Reply
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,776
Registered: ‎02-13-2021

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign

I'm confused about what age has to do with someone wanting to help another.  86 year old, does she look and act like it?  Maybe the woman who was helped was 86 years old too.....

 

Senior to senior!





A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life
Honored Contributor
Posts: 30,918
Registered: ‎05-10-2010

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign


@qvcaddition wrote:

I was going to tell her about the food bank in town and a few other organizations.  Also how to get medical help.  Maybe someone notified an organization for her or maybe it was a dupe, but I couldn,t pass her by.

I will take a trip once a day for another w eek.  It,s only a mile from my home.  I will keep the bag of food in my car and if not her for someone else.  It will not spoil.

 


         Let it go or you'll find yourself brining her home to sleep on your couch.  

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,776
Registered: ‎02-13-2021

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign


@qvcaddition wrote:

I helped her because many people have been helping me throughout my life, and a lot lately.

I just feel do what is right for what your heart and mind tell you at the moment.

Yes, a lot are scams, but when you see the elderly or a man with children or women, is it going to hurt you to give a couple of dollars?  I have been so broke lately, I can't use my checking account, just to keep a couple of dollars in it to keep it open until the next SS check comes in.

I have gone to the organizations that help and some do.

I had a savings, but 19,000 for a new roof and 6000 for my electricity and 3000 for my car, pretty much wiped it out.

If I had known Ca. would not have rain, I could have waited on the new roof.  It was in pretty bad conditions.. Old house and a lot of dry rot.  I was fortunate to have the money I saved, then the world went upside down with gas and inflation.

At less I am not homeless, so count my blessings.  I have family doing what they can, but don't want to impose on them.

I had my PGE go up 40.00 more last month and my budget could not handle that.  PGE has a program call Care, but even that was not enough.  Another program where they will pay one month's PGE once a year.  I was ready to sigh for that until I read the small print.  You need to let a company in to evaluate your home to see where you can make improvements to save, like weather stripping and other things. The catch was if they had to make a lot of improvements the contractor can charged you for the overflow of improvements of cost.

Well, I have no more money for improvements. I had my son read it so I was not mistaken what it meant and he told me to not sign, forget it.  He gave me the extra 40 to pay for PGE.

So, some of the program are helpful and some not so much.

Most are and I have tighten my belt a lot, but prices keep going up.  What ever I find that helps me, I pass on to other seniors that I know.  Yet a limited income can only go so far and was good in a normal enviorment, but today, we don't have a normal enviorment.

In the food bank lines, mine is the only 25 year old car. There are SUV's and a lot of newer cars, so everyone is hurting.

Hopefully, we will see change. Everyone is hurting.  Actually, being a senior, I'm lucky, I just need the basics and only have myself to worry about, not a growing family to take care of.

God help them.


Good for you!  Your blessings will come back to you tenfold.....





A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,776
Registered: ‎02-13-2021

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign


@Cakers3 wrote:

@qvcaddition wrote:

I helped her because many people have been helping me throughout my life, and a lot lately.

I just feel do what is right for what your heart and mind tell you at the moment.

Yes, a lot are scams, but when you see the elderly or a man with children or women, is it going to hurt you to give a couple of dollars?  I have been so broke lately, I can't use my checking account, just to keep a couple of dollars in it to keep it open until the next SS check comes in.

 


@qvcaddition   THIS^.

 

You have posted exactly what it is all about-sharing what little you have to help somebody less fortunate.  Giving without judging.

 

You have a very kind heart and I hope someday things can look up for you.  All the best.

 

 

 

 


Indeed!





A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,775
Registered: ‎03-13-2010

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign

A ploy by many, be careful. We have one that sits in the Walmart parking lot.  I heard she rakes in an average of $300 a day.  Monday I saw her park by the bus stop and pull a wheelchair out of her trunk (nice car).

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,517
Registered: ‎06-17-2015

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign

[ Edited ]

@barrel racer wrote:

A ploy by many, be careful. We have one that sits in the Walmart parking lot.  I heard she rakes in an average of $300 a day.  Monday I saw her park by the bus stop and pull a wheelchair out of her trunk (nice car).


