"Got Any Change Man?"

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm sensitive to the various plights of my community, especially considering we are in the midst of The Great Depression part deux. There are people who've lost their jobs, have no savings, and are facing homelessness, and I have the self awareness that I'm only 4 or 5 bad breaks away from being in their shoes.

But there are some people on the street that come up to me in downtown Rochester with such brazenness that I can no longer lower my head and scurry past them. A couple years ago I left the office to go get a bagel for lunch at Brugger's. As I approached the entrance to Brugger's, a homeless man approaches me and says "hey man, can you please spare some change, i'm starving." I responded with the customary "sorry, don't have any change." As I walked into the bagel shop, I felt bad about lying to the guy. The problem is that I know a large portion of the homeless pan-handle to buy their alcohol, and giving money to them just feeds their addiction.

As I'm ordering my lunch, I had a sudden change of mind. "Maybe this guy is really hungry? Maybe he hasn't had a meal in days." The lady behind the counter asks "can i get you anything else?" and i respond "yeah, can i get two more plain bagels with butter."

It made me feel good to order the extra bagels knowing that I was about to help feed someone in need.

On my way out of the store, I see the man standing near the front of the store. I hand him a bag with two bagels in it and said "here ya go, have a nice day." This man responded by saying "what's this?" as he looked in the bag.

"A couple bagels, you said you were starving" I said.

The man looked back and seemed annoyed with me. "Now..what am i going to do with this?" he asked me.

Confused, I responded "you told me you were hungry, so i got you lunch." The man said "yeah, ok" and then turned and walked away. I clearly had not given him what he wanted....money.

If you are like me and have fleeting thoughts of wanting to help the homeless and foodless, don't give money directly to them, give it to charitable organizations who can then fill soup kitchens and shelters with food for the homeless. That way, your money will go where you intended it to go.