I’m talking outside of organizing, just in your day to day when people approach you. What do you usually give if so?
There’s a lot of times I don’t have cash on my person and wonder if there’s something else I could do to help.
Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of money to give but I’m active in housing justice and I try to settle my conscience on my donations of time and effort. If I have a sandwich or snacks or water or something like that on me I’ll offer those.
I keep cash in my car for this purpose. I used to try to give a $5 or a $10, but these days I give them $20s because shit is rough out there. I don’t leave my little work-home-errands bubble often enough to run into a lot of homeless people these days, so it doesn’t exactly kill my wallet.
Food and clothes mostly. I try to check on the guys in my neighborhood every once in a while and ask if they’re alright, especially when it’s cold.
i usually give them the number of a guy i know that works at an anarchist food org nearby so they can get consistent help pretty easy. one guy i told him if hes new to the area this guy would tell him all the good places to hit up. i dont really have cash or anything on me usually, but i did buy a guy a burger cause i said i could get an extra one cause ill be coming back this way anyways
Cash if I have it, extra stuff I don’t need (blankets, etc) to an encampment where they know how to distribute goods to those who actually want them, and asking if they’d like to go into the convenience/grocery store and buy whatever they want. They’re always very careful about buying just a few things and need convincing that they can stock up and get some of the small luxuries they think would be off-limits (alcohol, cigarettes).
Unhoused people are generally cool and will often tell you their stories. Gotta spend a few hours holding it together afterwards, though - it’s soul-crushing that we allow people to go without housing.