As you should? You can’t think like that. In a religious sense, sure. If you have two coats you stole one from the poor, to paraphrase Dorothea Parker.

But in real life, it’s more like the airplane advice, put on your air mask first then help others with theirs. In an absolute sense you will be able to give more if you take care of yourself. If you only have $2 and give someone $1 of it you are an angel, but if you can make more and feel comfortable giving $10 that is more helpful to someone.

You didn’t create this problem, you just live in it, and you can’t single handedly fix it. Take care of yourself and give as you can, and speak out when you can.

Vote for politicians who support UBI.

Improve your local community in other ways. Or give in other ways. Not sure what would apply in your local community - I live in rural Western Europe and that’s very different from what you describe. People here set up donation boxes, swap shops, create food banks, organize markets, create safe spaces for minority groups, community gardens … mostly volunteering time. Not sure you are in the position to do this? Sorry things are so heartbreaking. I hope we all figure this out soon.

I give. But also I talk, I listen, I don’t toss a coin and ignore.

I genuinely take the time to talk to someone. If they seem nice, safe, and don’t strike me as being “impulsively dangerous”, I might invite them to share a meal with me, or to a café.

Obviously I can’t do this for everyone, but when I’m low on money like you, I might literally just invite someone to my home and make them a piece of toast, ask them what their day to day is like, if it sounds like they need an old blanket, give them one if I’ve got a spare.

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There’s ways to help without sacrificing what little you have to yourself. A simple greeting and acknowledgement go a long way. Don’t be afraid to interact and to just say no, I’ve never had a bad experience with that.

You could provide information, or something that’s often needed. For example get a large pack of white long diabetic socks and hand those out. If you’re homeless you often can’t take off your shoes, so you’re always wearing them. The socks change color if something is wrong.

Personally I don’t mind it if someone spends money on drugs or alcohol. I’d do the same thing in their position. It’s best to just be kind and respectful.

But if it really bothers you then go for gift cards or just go shopping with them. Giving food without asking is generally not so helpful. Also keep in mind that in a lot of places people need a bit of actual cash to actually be able to sleep somewhere. For example here in the NL it’s 7.50 a night. So even if you are bothered by the potential drug usage, just think of the chance that they might just as well spend it on sleeping in a safe and warm place.

Years ago, I used to live in a neigborhood just down from what they called ‘the projects.’ Those who couldn’t get into Section 8 housing would spill over onto the streets. One time we had a pretty harsh cold snap. Several people died. A few of us started buying tents, sleeping bags, and blankets from Costco and handing them out to those camping on the sidewalks or side streets.

Now, we live in an area that has pretty good food and housing non-profits, so we donate to them every year. I generally don’t give to individuals, hoping our donations, aggregated with others, will reach more people in need.

During COVID, a local non-profit with an urban garden set up an outdoor fridge and pantry for those sleeping around the perimeter. The non-profit would load it up with any excess produce. But word got out and people started donating, usually leftovers from restaurants. We started going to discount grocery stores and buying bulk foods and stocking up the fridge once a month. Took the kids and had them do the stocking up, just to normalize it.

We’re beyond lucky not to be in that situation and feel strongly that we should help where we can. Paying it forward and all. I don’t think anyone who is pinched should feel bad, but those who can afford it, should.

We’ve never mentioned any of this to any friends or family. I only bring it up here, hoping more people feel inspired to step up.

I have enough money, so I almost always give some to people who ask. I don’t ask questions. If they start telling me an excuse I say it’s alright, they don’t have to justify themselves to me.

I don’t give a lot of money because I’m not that rich and not that nice, but $1 to $5. I started carrying more cash for this.

Anyone who’s somewhat rich, in the like six figures of excess cash, is likely making several hundred dollars a month on fully insured interest. People like that can certainly spare a few bucks.

So far no one’s given me much trouble.

Give what you can afford. That varies from person to person, and timeframe, but if you truly have nothing to give, then you have nothing to give without impacting your own existance. Plus if you’re a person living off of people’s kindness and get mad when people have nothing, then they aren’t the problem

I’m not sure how someone could live in a big city without learning to just walk past beggars without making eye contact. I know I sound like a terrible person when I say that explicitly, but it’s what almost everyone actually does. Most other people just don’t want to admit it (to others, and maybe to themselves).

