Sometimes, my insights about Charlottesville come through casual observation. Recently, I’ve observed what appears to be an increase in the number of homeless and those asking for money.
Twice in the last month, people have asked me for money in parking lots. I’ve never had this happen with this level of frequency. They tell me that their car is broken down or out of gas and they only need a few bucks to catch the bus or fill up. I have a friend who was at Beer Run and approached by a lady who came out of her car and needed gas money. In exchange she was offering a book that was “worth $60, but she could sell it for $20.” Probably a scam, but you never know.
Nonetheless, it seems as though these types of things indicate a rise in the number of people having financial trouble. It seems as though there are more people asking for money than I can ever remember in Charlottesville. I am not sure if everyone is homeless or not, but these sorts of events seem much more common and indicate what we all know about our economy: it isn’t good.
Have you observed the same?
[pic from liber]
Related posts:
- Homeless People on the Rise
- Biking On the Rise or Just Hype?
- Charlottesville Moped Theft on the Rise
When I was in Blacksburg, I had a guy come up to me asking for gas money to get him back home to NC. Being from NC, I asked what city he was from. He explained that he had spent his entire life in Raleigh. Since that is where my parents live and I am very familiar , I decided to ask him a few basic questions about various street names and attractions. After he got the first 2 wrong, he turned around and walked away.
When I was in Raleigh, I had a homeless guy ask me for money to buy chicken wings. He had just seen me get money from an ATM, so i couldn’t use the “I don’t have any money” line. If he had said “I need money for booze and drugs,” I would have given him money without thinking about it. I believe in rewarding honesty. Since the guy looked heroine-addict skinny, I decided to walk down to the Chinese restaurant and buy the chicken wings for him. If he didn’t really want chicken wings, he shouldn’t have asked for them.
Some friends and I drove to South Beach for Spring Break one year, and once we got there, we bought a cooler and filled it up with beer. Everyday on our walk to the beach, with said cooler, we would pass the same homeless guy. Everyday he’d ask if we could spare some change and we’d reply we don’t have any change. Once the end of the week came, and we were packing the car, we realized we didn’t have any room for our cooler, or the remaining beers (probably about a 12 pack). I decided we should fill it with ice from the hotel and give it to the homeless guy. When we gave him that cooler, he looked like a child on Christmas morning.
See, homeless people can be fun, and I don’t mean the “poke them with sticks and throw things at them” sort of fun.
I know the poor staff in the downtown library are working full time the last several months in particular dealing with some of the more challenging homeless folks. Who knows, maybe they even have time to check out a book or run a story time for the kids. If the city is going to let the library become a de facto daytime homeless shelter, heck, get the social workers and mental health professionals in there and let’s call it what is.
I know it’s been cold out and the economy is brutal. Just seems like there should be a better solution ….
We are going to see an incredible and sad rise in people who are going to live with food insecurities, not having a roof over their heads being their second worry. So I encourage everone that can (And as Americans do!) give to anyone and everyone when you can, give to local charities like the Jefferson Food Bank, which is currently not receiving enough food items to feed the thousands of people who rely on their services DAILY.
Give the things you don’t need Freecycle.com so people who have needs for their kids can focus on spending their money on meds and food. Most importantly. DONT JUDGE. Appearances can be deceiving. No one have becone millionaires from begging in the street. If you would be in that situation for whatever reason, wouldn’t you be humiliated?
Lot’s of people who have been living day to day providing small services on an ad hoc basis, are now not working because small business and people don’t have money to pay for these services. These people live on a minimum and they are really desparate now. You know them they come and garden or wash your car, or clear the sidewalk.
The other kind is the people who had money yesterday, but are going to bankrupcy court next week. They are now stripped of assets and I have spoken to people who are in a financial valley where they may be driving a mercedes, but they don’t have enough money to buy medicin for their children.
Stop Judging, give when people ask or look like they need. If you can.
@2 Petition your politicians and mayor to initiate a public shelter. This is not a problem for the City and County, but a genuine public service that they are failing to provide obviously.
