Cleita
I passed a homeless couple on my way to the dentist.
Enjoy this while you can. It won't be long before dentistry will be considered "health care" and be subject to Barry's grand plan.
The sat by the side of the road hunched with a hand lettered cardboard sign that read, "COLD AND HUNGRY, PLEASE HELP".
Did you help?
I thought I would stop and give them a $20. I wanted to ask to take a picture of them and their sign. I want to start documenting this in case I can get someone's attention about these people. I then remembered that I had to pay the dentist and I would barely have enough money to pay my rent and buy groceries for the rest of the month after that. I didn't feel it would be right to take their picture without giving them something and, of course, asking their permission.
You
WANTED to stop and give them $20? You
WANTED to take their picture? So nice of you to
WANT to do something.

I have seen many homeless with the same signs with variations of the same message that they are hungry and need help. I know we have services in my town, so I went on line to find where they were. I discovered that the services for medical help, for food, for clothing and for shelter are miles apart. Our public transportation is woefully inadequate and too expensive for people who have nothing. There are soup kitchens in several of the churches, but they are far away from one of the few shelters in the county. There is a shelter for women, but it comes with strings attached like Bibles and lectures. All the services except for the medical clinics (two of them that service all the poor, not just the homeless), are run by churches. Most of the services specialize in whom they help and turn others away that aren't their specialty.
Seems like at the least, the churches
WANT to help.
It struck me how awful it has to be to go begging from those religious folks, who give you a meal and a Bible. They can't offer anything else to help these people, who have to travel miles to get other services they need. It has been miserably cold and wet here even though it's California. Many of these folks camp and sleep on the beach when they aren't chased away. There was a notice that our County government had received $300,000 for the year for the homeless so they were going to meet to decide how they were going to allocate the money. Are they kidding? This is so inadequate to address the problem. They are talking about campgrounds. Really, this is the best the County can come up with? Our government has to do better. This can't go on.
Something should have struck you upside your thick skull. The churches ARE DOING SOMETHING to help, and it doesn't involve a bureaucrat. How novel.
I'm disgusted because I have been socially to many of the residences in my area. These people live in palaces. To go to their homes one is unaware that there is a depression going on and thousands of people including children are out in the street. The talk is of the latest restaurant, theater production or art exhibit they have gone to. Charity is about going someplace else like Mexico to do charity work, yet I read that there were enough homeless children in my county to fill one elementary school. This is so disgusting.
So, you rub elbows socially with many of the residents in the area who "live in palaces", yet you're too
broke CHEAP to throw a Jackson out your Audi's window for some homeless people, because you "remembered that I had to pay the dentist and I would barely have enough money to pay my rent and buy groceries for the rest of the month after that."
You're an ass!