poor person can make a few dollars stretch.

YES!!

Because I learned these two things, I have always given money to the homeless that I see on the street.

This is where we differ. I certainly am no Scrooge when it comes to charity however, I have never given money to homeless on the street and I never would. I have def supported Safe Houses and such, but I would never hand over bucks to a person on the street because I have become far too cynical in that regard.

Not a few years back, I saw a person asking for money planted outside of Wal Mart as I drove into the parking lot. When I drove back out, I saw this same person being picked up by a new SUV. I am skeptical that the persons we see on the street are genuinely poor and needy. I'd rather support Food Banks, Safe Houses, Goodwill and that sort of thing.

In my childhood, a relative of mine was on food stamps. When I opened her refrigerator it was full of beer (nothing else) and on the shelf was Campbells soup for her kids. These images from childhood make me very, very suspect of how people choose to live or rather live off of other people. They, in fact, disgust the hell out of me.

I, like you, grew up in relative poverty. To this day, I still appreciate it whenever I hear the furnace go on in my house because there was a time when I had no heat in Jersey winter.

And I still roll coins. :-)

[_Jersey Girl]

Huh, I thought I posted in this thread. Apparently not.

I've never given money to a person on the street and I never would. Period.

Why not?
H.

I explained in a more recent post.

[_LDSToronto]

I've only given to people on the street as I have lost my belief in the LDS religion.

It is really only my actions that have changed and not really my feelings towards those less fortunate than I.

Cuz, yeah, I used to think giving to the church was enough...was giving to the less fortunate. I will say that as a believer in the LDS religion that we did lots of good service in our community. The youth were just at the local food bank/homeless shelter a few weeks ago. We are currently doing a food drive in our stake for the same local food bank. Our stake is actually very involved with this particular place and there is always something being done with it. We dontated over 500 blankets to them last month. Some of the wards take home cooked meals in once a week to feed the people living at the shelter.

I think that serving and giving through a local shelter is even better than handing cash to a person on the corner. I prefer to give bags of food and water to the people on the corner, anyway.

Giving to the church is the worst way to help the poor. I'm happy to hear that your stake is involved in this way - many stakes don't get involved, which is really stupid, if you ask me.

Service and giving through a shelter is a great way to help, and I've done this. However, shelters can only reach so many. I prefer not to judge and just give what I can when I have it. If you are hungry, you are hungry, and there is rarely a worse feeling.

H.

[_LDSToronto]

Because I learned these two things, I have always given money to the homeless that I see on the street.

This is where we differ. I certainly am no Scrooge when it comes to charity however, I have never given money to homeless on the street and I never would. I have def supported Safe Houses and such, but I would never hand over bucks to a person on the street because I have become far too cynical in that regard.

Not a few years back, I saw a person asking for money planted outside of Wal Mart as I drove into the parking lot. When I drove back out, I saw this same person being picked up by a new SUV. I am skeptical that the persons we see on the street are genuinely poor and needy. I'd rather support Food Banks, Safe Houses, Goodwill and that sort of thing.

In my childhood, a relative of mine was on food stamps. When I opened her refrigerator it was full of beer (nothing else) and on the shelf was Campbells soup for her kids. These images from childhood make me very, very suspect of how people choose to live or rather live off of other people. They, in fact, disgust the hell out of me.

I, like you, grew up in relative poverty. To this day, I still appreciate it whenever I hear the furnace go on in my house because there was a time when I had no heat in Jersey winter.

And I still roll coins. :-)

I can appreciate your sentiments, Jersey Girl. But poverty is a complex thing. When I see someone who has obviously been sleeping on the streets, I don't question what will happen to the money I give, I just give. I know I can act like an ass on this board, but when I see poverty on the streets of my nation, it breaks my heart. What set of horrible circumstances led to this human being's misfortune? Abuse? Job loss? Addiction? Mental illness? Laziness? Who knows. What I do know is what I observe and I know I can't live with myself as I go back to my nice home, my food, my wine, my cars, my computers and think that I did not make some person's day a little better.