If you don’t feel comfortable giving directly to those who approach you on the street, you can always support local charities that provide resources for the homeless:
Salvation Army
Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless
People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry (PACEM)
a guy approached me at the cherry ave. exxon once asking for some change so he could get something to eat at KFC. i reached into my pocket and pulled out all the change i had, which was 15 cents. he looked at it, looked at me and said, “man, i don’t want that shit!” and walked away. who says beggars can’t be choosers?
Thor, TwoOFour, Bearcat, thanks so much or bringing this to people’s attention. Most of the poor in our community are invisible– they’re not the folks you see out pan-handling.
I know SO many people who are hurting right now. They did everything you’re “supposed” to do– lived responsibly, paid their bills, gave to charity. This situation is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Almost everyone is feeling the pinch. Many people are one medical emergency away from complete disaster. So don’t judge, because it could be you next. If you’re one of the fortunate right now, if you have a stable job and health insurance, then PLEASE help those in need. Even the smallest gesture is appreciated.
For the animal lovers out there, Voices for Animals is collecting pet food for those in need, and that includes our seniors who are largely forgotten. The SPCA is getting slammed with drop-offs because folks are having to make the decision between feeding their animals, buying medicine, etc.
@7 please do not feed our needy seniors pet food!
This problem is bound to get worse before it gets better in every aspect. Sad.
Everyone keeps talking about people that have to make these terrible choices between medicine and feeding children/pets. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is terrible that some people are having to deal with this, but what is so different from this time last year? Is it because of their absurd mortgages? Have there really been that many layoffs in Charlottesville? Food prices are up, but gas prices and home heating costs are down. For me and, as far as I know, my friends, nothing has really changed. Are we just in a drunken bubble of ignorance and bliss?
@10 I am going to refrain ….
@8 No no! Sorry about that garbled chunk o’ syntax. Some of our seniors are having a harder time feeding their beloved pets. In many cases, their pets are the only steady companions they have, so this is really sad.
@10 I know lots of people who have been laid off, had their hours cut, or are in active fear that the company they work for is about to fold. Not just in Charlottesville, but across the country. In Virginia, the VEC is swamped with unemployment claims from the folks who have been laid off.
If this is not the situation where you work, or this issue hasn’t touched many of your immediate peer group, then you are very fortunate.
@10 I’m doing fine but I also work IT. Our average salaries went up from last year. I think it depends on what kind of services and/or products you provide, that decides how badly you are being f’d right now.
the guy in the pic looks to have some pretty nice shoes.
Nicer than mine.
All I can say is count your blessings if you have a job right now. I know way too many people who have been laid off recently. Not because they weren’t good at their job either.
“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”
Neimoller
@19: I wouldn’t say it hasn’t affected us. Bartending around here lately is not bringing in much cheddar.
I wouldn’t say it hasn’t affected us. Bartending around here lately is not bringing in much cheddar
That might have more to do with me not going out than the economy…
I work two jobs and am still redlining. My primary employer is going thru a really rough patch, and work has really dropped off. I am a fairly expendable emplyee, so its a bit nerve wracking. The night thing is tenuous right now as well… of my three turntables, one is straight up broken, and one is on its way out. If I lose another I will not be able to play and will lose that second, albeit meager, income, which will pretty much fuck me. Tips, which is how I used to fund equipment maintanence, have dried up almost completely (which I understand, as no one has extra duckets). I have quit drinking, gone down to one meal a day, repaired my home with duct tape, keep the thermostat below 60, and have been forced to forgo some fairly urgent medical and dental procedures, blah blah blah… Sad thing is, as much as I bitch, there are many many folks who have it way way worse. I cant imagine what its like, but I know its true. I just hope we can all ride this one out… it will turn around eventually. That or we all go Mad Max, which has some intreiguing qualities of its own as a scenario. “Just walk away… I promise you safe passage thru the Belmontland…”
In the mean, time I am going to start imprinting various food objects with the likeness of Jesus and hope that goldenpalace casino dot com notices my ebay ads. Halelujah!