@barrel racer   Who told you she makes an average of $300/day??

There really are not reliable sources that submit data on how much a panhandler makes in a day.

 

Location, hours spent, economy, aggressive motorists and police moving them along-all factor in. 

 

So what if she pulled a wheelchair out of a "nice" car.  Maybe she cannot walk very far or stand for long periods of time.

 

My DS used to take out his own electric scooter from his "nice" car to go shopping or whatever before he could no longer do it himself.

 

It's like judging a person with an HP placard who doesn't appear disabled.

 

So don't give a penny to her.  What she is doing whether  real or fake isn't taking away from your own life.

"" Compassion is a verb."-Thich Nhat Hanh
Honored Contributor
Posts: 39,572
Registered: ‎08-23-2010

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign


@gertrudecloset wrote:

Most non profit organizations who are responsible for social welfare of the many who need it are not run like I believe they should be.  They are so top heavy and a lot of the money donated to them goes to administrative costs and not the people that need it the most.

 

There is a website you can check for your favorite place to donate to see how they dole out their funds.  Many heads of these non profits make salaries equivalent to some mid tier private companies.  

 

I personally, want to see the individual I choose to help, get it right then and there and not have to go through the bureacratic red tape they will likely have to go through to get immediate help from a non profit or church in their area serving their needs.  Some times the help is needed right then and there.  I do my best on deciding if I should or should not.  Not once have I ever walked away feeling sorry that I did give.


 

@gertrudecloset 

 

ITA ....  A few comments here about donating to organizations sound SO self-righteous.   So they gave to "organizations".   

 

If only 35 cents out of every dollar ever reaches people in need, I don't give people credit for being such generous givers.   They are throwing their money away and acting proud that they are supposedly doing the right thing.   

 

I don't think people should give to ANY organization for ANY reason if they don't know what percentage of donations go to "administrative costs" ...  or how difficult it is for people in need to actually get that help.  How many hoops must they jump through to get a meal or a pair of clean socks or underwear?  

Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,517
Registered: ‎06-17-2015

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign


@Othereeeen wrote:

Offer to buy groceries or lunch for the person.

 

If they refuse, you'll know it's a scam.

 

Call 9-11. The police are trained to assess and take charge of these situations.

 

Think of some elderly people YOU know who are not bad off. They are old. They look old.

 

Now put a sign in thier hand, some old clothes, and bingo....scam.

 

Hate to be so cold, but there are more societal help agencies for elderly than for any other cohort.

 

Offer to buy groceries. Bet you get turned down.


@Othereeeen   You could be buying groceries for a person who has no home.   If a person turns down groceries, it doesn't mean the person is a scammer.  It could mean the groceries are not suitable for a homeless person.

 

I am surprised (not really) at the lack of compassion for those who panhandle.  

We've already discussed the agencies designed to help seniors.  
Those agencies are not just walk in and get immediate help.

 

Some require ID and proof of residency and/or income.

 

Some walk-in outfits who ask no questions serve people looking for a freebie meal, too, who can afford their own meals.  I've seen it.

 

No outrage about that? 

 

It's not so simple.

 

 

"" Compassion is a verb."-Thich Nhat Hanh
Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,517
Registered: ‎06-17-2015

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign


@gertrudecloset wrote:

I'm confused about what age has to do with someone wanting to help another.  86 year old, does she look and act like it?  Maybe the woman who was helped was 86 years old too.....

 

Senior to senior!


@gertrudecloset   She said in all of her 86 years she has never seen an elderly person panhandling. 

 

Perhaps she was identifying by her own appearance to this woman.

 

Most panhandlers we see would not be considered to be in their 80's but at that stage of life it is more unusual.  At least in our neck of the woods.

"" Compassion is a verb."-Thich Nhat Hanh
Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 7,776
Registered: ‎02-13-2021

Re: Saw a Senior with a sign

Thank you @Cakers3 that post wasn't geared toward the OP.  I think I was responding to another poster who said to be careful handing over money to strangers.  I thought, that since the OP said the woman was elderly (like she is), that the woman in need could have been just as old as she.

 

You may have to read a few posts back.....

 

 





A Negative Mind ~ Will give you a Negative Life