Why Freedom Reeves Won't Give Money to Homeless People

By PW Staff
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted May. 13, 2009

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PW Twitter friend Freedom Reeves points us to her post about why she won't give money to Philly panhanders. An excerpt:

"Long before the battle of West Philly Crackheads vs. my ‘98 Corolla began, long before the days of getting cuss out by Chicago vagrants (I once offered a homeless dude a dollar after he asked for 87 cents. He told me to fornicate with myself), I shrugged off sidewalk pseudo-philanthropy as a mere trap of middle-class privilege-driven  guilt, and reasoned that I was doing homeless people more harm than good if I gave them money. Still, I would give homeless people money at times.

"That was before I went to Ghana, West Africa in June 2008.

"I’ll start by saying that Ghana is the most spiritually rich place I’ve ever been. The people there have an openness and commitment to hospitality that is genuine and startling. God is everywhere and everything, and even people in the most desperate of situations know that He has a plan for their lives, and they are grateful. Ghana is also like many developing countries, in that social services are not on par with need. I saw no homeless shelters, soup kitchens or other services for street citizens there. What I did see was real hunger, and real determination. People there asked me for money, but it was often in exchange for something, such as a handmade bracelet.

"I got hustled of course, but at least the hustles were creative. While staying in Tamale, a group of young boys from a neighboring village asked me for money for a soccer ball, since their team didn’t have one to practice with. I gave them a Ghanaian dollar. The next day, when my group visited their village, every other young man had the same story: Soccer team needs money for a ball. Why a village with less than 500 people had so many soccer teams is beyond my understanding.  It made me think back to the boys who stood at the intersection of 87th and the Dan Ryan Expressway back home, raising money for their baseball uniforms. I didn’t fault them for their underhandedness because they were truly trying to survive."

Freedom offers a list of reasons not to give money to panhandlers -- and ways to help instead. Check out her blog.

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