I’ve been asked for money by people who are admittedly not homeless, but have had some weird shituation or another cause them to have to beg now.
Shituation! I love it!
i always give money and cigareeets to the Mall vagrants. a number of them are terrifically polite and have led interesting lives, show it through decent conversation and courtesy. There’s a highly-decorated USMC staff sergeant, vertran of VietNam, another who can do the NYT crossword puzzle in pen, a few we’ve lost who were equally of interest. i prefer the ones who try to DO something—play an instrument or weave a bracelet or anything—to sell or to give in exchange for handouts.
some are just fucking bums. i give them cigareets and money too, but without a glad heart—they tend to be rude and self-entitled. there’s the guy with the white hair and exotic whiskers, i especially loathe. they’ll barge in on a conversation when you’re dining on a patio or having coffee, they’ll curse you if you happen NOT to have change or accuse you of holding out, etc.
i will be one of them shortly, so may have more to say on the subject later.
Twice in the last month, people have asked me for money in parking lots
Where I used to live, it was more like 2 per block. This led to a sort of hierarchy of panhandleling, and an informal prioritization of distributable resources that would emerge as one grew up. There were the oldschool regular masters… the man with no hands who bashed away at a dilapitated casiotone or the older woman who for years always had kittens (but never had, well, cats). There were the “barely busking” who would belt out songs or what have you. There was the man with the most profound tourettes I have ever seen, who more scared folks to give money. There was the unbelievably stinky, mutated and disfigured. There were legions of folks who thought it clever to ask for money for whatever their particular addiction was (Need Mon3yz For Beers… har har). There were silent “aids patients” and deaf people selling ASL cards who couldn’t respond to basic signed questions.
Amongst this carnival of despair took some style indeed to manage to wrest my occasional 48 cents, I dare say. Without going into too too many highlights… I will offer up the best and the worst off the top of my head.
The best to me, was a youngish punk kid, sitting up against the Galleria. His card board sign lacked any pity story, faux or otherwise, and merely said “Fuck You All”. Honest. Simple. I felt his message.I gave him 5 bucks.
The worst, hands down, was on one of my last days in the city, and cemented my decision to move rural for a spell. As I walked to my shift at the mine at about 7pm or so one evening, I looked to my left and was startled by an awkward sight. Twas a six foot “man” in a shabbily attired in what could be best described as a bedraggled cocktail dress, walking into a recessed store front. Once he hit the threshehold, he lifted his dress and began to urinate INTO the store. Well as some of you may have guessed, I have an incurable curiosity for spectacle of all kinds, so I foze and waited to see what happened next. Unfortunately, what happened next was that he leaned back over his shoulder, revealing both a four day beard AND rather large breasts, and asked me, MIDSTREAM, for a quarter. I, having been struck dumb, had no other option but to walk on and forgo the opportunity to witness what promised to be quite the fullfilling piece of unintentional social theater.
I mean… midstream? What would jesus do? I have no idea.
Suffice it to say, the beggars in this town are almost refreshing in their managability.
@22 belmont yo pretty much described my current situation also, except that I was actually laid-off a month ago. First time in my life. When the job went, so did the health insurance. Thought my profession was fairly recession-proof, but boy was I mistaken about that. I check out the ads and Craigslist constantly, but things have dried up. There are so many applicants for each open job.
I’m established in my career. Employers want to hire kids with no experience for a lot less, and then “dumb the job down” to squeak by. They also figure they can cut them loose easier when it’s convenient because kids can always move back home, or ask their parents for help. It sucks.
Because I no longer can afford to go out, I’m not handing out tips. My hairdresser, who I can’t afford to see, is really struggling too because so many of her customers are in the same boat. Like Shenanigans mentioned above, if the customers don’t have the money to spend, then the workers don’t get paid. This ripple effect is worsening every day.
