What happens if you give panhandlers a pre-paid credit card.

[Ramsayfarian]

I thought this was an interesting little experiment.

"Over the past two weeks, I wandered Toronto’s downtown core with five prepaid Visa and MasterCard gift cards, in $50 and $75 denominations, waiting for people to ask for money.

When they did, I asked them what they needed. A meal at a restaurant, groceries, a new pair of pants, they said. I handed out the cards and asked that they give them back when they’d finished shopping. I either waited at a coffee shop while they shopped or — in the case of those who could not buy what they needed nearby or were reticent about leaving their panhandling post — I said I’d return on another day to pick up the card. That’s when I would reveal that I was a journalist."


http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/arti...dit-cards?bn=1

[Redliner]

Why not just give them a bag of empties?

[REDVAN]

Moral or immoral, and I found it interesting.

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by Redliner

Why not just give them a bag of empties?

Just a guess, but probably because you wouldn't have a story then.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

Moral or immoral, and I found it interesting.

How is it immoral?

[HPLovecraft]

I recognize a few of the homeless mentioned by their appearance. I used to work on the street canvassing for Greenpeace.

No matter how jaded you might find yourself, it still leaves a vastly uncomfortable feeling in your chest seeing people out on the street like that, especially in winter. Yeah, a lot of them are out there by choice, or because they're too mentally unstable to do much else, but are also a lot of 'em that are just really down on their luck. And once you get out on the street, it's ridiculously hard to crawl back up to normal society, get a job, look clean-cut, etc. Talking to a number of them, the major trend I heard was that the homes they can go to are oftentimes less safe than the streets themselves.

You pass them every day in Toronto -- not sure what it's like in Calgary -- and it sucks. Seeing people treat them like parts of the buildings around them sucks, too. Coming from Prince Edward Island, the homeless problem was probably the first thing I noticed.

[Dion]

It will be interesting to read the follow up story...

[FireInTheHole]

I've always wondered about the guy who plays the sax at the top of the stairs to the LRT after Flames games... is he homeless? I assume not considering the instrument he plays.

[REDVAN]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

How is it immoral?

Um, because more often than not you know exactly what that money is going towards before you give it (ie/ LCBO).

You want to believe in the best, but even this guy's experiment shows a lot of the money was used at liquor stores. Enabling is one of the worst things you can do for people who are addicted or otherwise troubled.

[drewboy12]

Interesting read. Ive come to find the homeless in Vancouver to be much differnt then that in Calgary. I spend a couple days a week in Vancouver, and have seen so many different homeless. The best yet is a man, who approached my girlfriend and I outside a pizza joint on Granville. Not once did he ask for money, but he asked if he could sketch us. He sketched a rather impressive picture of us holding hands, and not once asked for a penny. I told him I had no change to give him, but he was more then welcome to have a couple slices of pizza. He was great full and took the pizza, and said thanks.

Another man sold me flowers for my girl, which he obviously took from someones garden, but non the less I agreed to buy some for a couple dollars, which we decorated the subway with.

Interesting how you can make conversation with many homeless people, and like the article almost be able to trust them with your credit card. but others just scare you.

I haven't come across many homeless people in Calgary i can speak to, let alone stand near. Much different in the larger cities.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by drewboy12

I told him I had no change to give him, but he was more then welcome to have a couple slices of pizza. He was great full and took the pizza, and said thanks.

Intentional?

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

Um, because more often than not you know exactly what that money is going towards before you give it (ie/ LCBO).

You want to believe in the best, but even this guy's experiment shows a lot of the money was used at liquor stores. Enabling is one of the worst things you can do for people who are addicted or otherwise troubled.

18% of the money allocated to the experiment was spent on booze. That’s not as high as I bet most people would have guessed.

[QuadCityImages]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

18% of the money allocated to the experiment was spent on booze. That’s not as high as I bet most people would have guessed.

...and possibly not that far off of how people on this board spend their money.

[To_be_Quite_Honest]

Originally Posted by FireInTheHole

I've always wondered about the guy who plays the sax at the top of the stairs to the LRT after Flames games... is he homeless? I assume not considering the instrument he plays.

dude... big difference between a street person and street performer.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

Um, because more often than not you know exactly what that money is going towards before you give it (ie/ LCBO)

Gotcha. Wasn't really sure where you were going with that.

[boogerz]

Interesting article. I wonder how the results would look if it was done in Calgary, and with a bigger sample size.

[Mad Mel]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

You pass them every day in Toronto -- not sure what it's like in Calgary -- and it sucks. Seeing people treat them like parts of the buildings around them sucks, too. Coming from Prince Edward Island, the homeless problem was probably the first thing I noticed.

There's lots in Calgary, no different than most Canadian cities. Honestly, I never realised how many homeless people there are in Canadian cities until I moved somewhere that has very,very few; I think I was quite guilty of what you described, just not really noticing or paying attention to or caring about them. You sure notice when they aren't around; every time I walk through an underpass I expected to see or smell something that isn't there. I got conditioned to that expectation, and I didn't even realise it.

I've found out that someone that I was once very close to spent a couple of years on the street in Calgary. Turns out he has serious mental illness, and to this day he is unable to hold a job. It's an easy copout to look down on people and point the finger at them being lazy, but there are a lot of people on the street with serious mental issues that our pompous, chest-puffed-out, world-leading, equality-for-everyone healthcare system has completely abandoned. And as you said, there's people who are just down on their luck and maybe just weren't born as lucky as you or I.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

18% of the money allocated to the experiment was spent on booze. That’s not as high as I bet most people would have guessed.

Bingo. Admittedly I was shocked by this, and I'm not down on the homeless as much as many people I know.

You could argue it's immoral, but the story states that the one guy was making $40-$60 per day panhandling, so it's not as if giving them a $75 card is going to do much more than give them a day off.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

I recognize a few of the homeless mentioned by their appearance. I used to work on the street canvassing for Greenpeace.

Hippy.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

18% of the money allocated to the experiment was spent on booze. That’s not as high as I bet most people would have guessed.

No kidding. I would have expected at least half.