Do you support the "needy" on the Strip?

I have in the past. But I have to admit, I've "hardened my heart" in the past few years. The people with the animals don't make me feel sorry for them so much as they piss me off - and I let them know exactly what I think of what they are doing. I did give to some charitable organization though on my last trip - some woman in front of Bally's.

 

I tend not to. My sister is a prime example of why. Although she does not go out begging for money, she collects ssi for being a drunk. She use to call our dad for money for food, then used it for alcohol, sold her food stamps and the government pays her rent. I will buy her a sandwich but that is as far as I go.

I am more soft hearted for the youth I have seen homeless and donate money to groups that help them. If I had some extra food with me I would offer it up but no money to those on the street. Once local I bought a guy with a sign saying "homeless, Hungary please help" a cheese burger, fries and a drink and he threw it at me, said he wanted the money. Guess he was not hungry

 

I will drop some change in a guys bucket or buy the person a cheap beer but that is about it. It's all about karma

 

Last few trips I have been giving money to a guy named Phil. He must need money pretty bad because I see lots of others giving him money as well. I think his last name is Ruffin

 

When in Vegas we do not make a habit of contributing to anyone asking for handouts. My achillies heel is a veteran.
We did give a donation to a guy near the City Centre who claims to be a veteran and hopefully he is what he claims to be but otherwise we just walk by.

I am not an American but I have cousins who served in Vietnam and they were never the same after their tour of duty. One finally ended his own life when he couldn't cope any more.

We have always tried to help them out when possible and we know where the money is going. It does not happen often but sometimes they may be behind on a hydro bill or something like that so we will pay it for them on line.

 

I sometimes do give money. I know their is alot of needy people and alot of con men. Many would still live on the street no mater how much money they have.

There is a guy that begs for money with his dog at my local grocery store. I have watched him enough to know he is a con man. One day he came up to my daughter and wanted any change so he could buy his dog a leash. He claimed she could run out in the street and get hit. My daughter gave him a leash from her car. She is a vet tech so she had many. The next time I seen him he was asking for money for a leash. This time he had a hay string around the dog. He ties the dog infront of Mc Donalds and feeds the dog french fries claiming he does not have money for dog food. I watched him buy 4 boxes of girl scout cookies. It is not something a hungry poor man would do.

I know one guy who is a brother of a good friend that would go out and collect rent money in less than 2 hours. He bragged why get a job when he could make more in 2 hours than he could in a week.

 

He must have some seriously cheap rent or be such an amazingly skilled beggar that he deserves some props.....or someone is just pulling your chain.

 

Google Gary Thompson, kentucky beggar and you can see one faker who is making 6 figures and proud of scamming people. He is one of the reasons why I do not give $$ handouts.

Sorry, No, I do not give money to beggars.

I was in vegas last week. While in my car waiting at a red light I was approached by a beggar. I was just at bk with a 2 for 1 so I offerred him one of my burgers. He declined but asked if I had any change or money to give him. I told him to take a hike. After that I never gave a thought about beggars, nor felt guilty about not giving. From now on I will only give them food, the needy ones will accept the food but the scammers want the money for other things. It is too bad because the scammers are making it hard for the ones who really need the help.

I also saw the couple with a kid panhandling. they were downtown when I visited in october. Now they were close to the strip, still with the wife and a baby in a stroller. I walked past without a thought or any compassion towards them. These guys are professionals to try to scam people with the "poor" routine.

I also don't give people with animals money. I feel for the animal but don't think the panhandler should have gotten a pet since he/she can't even take care of themselves let alone a pet.

the scammers are just making it hard on the really needy.

 

that is a really nice way of looking at it!

 

I posted before how these people are scam artist. This is about the homeless man that the policeman gave a pair of shoes. http://now.msn.com/jeffrey-hillman-homeless-man-said-to-have-thirty-pairs-of-shoes-cash Come to find out he was not homeless and had 30 pair of shoes. Reportedly making up to $1,000 a day.

 

Good on you for supporting Wounded Warriors. Close to my heart.

