Katie- a few thoughts in response. I do give a dollar to homeless people on the street here and there, as well as giving meals and food if I have some left in my bag. I also donate to the Chicago Food Bank and my local church, and have volunteered with organizations here in Chicago dedicated to helping the problem of local hunger. I say that to let you know that this was an isolated incident and the post was a reaction to a situation in that time.

But, to your point about the general view regarding giving money to individuals: we have problems with beggars where I live that go well beyond the individual issues you’re talking about here. It’s a systemic problem that results in violence and more, and therefore a basic rule we’re taught by the police, by city leadership, by people who love us and even by the clergy and non-profit sector is to donate money to organizations that help the homeless vs. donating to people on the street. At that particular intersection, opening your wallet while standing on the street can be very unsafe. Not that boy, per se, but any exchange of cash, even a dollar from your wallet, can leave you vulnerable. My great-aunt was mugged twice at that intersection, so it’s not an urban tale, it’s a reality.

I have many complicated thoughts about our local panhandlers that are wrapped up in a desire to help and a wish for a broader solution to end poverty in our streets. But those impulses have to be tempered by a need for personal safety and the reality that a lot (not all) of our local panhandlers in my neighborhood are regulars with well-documented substance abuse problems that make their living on the street this way. It’s very difficult to do “the right thing” when there are no easy answers.

It might not be the answer you’re looking for, but that’s what I have at the moment.

Another possibility is that the boy lives on the street because it’s a better environment than living at home because of abuse or neglect. Maybe he ran away from home, or maybe his guardian abandoned him. It’s hard to know, but my first assumption wouldn’t be that his parents cared at all where he was if he was out on Christmas morning begging for money.

I live in metro Atlanta, and my first born(now8) was preemie, and spent 5 months in the hospital downtown, very near to a major hub for the homeless.
Day after day I passed them on my way from the train station, and day after day I would give what I had extra.
On a paticular day a man approached me for spare change. He was obviously tired, haggard, and as it was november, extremely cold.

Right next to the hospital that I went to everyday for five months is a McDonalds that serves all patrons and medical staff of the hospital and nearby businesses.
They are notorious for shooing the homeless, as they are open almost 24hours they do see thier share.

Instead of giving him change I offered him a cup of coffee inside the McDonalds, and he honestly had fear in his eyes when he told me the staff wouldn’tlet him in, even if he had money.

Not for bad behaviour, but due to the zero-tolerance in this town.

I, being the born rebel from Michigan(ha-ha) told him to enter with me, as all the staff by this time knew me by name.

I walked him in, ,and ordered him a breakfast plate, a large coffee, and an o.j.
I knew I did the right thing when I saw the joy in his eyes, I paid for one more cup for myself, and off I went.
Not before making sure managment knew he was o.k to dine, and telling them it could make for very bad press if I were to email all local tv stations of the actions to possibly be taken.

as far as I know all went well, as I was leaving the NICU that day a few hours later there he was, sitting in the warmth, enjoying a old newspaper someone had left on a table, and still drinking his coffee.

Sometimes , so long as the gesture is purely unselfish, the karma carries.

And yet many of us say he probably has more money than we do. But the truth is, who cares. We give not for them, but for ourselves, so maybe the world is but a little better place. And frankly that’s the world I want to live in.