One thing I do have now is lots of time, so I’m volunteering as much as possible. Helps keep depression at bay and has the added benefit of helping those who are much worse off. So please don’t judge when you see people struggling. For every person you think is trying to “scam” you, there are 100 in serious need of help.
@25 I hate to say that as a young(er) single woman in this town, the fucking bums have scared me away from even crossing near any other person who, on the surface, appears to be worse off than my own situation. Walking alone on the wrong end of the downtown mall one evening, after politely answering that I truly didn’t have any change (a bad habit, not carrying cash), he and his friend (older, rough-looking gentlemen) proceeded to enlighten me with what they’d like to do to my posterior as I walked away. Not pleasant.
It doesn’t make it easy to keep an open mind to helping the next person… If I had the means, I’d help. I now have the frame of mind and time to help, so I think as Lulu stated, volunteering may be a balm to the situation, if not to my own, to others.
I will say this much, and it isn’t much I’m offering, but if anyone is in need of some comfort food, I make a kick-ass homemade (hand-peeled and cut) apple pie, with a crumbly top, even. Not kidding, I’ll make one for you.
Can I just say this has been one of the most informative and meaningful conversations we’ve had on cVillain in a while?
@28 Heart– don’t let the bluff and bluster of some of those guys scare you off. I come from the big city and our street folk here are super tame compared. Look at it this way: If you were a dysfunctional jerk in regular life, once you become homeless I imagine that would amplify the dysfunctional jerkiness. Add in some drugs or MD 20/20and you’ve got one hot mess.
When I meet a particularly egregious street asshole, I often wonder if he wasn’t a BMW-driving corporate attorney once upon a time. That said, however– loud or quiet, nice or mean, they ARE homeless. And life just doesn’t get much worse than that, whether it’s self-induced or purely accidental.
@29 Good to know it’s not all glitter isn’t it?
Lulu…. that’s shitty news, and I am really really sorry
(
@30 Believe it or not, Charlottesville is a big city to me. Where I’m from it’s 1.9 people per square mile, predominantly white (the exception being Native Americans and the few adopted South and East Asian kids…and maybe, maybe the occasional, 1 out of every 100 people, black person), and while many live near, at or below the poverty line, we didn’t have city streets where you could visibly see them. Everyone had a hard time, including my family (disabled father, mom stopped working to stay home to take care of him and us, only income was disability and insurance). I can’t deny that it’s unnerving to actually see it…something that up until our senior class trip to Chicago in high school we’d only seen in the movies. But that doesn’t mean I’m ignorant to it or naive about it… It’s just something I’ve never really seen, ergo something I don’t know how to confront when approached.
Coming from someone to whom the term ‘bleeding heart’ has been derisively attributed, my first instinct is to help out any way I can. The person who’d run across the street to help you pick up the groceries that fell out of your bag. Or help you reach for something off a high shelf or bake for a stranger an apple pie. It’d be ‘mighty white’ of me and self-righteous to assume that me helping someone, whether it’s a basic instinct or not, actually does help them. Even to talk about it, to be so aware of it, makes me feel self-righteous as it is, but I think that’s just a product of living in this wary society.
More on point though is that it doesn’t deter me from giving what I can when I can, but individuals like the two men just make me wonder why, you know? And then I go ahead and give to them what I can anyway and keep on going because I don’t have to answer for them or their actions in life.
It’s truly heartening to see folks open up on here and show positivity. Admittedly, I have never been very kind or generous to the people who panhandle or barter street wares for money, and I think it’s an extension of my upbringing. My stepfather was extremely hateful of the homeless or people who begged.
These days, I truly am startled by the number of people out on the streets, asking for handouts. I kind of feel like it would be hypocritical of me to give one person money, and denying another, so I tend to never give money to any of them. I’ve been one to give a buck or two to street performers who showed talent, but otherwise I’m a bit tightfisted.