I’m on the fence about giving money to homeless people on the streets, but am all for donating to / volunteering for organizations that help them.

My reason starts with how organized and strategic they can be. For example, I was waiting at a bus stop downtown and there were three homeless people planning out which intersections they were splitting to next and how they were going to divide the total afterwards.

Second example in downtown. There’s a guy begging for food in the mall, so I take him to the nearest food stand, we both order a meal, and eat at a table. He was talking about his plan to get off the streets and all and went back to refill his drink after eating. During that time, I went to the cashier for something and she told me he’s with a few others that come back pretty regularly. When we get back to the table, he then tells me that he needs $10 for a place to stay for the night and then leads me to the nearest atm. Once we’re there, I tell him everything the cashier told me and he doesn’t say anything with an “ok you caught me look”. I still give him the money even though he knows that I know he’ll be back doing the same thing.

I know this is is not the case for all homeless people, such as the meal I had with one with mental disabilities, but it’s a mixed bag. Just do what you can and don’t feel bad if you can’t.

My father once gave a guy a bill (currency) that surprised me and I asked if the drugs / alcohol possibility bothered him. He told me that if the guy humbles himself so much as to ask then he clearly needs it and that if he needs a bottle to get through the night then who was my dad to judge. It had a pretty profound effect on me.

Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t afford to donate. I’ve gone dumpster diving for food and picked fruit from trees and bushes under cover of night. I couldn’t donate a penny in those times because I was counting cents to buy small bits of food. Sometimes you just can’t take on more responsibility.

Now that I have a lot of comfort, I try to give as much as I reasonably think I can because I believe that if I’m able then I should. For instance, I will never turn down a request to buy someone a meal and I hand out cash in larger denominations than I think people expect depending on the circumstances I observe. But I still don’t give money to just anyone. If someone seems sleazy or like they’re trying to con me (it’s subjective), I’ll decline. And again, I don’t feel bad about it when intuition tells me that I should decline because I genuinely want good things for people and I know that about myself; in other words, I trust myself not to be a dick.

One other item: I once bought a woman a sandwich even though she kinda had an entitlement attitude. I got asked for money by a guy a block up the street and declined. He was rude to me as a result. I yelled fuck you at him because what he said to me deserved it. He had no way of knowing that I’d just given $20 to a stranger, but that didn’t make it acceptable for him to say what he said and I feel no regret about giving him a piece of my mind in response.

That you’re thinking about enough to ask strangers on the internet suggests that you have a good moral compass. Just try to pass along some help to others when you’re better situated in the future. It’ll be fine.

I’ll give to our local food bank. The money goes a lot farther than if I give it to someone who spends it on junk food at the corner store.

I used to ask for spare change when I was younger. Never poor, just young and hitchhiking around for fun. It’s fun to have little interactions with strangers. Don’t give money away that you can’t afford to give and don’t feel bad about it. You can give them respect and dignity just by talking to them. Yeah there are plenty of scammers out there, if you gift something to someone it’s out of your hands. Don’t get too butt hurt if you see them with a forty in a paper bag later. If they’re not pushy I’ll hand them a twenty sometimes just to see the look on their face.

I volunteer at a food bank once a week. The woman who runs it knows I encounter a lot of homeless camps while hiking with my dogs, so she has me take care packages to deliver to some of them. We are having a very hard time getting can openers, which sucks because so much food we give out is canned. I try and buy any can openers I see at the flea market. But have also purchased a dozen for people in the last few months.

How do you deal with external problems you can’t solve around you? What is the moral thing to do here?

You don’t, you deal with your internal problems, like classism, ableism, and general ignorance of these people’s circumstances. Instead take the time to understand, learn empathy, show compassion and solidarity, instead of disdain. You don’t have to give people money you don’t have, but the least you can do is show them basic respect (no, homeless people aren’t all alcoholics or addicts, but many of those who do drink or use drugs do so to try and ease the deep distress of being homeless. And no, homeless people aren’t dangerous, those who create a society where they have to exist to keep people like you in line, are). (Edit to clarify: once you care about homeless people, rather than fear and/or look down at them, and understand the many reasons that lead to homelessness, you’d be equipped to actually tackle the systemic issues, but you can’t do that if you refuse to see them)

You are literally a blink of an eye away from being in their shoes, act like it.