London Bridge
A fair few years ago I used to work in a building in London with pipes on the outside of it.
Around the corner are several places to buy very good sandwiches/rolls etc... for lunch at surprisingly reasonable prices. One day I had eyes bigger than my overinflated belly and bought about a fivers worth of grub - anything up to 6 quid was covered by expenses.
I went back to the office and ate what I could, but the ham, salad baguette got the better of me. I put it in my bag with the intention of either eating it for dinner or perhaps lunch the next day.
In the summer months I used to stroll across London Bridge to catch my train home.
On this particular day there was a homeless man begging on the bridge. He looked me in the eye and said (as I'm sure we've all witnessed) "Got any change mate?"

I actually didn't, else I would quite probably have given it to him, I said that I didn't have any change and went to continue walking. I got about 30 feet across the bridge, realised I still had an untouched baguette in my bag. I walked back, said "I still haven't got any change, but is this any good to you?"

His face lit up, and to this day I have never seen more *real* gratitude in anyone's eyes as I did then.

He took it, said thank you, tore about a quarter of it off, gave it to his dog, then devoured the rest like it was his last ever meal.

I had a quiet sob on the train on the way home.

The next day, I purposely bought an extra ham roll at lunch in the hope of seeing him again, but sadly he wasn't there, and wasn't there ever again, or at least for the next nine months that I continued working there.





(in other news, I can't stand the fact that in a supposedly rich country, people are still having to live on the streets - on another night a few months earlier I had to stay in London for a fortnight and was put up in a hotel (The Strand Palace if anyone knows it). Opposite was a bloke sleeping in a doorway. I quietly snuck a fiver - it was all I had left, otherwise, in the slightly inebriated state I was in, I probably would have just left my bank card there instead with a note with the PIN on it) under his head to make sure that no-one else would take it)
(dchurch bah, Mon 9 Aug 2010, 19:18, 3 replies)

The unseen
Click

I used to see this homeless guy a lot, always stopped to say hi, how you doing, even if I had nothing to give. After a while (couple of years) he got sorted and off the street. He always told me the worst thing was being ingnored, like he didn't exist, even when people dropped a few coins into his hat, they would still often ignore him.

I now always make a point of saying hi to the homeless, just a simple "hi, you okay?", make eye contact give them a couple of minutes of time. Often, I will be the first person to acknowledge their existance for a whole day.

My Homeless guy told me just a hi, how you doing and eye contact often made more difference than anything else.

Although a good sandwich always went down well too :).

Not seen him for a while, so hopefully, he's got it all worked out.

I never pass by a homeless person without saying "Hi, how you doing" though.
( RadG Drinking Mojitos in the sun, Mon 9 Aug 2010, 20:47, closed)

I do the same
There is a 2-for-1 pizza takeaway in Brighton. If I'm down and had a night out I might get myself a pizza for the walk to a cheaper taxi ride home. I give the other to the first homeless guy to claim it. Last time a bloke on crutches begging outside a shop saw me holding a pizza box and said "Is that for me? Special delivery?" clearly trying his luck. "Yes!" I said and handed it over. He was genuinely surprised.

I just wanted a pizza. I don't need two so why not pass one on to someone who needs it more.
(Rilux might be pregnant and has bum-aids, Mon 9 Aug 2010, 21:01, closed)

All of the Above...
Also (alas) a caveat.

Sometimes the person will refuse an offer of food and ask for money instead.
There are two reasons for this, one reflects badly on them, one reflects badly on the resf of us.

The first is that they're prefectly well housed and fed thankyou very much but need money for heroin.
The second is that a (longish) while ago some utter cunt went around posioning the beggars around Trafalgar with warfarin and the rumours are still circulating.

if you _really_ want to help someone on the streets feed them by all means, but also carry a paper with the number for your local street outreach team, Shelter, or similar.
The best way to help someone on the street is to get them off it.

www.mungos.org/services/managing_homelessness/street_outreach_teams/

www.shelter.org.uk/

www.homelessuk.org/details.asp?id=LP13
( DukeEuphoria Comes highly reccomended, Tue 10 Aug 2010, 10:41, closed)