As far as being thankful for my position… Now more than ever, I am actually glad to wake up in the morning and go work 10-11 hours straight, six days a week. I’m saddened by the accounts of economic hardship and job precariousness I’ve read above. Hang in there, guys.
I give money to panhandlers when I have cash on me because I don’t wanna be verbally abused or look like an asshole but deep down I feel some resentment being a girl and giving money to a grown man. It seems fucked up. Life is hard, take care of your ass. I have taken jobs that humiliated me but the bills had to get paid one way or another. I guess I don’t know their circumstances but I still feel annoyed.
When it comes to tips though, I still tip my barista, server, bartender just as much as I did before. We’re all hurting, we gotta help each other out.
I know most of ya’ll are Downtown/Belmont types, so this hasn’t been brought up, but under the 14th Street bridge on the Corner has become the lounging station of an ever-changing group of about 8-10 homeless people/bums/whatever. I’ve seen them be verbally and physically intimidating (particular to UVA females), and they have become a general nuisance (more so than before). I’m not sure if Officer Gary still patrols the Corner in the evenings (as he was excellent in ‘moving them along’), but something has to be done.
I’ve never been in the depths of down-and-out, but I’ve been close. I’ve always been able to find some shit job and some shit flophouse to stay in. That’s what aggravates me the most…GET A DAMN JOB. It’s not that hard, even in these “tougher” times.
@36– the people you’re referring to, along with the others mentioned above, are a tiny percentage of the homeless population. I worry that many people stereotype the homeless based on the only thing they see– and that’s the in-your-face guy demanding money and harassing chicks. Probably the same guy that acted like a douche harassing chicks when he was employed.
I honestly can’t say what sort of homeless person I’d be. If I had zero dignity left in life, and had only the possessions I could carry in a pack… if I had to ask somebody for the least little thing, like a cup of coffee, some food (which I’d pray would have some nutrition), even the most basic toiletries… I don’t know. Would I become hostile toward the world, a complete misanthrope who didn’t give a fuck what anyone though of me? Or would I direct it inwards? Probably the latter, but that’s me.
Feel weird for saying this because I’m an atheist, but here goes… love the sinner, hate the sin. That homeless person may be acting like a complete asshole (and may in fact BE an asshole), but what separates you from him/her is that, at the end of the day, you have a lot more choices than they do. You decide whether you’re going to eat Chinese or pizza, what you’re going to watch on the tube, whether you’ll turn the heat up a notch and forgo that extra blanket tonight. And that’s worth so so much.
Sometimes people end up broken mentally or physically. You can waste time deciding whether it was 30% their fault and 70% fate/society, and you can debate it ’til the cows come home while drinking expensive micro-brews. But sometimes it just is what it is. Know that if you give to organizations like PACEM or volunteer at a soup kitchen, you’re helping a lot of homeless people, most of whom would rather kill themselves than pan-handle. You’ll also be helping the assholes too, but that’s its own blessing in a way.
@38 Perfect, I like you a lot,, damn you got words Lulu.
Send me an email, I’d like to see if I help you with your jobhunt.
@39 But I know you gave her some hope. That is a start.
@ 35: I can sympathize w/ this, although I am male and don’t quite feel it to the extent you do. I’ve worked downtown for many, many years and used to occassionally give. After a while they come to know you and expect it- some polite and others verbally abusive. It was the verbally abusive ones that made me stop altogether. A couple of funny stories….
A few years ago I had quit smoking. I put the 6 packs I had left into my pockets and trudged on down to give them out to the street folks there (yeah, I know, that’s not exactly “helping” them at all, but they were going to go to waste and these guys were going to smoke anyway.
So I come upon the gang and ask “who smokes?” The silence was deafening, for I’m sure they assumed I’d be asking for a smoke. I then pulled out the packs and they clamored like I was giving away 20’s. On another occassion I was being badgered for some broccoli (yeah, broccoli…one of those aggressive ones was trying to get me to part out my salad one day) and I of course passed on sharing the broccoli. He got very shitty and then, a few days later when he asked for money (no doubt not recalling me) I simply said “No.” he asked why not…I simply said “look, every time you ask you get belligerent…why would I give you anything? You’re simply mean.” He mumbled an apology as that was it.