Is it possible that the money I gave will go towards a pack of smokes or a bottle of whiskey or a rock of crack? Yes, it is absolutely possible. But it's also possible that person will purchase a hamburger and coffee, or a pair of socks, and maybe even a shred of much needed dignity.

With respect to abuse of funds, while a homeless person may use the money in ways I don't approve of, a charity is equally likely to do the same. God knows the LDS church has pissed away enough money on malls and buildings, and very little on humanitarian aid. And we hear of charities being defrauded all the time. So no matter what, we'll never win on that front.

I don't disparage your choices, Jersey Girl. We've come from different experiences and we help in ways that our conscience dictates. The world needs all the help it can get, no matter how it comes.

H.

[_Morley]

I grew up poor. .... is why stuff like Cedar Creek make me so angry!!!

H.

This was all so well said, Toronto.

This dismissive attitude about poverty and homelessness is one of my flash points, too. Thanks for sharing this.

....

No one begs or panhandles because it's an easy, lazy way to make money. It's one of the most humiliating, sorrowing, soul-destroying (and often dangerous) ways to get a meal or blanket (or for that matter, a drink) that there is.

Worse, we make receiving government assistance almost as bad. I despise how we criminalize and assign moral depravity to poverty and disability.

Argh, my jaw is clenched and aching as I type this. I need to move on from this thread. There's too much I should leave unsaid.

[_honorentheos]

...

When I see someone who has obviously been sleeping on the streets, I don't question what will happen to the money I give, I just give...when I see poverty on the streets of my nation, it breaks my heart. What set of horrible circumstances led to this human being's misfortune? Abuse? Job loss? Addiction? Mental illness? Laziness? Who knows. What I do know is what I observe and I know I can't live with myself as I go back to my nice home, my food, my wine, my cars, my computers and think that I did not make some person's day a little better.

Is it possible that the money I gave will go towards a pack of smokes or a bottle of whiskey or a rock of crack? Yes, it is absolutely possible. But it's also possible that person will purchase a hamburger and coffee, or a pair of socks, and maybe even a shred of much needed dignity.

...We've come from different experiences and we help in ways that our conscience dictates. The world needs all the help it can get, no matter how it comes.

H.

Amen.

[_Jersey Girl]

LDST

The High Priests began talking about the 'bums on welfare', smoking and drinking away government money.

I have to say that the relative that I mentioned was exactly that. I do realize that many or most families are not that. I promote assistance programs in my own work.

But what I do have, LDST, are vivid images from childhood of this person. I remember picking up her baby when it cried while she laid her lazy ass in bed. She had no husband with the first baby and to my knowledge, never worked a day in her sorry life. As I said, after she did marry and visited her home, I remember looking in her fridge and seeing it full of beer. On the shelves was Campbells soup for her kids and cartons of cig's. The last time I saw her she was literally living in a junk yard.

Contrast that with her brother, who had freaking polio and who began making money by weaving leather belts when he was a kid and went on to get married and support his own family.

She had a high school diploma that was considered good for those days and did nothing to further herself in life. She instead sponged off my mother (if there weren't a baby involved, my mother would have never taken her in) who actually received her high school diploma the same year that *I* graduated high school (think about that for a minute or two), and who worked her ass off all her life starting at age 18. My mother worked hard all her life while this relative went about life with her hand out.

So yeah, I am somewhat jaded. Doesn't show, does it?

:-D

[_ajax18]

I'd like to think of it as a wonderfully human thing.

The only problem I see with that is that there a lot of regretfully human things as well. What do you with the people who exemplify the evil in human beings? Is there any convincing reason for them to change their ways?

[_Morley]

...
Not a few years back, I saw a person asking for money planted outside of Wal Mart as I drove into the parking lot. When I drove back out, I saw this same person being picked up by a new SUV. ...

That person may have been invited for a meal or a trip to a shelter. I've done that before.