INC NEWS - Thoughts on Panhandlers

[Ken Gasch]

This letter is a posting made about a year ago.  Lloyd Schmeidler is with Urban Ministries of Durham.  This letter was the reason I stopped giving loose change to panhandlers.  

Ken Gasch

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Greetings for a blessed New Year to all. May it be a year of peace both locally and throughout our world!
    I certainly am no "expert" on these difficult questions. On Christmas Eve, I stopped in at the downtown Post Office a few minutes before closing and was approached by a woman I see regularly at Urban Ministries and our Community Kitchen. She asked for fifty cents, when I hesitated, she said, "for Christmas, please." So I gave her the money and wished her well as she went her way.
    A couple of reflections: 1. My basic position is that Durham, as well as just about any other community, has a variety of community agencies whose work it is to provide for people who are homeless and in need. I believe that, if a person is truly in need, they can access assistance at these agencies. If they "choose" ("choose" in quotation marks because many people
on the streets are afflicted with mental illness or personality disorders that severely limit their ability to choose in a rational way) to not avail themselves of these services, they should be allowed to bear the consequences of their behavior. Perhaps, when the time is right for them, they will seek assistance that can help them make some positive changes in their life. This is an admittedly "Tough Love" approach. If we are being generous in supporting these community agencies, I think we can acknowledge this to the person at the door/on the corner, e.g. "I am sorry about your situation, but I believe that my charitable giving can be most effective in helping people in need if it is directed to those organizations that provide
assistance to people in your situation."
     2. Much of what makes these situations so difficult for us is our own sense of guilt that these encounters often generate within us. We feel, "Who am I that I should be successful while this person is in need? What did I do to deserve what I have? If I give to this person who is asking, I can feel okay about my economic success!" We know that people who ask will do so in a
way that plays on our guilt! They probably do so unconsciously! Perhaps we can look more closely outside of the encounter with the person begging re. how well we are using the resources entrusted to us to create a better world, so that day in and day out, we can feel good, not guilty, about the way we live our lives.
    3. Nevertheless, I always remember the words of a wise pastor that I learned many years ago. He said, "You can never go wrong in helping the poor." His point was that, if we give to the poor person out of a sincere attempt to do good for them, how the poor person uses our gift is their business, not ours! E.g. if the person asks for money for food, and I give him money for food that he/she then takes and uses to buy drugs or alcohol, that misuse of my gift sits on that person's conscience, not mine. Still, in the same way we want some assurance that gifts to an organization will be used wisely and well, it is not unreasonable to do what we can to ensure that gifts to an individual are also used as they were intended.
    All of this should make clear that individuals will make different judgements about these matters and what is right or wrong seems, to me, to be filled with gray and often does seem to depend on the individual situation.
Peace and good,
Lloyd Schmeidler, Exec. Dir.
Urban Ministries of Durham
410 Liberty St.
Durham, NC 27701 919-682-0538, ext. 27, fax: 919-688-7969 www.umdurham.org
"Serving the Emergency Needs of Durham's People." A gift of $25 provides food and shelter to one person for one day!
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