I’m with you guys- I’m understanding of the issues (as I used to provide services and counseling to folks w/ mental health and substance abuse issues) and I believe that folks need a helping hand. It’s just unfortunate that a few belligerent folks blow it for all.
Let’s have a cVillain fundraiser for the homeless. Or for B-yo and Lulu.
@42 – We are working on one right now.
might be nice if we could hand them out some money-earning tools: harmonicas, tin-flutes, hemp to braid and how-to sheets, a few disposable razors, some basic survival manuals for when the live down by the Rivanna River (how to build a fire, how to clean a fish, how to brush your teeth with sassafras, how to wash your clothes with plant-extracts) some string and fishhoks, etc.
‘fish-hooks”, edible-plant guides. Walmart has some super-cheap Junior Tents for like 15 bucks, and sleeping bags for the same price, a lot of dirt-cheap camping gear.
seems like cash handouts might be a bad idea?
When I arrived here I was homeless, and went to the soup kitchens and overnight shelters when I needed. Believe me, no one panhandling in this town is going hungry. The Salvation army gives out breakfast and dinner to the public 7 days a week, and various churches handle the lunch duties. I never panhandled, though for some months did busk, but that too, felt like glorified panhandling and I couldn’t take it anymore. Now I do various computer work for a variety of folks and some home repairs on the side, have a house in the country, and homes in town that are always open to me when I want to spend a week or weekend. For me, life couldn’t be better, except for this damn cold I’ve had for the past week and a half. But if that’s the least of my worries, I have no reason to complain. Which I am not. If I’ve been rambling, it’s due to the dizzy spells brought on by my ailment.
I wish the best for all of you.
Street is P.I.M.P!
Thank you, shen. I’m afraid to ask what the acronym stands for though.
I never panhandled, though for some months did busk, but that too, felt like glorified panhandling
FWIW, I never thought of it that way. You play a mean guitar, homes!
I meant P-I-M-P. Like you’re so awesome I’m spelling it out. Like that dude is P-H-A-T! Nevermind.
LOL. The era of spelling things out to emphasize their meaning is over, what with all the acronyms and txt-speech out there.
S-T-F-U
It’s a snafubar, indubitably.
My point exactly.
there was a guy at the Downtown Library who was passing around a petition for City Council to export/police the homeless, run off panhandlers and other mall vagrants (to exclude buskers and other craftspersons performing some function or trying to make rather than assail people for money. Nothing came of it that i know. i beeeeelieve that other cities tried to pass laws against vagrancy, but failed owing to free-assembly protections or somesuch.
I have it in mind that Cville has an anti-panhandling law? any deets?
I used frequently to get run off the Mall for busking (i played and sang abysmally). But that all seems to have resolved itself—now Cville is pretty decent in not requiring buskers to pay a fee for a license to play and collect cashola—i think NOLA and other places require a permit.
@46 i’m very happy for you, street! (even if it does mean seeing less of you outside miller’s)
The city has a law against aggressive panhandling. It’s legal to panhandle but if the panhandler is too aggressive and demanding they can be charged. They have a right to ask but not to intimidate or interfere with people. One of the so-called “train people” demanded money from me and cursed and threatened me when I refused. He’d cursed and threatened me and others before so I called the police. He was charged but the charges were dismissed because there was a mixup on the date that the incident happened. This particular individual has been banned from quite a few places in town. I never, ever give money to panhandlers but sometimes I will buy them food or coffee. As a result, few ever bother to ask me for money. Over the years I’ve witnessed the passing of a number of alcoholics who drank themselves to death with alcohol purchased with money they panhandled on the Mall. There was one, a former high school football star, who I would make sandwiches for. He finally told me to stop making the sandwiches because he could get plenty to eat but he needed money to get drunk.