I don't EVER give people money. I've had too many bad run ins with grown able bodied men trying to scam people for gas money, beer money, etc. I had a young boy about 11-12 in Chicago DEMAND I give him a dollar.

Then there was the time on Fremont last November where my friends and I had just bought some beer from a convenience store and a guy (bum) was yelling at us saying "hey hey HEY gimme a beer"! I started to say something that would have certainly escalated the situation, but cooler heads prevailed.

More recently near my house I saw a younger man in his 30s following an elderly woman in the grocery store parking lot. At first I thought he may have been helping her with all her bags (!) but he was begging for gas money, as he proceeded to ask a father with 3 kids while he was struggling to get them out of the car. As soon as he spotted me and walked my way, I yelled "NO" and away he went.

I donate a decent sum every year to charities, plus all the tax money I pay every month that goes to free cell phones and welfare, so I'm not inclined to give strangers money. At all.

 

No. unfortunately you can make a lot of money panhandling, its a proven fact. I experienced compassion fatigue long ago.

 

One of the saddest things I've ever seen in my life was in AC in the 90s. I'm on the boardwalk and getting ready to enter Bally's when I see a woman lying on her stomach on a cot who had no legs or arms. She seemed to be paralyzed from the shoulder area down as well. Her head was hung over the edge of the cot, where someone had set up an electric keyboard for her on a little stand. She was playing "Amazing Grace" on the keyboard with her tongue. This absolutely tortured my soul. I dug into my wallet and fished out a C-note and put it discretely in her tip jar. The sight of that unfortunate woman haunts me to this very day.........

 

Like lots of the people here who've spent time in cities, I've just seen too many scams. The absolute worst was a guy on the subway who was asking for "money or something to eat"; a guy offered him a protein shake that was in a brown paper bag. The panhandler looked really excited, then looked in the bag, saw it was a protein shake and not, as he had presumably hoping, a beer, and actually gave it back. If you're "homeless and hungry", and turning down real food, I'm not giving you money. As others have said, I'd much prefer (and do) give money to organizations that are trying to provide real help.

 

My 2 cents.

If you ever watch any of the Intervention or rehab type shows, or you've had the misfortune of having a family member affected by mental illness/addiction you know that money, any amount of money is the worst thing you can give them. Better to give that money to the various programs that try to get these people back on track.

I used to give them water or packed up leftover food. Or buy cat or dog food if they had a pet with them. But, I now understand that it's helping them stay out on the street. Just giving a guy a sandwich, which I have done, might make the difference between them going in to a shelter for food or staying out another night. I know those shelters are very rough places. But, the longer somebody stays out, the longer they go without some kind of intervention by people who are trained and have the resources to help.

It's a hard thing to accept when you have a good heart and your first instinct is to try to fill an empty belly. It's very sad.

 

Saw him last year...sign said "kick me in the nuts for twenty bucks"

To answer poster...we do not. However, I have offered to buy them a meal at McDonalds but they just say no thanks so we just walk on.

 

I will absolutely never give them money, I've seen the consequences of that. A homeless man here in Texas asked a friend of mine for $10 so he could buy himself a meal as his food stamps had not come in this month. We watched him walk out of walmart with 2 bottles of Listerine about 10 minutes later.

My friend's father offered a guy who had a sign "Help, hungry" to take him to McDonald's and buy a meal and he said no thanks, I want cash.

 

Wife and I were in the Gold Coast mid afternoon last Sunday 3/31. Walking through the casino I see a guy with a sack of junk, his need help sign playing 2 penny machines. A few years ago exiting I15 at Flamingo theirs a pan handler working the light. A couple hours later I see the same guy playing video poker at the Palms. I never give cash.


Aw234

 

I used to give somewhat generously to a guy on our nearest street. $10 bucks a pop and then last week at the bank I saw him come up to a friend of his and pull out a wad of bills saying "Look what I scored". Never again.

 

They aren't needy but rather lazy but yet smart enough to know home to prey on peoples emotions.