If you live in a big city, chances are you've run into panhandlers on the street asking you for money. Toronto is no exception. Whenever I walk my dog in the morning, I come across beggars on pretty much every block. But I don't just encounter them walking down the street. I've been approached by them when I'm driving. They sometimes approach my car while I'm waiting for a traffic light. Some of them will even block traffic and force drivers to swerve to avoid them. There's no avoiding them on the TTC either. I've often seen panhandlers just sitting on the ground and asking for spare change just as they would if they were on a street corner. Sometimes, they will approach you directly asking for money. Some panhandlers will even come inside of restaurants or cafes to ask people for spare change.
If I'm making this sound like it bothers me, it does. Like a lot of people, I don't appreciate being approached by strangers begging for money, especially while I'm doing something like eating or driving. But of course, the folks who do this probably don't appreciate being poor and having to resort to begging in order to survive. I seldom give money to panhandlers. Not because I'm insensitive to their situation, but because I don't know their situation. They could very well be genuine cases of poverty. People who have no home, no job and no one to help them. But they could also be people trying to feed an addiction, whether that addiction involves booze or drugs. This is the reason that whenever I have given anything to panhandlers, it's always in the form of food or offering to buy them something to eat. In general, however, if I want to be charitable, I will donate to reputable organizations rather than giving money to random people on the street.
Yes, panhandlers can be a nuisance. But poverty is a much bigger nuisance. So it would help if governments at all levels would do something to help these people instead of simply perpetuating their poverty. I'm talking about things like permanent, affordable housing, skills training and better addiction and mental health services, not band-aids like shelter beds and temporary respite centres.
If I'm making this sound like it bothers me, it does. Like a lot of people, I don't appreciate being approached by strangers begging for money, especially while I'm doing something like eating or driving. But of course, the folks who do this probably don't appreciate being poor and having to resort to begging in order to survive. I seldom give money to panhandlers. Not because I'm insensitive to their situation, but because I don't know their situation. They could very well be genuine cases of poverty. People who have no home, no job and no one to help them. But they could also be people trying to feed an addiction, whether that addiction involves booze or drugs. This is the reason that whenever I have given anything to panhandlers, it's always in the form of food or offering to buy them something to eat. In general, however, if I want to be charitable, I will donate to reputable organizations rather than giving money to random people on the street.
Yes, panhandlers can be a nuisance. But poverty is a much bigger nuisance. So it would help if governments at all levels would do something to help these people instead of simply perpetuating their poverty. I'm talking about things like permanent, affordable housing, skills training and better addiction and mental health services, not band-aids like shelter beds and temporary respite centres.
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