I’ve witnessed the passing of a number of alcoholics who drank themselves to death
You were there?
No, I wasn’t there so I was wrong when I said that I witnessed their deaths. I do know that they died and that they drank and drank and drank. One refused food from me and then told me that he didn’t care about anything and he was going to drink himself to death. He’s dead now. Another was the son of the mechanic who used to work on my dad’s car back in the sixities at the shop that eventually got turned into Max/Trax. He owned his home and had income but he still hung out on the Mall and begged for money to buy alcohol. He’s dead now too. I talked to him too and he also made it clear that he was fine with drinking himself to death. It’s their lives but I’m not helping them get drunk.
@49 – Awww, thanks oy. I need to keep my chops up to speed. I’ve been slacking these last few months.
@57 – Thank you too, orchid. Does Byo still work his magic at the Cafeteria?
@60: You’er confusing homeless people with alcoholics. Not all homeless are alcoholics.
@62: But all alcoholics are homeless.
Then you must not have a home.
I’m not an alcoholic. I’m just a drunk.
I was J/K. You’re one of those fish that can drink its weight in booze. Or something. They’ve never heard of those around here.
@62 there was quite the rant in the c-ville this week confusing alcoholics with homeless.
Shenanigans,
I never said that all homeless are alcoholics/drunks or meant to imply that I believe they are. I can think of several people I’ve known over the years who definitely were not drunks but were mentally ill. Some who have passed away were my friends. Some who are alive are friends now. I know that there are non-drunk homeless and drunks/alcoholics with homes.
I do think that a lot of people assume that many of the people they seeing hanging out on the Mall are homeless. A lot of the characters on the Mall have homes but they don’t work, for one reason or another, so they just hang out downtown. Most of them don’t bother anyone and don’t beg. The drunken, threatening bums are in the minority. I hope that’s clear now.
Cordially,
Kevin
Oh, I see. You’re saying all panhandlers are alcoholics.
alcohol and cigarettes are a good substitute for regular meals. not a healthy one necessarily, but they do deaden the pain in the gut from hunger, and of course the high sugar-content of alcohol helps a little. Anyone living in straitened circumstances knows that eating a little tends to renew the craving, otherwise deadened by endorphins from the straving.
I go for days sometimes broke and unable to eat (have done so for 15 years in this meagerly recompensing burg) and after 24 hours it becomes easier, but if i’m given some small thing to eat then it renews the craving.
Kevin you must remember Roger, from long ago, a good and gentle homeless fellow and drinker who eventually died drowned (after a mugging i think) in the Rivanna. I rather liked him.
Otterdung,
I do remember Roger. It was shocking and sad when he died.
Street mentioned the soup kitchens in an earlier post. Do you ever go to them? They’re free and open to absolutely anyone. If you’re hungry there’s plenty of good food.
Do you have an urge for some thighs? Have lunch with me. I make delicious brown rice and spicy chicken thighs!
Here’s the soup kitchen schedule:
12 to 1 pm except Fridays
Monday First United Methodist, 101 E. Jefferson St
Tuesday Christ Episcopan Church, 103 W. Jefferson St.
Wednesday First Presbyterian Church, 500 Park St.
Thursday Holy Comforter, 208 E. Jefferson St.
Friday 1 to 2 pm First Baptist Church, 735 Park St.
Saturday Salvation Army, Ridge St.
Sunday Salvation Army, Ridge St.
My Mom started the soup kitchens with the first one at Holy Comforter and then she went around and got the other churches to each do one day a week. I used to go occasionally to see her but I haven’t been in years.
Shen,
Many of the panhandlers are drunks. Not all of them for sure, but it’s still very unlikely for me to give money to any of them. Some of the drunks spend all their their incomes from disability or whatever they have on booze so it’s taken from them and controlled by a social worker who pays their bills for room and board. Some reject offers of food and shelter because it requires some degree of sobriety. It’s their choice but the only help they’ll get from me is a bagel or a cup of coffee now and then.
Cordially,
Kevin