 |
|
| Last Updated:
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 9:29 PM |
| |
My Reply To The "You Need To Give 'Those Down On Their Luck'....A Break" Comment
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Not sure you know, but the non-profit, UNITY for the Homeless at
http://UnityGNO.ORG/
has a dedicated team volunteers, that wear yellow shirts, and visit on a week or twice a week basis at each the street intersections where the homeless and panhandlers are and offer them shelter, food, and work.
For example, at the Carrollton and Tulane area, they come twice a week, Tues and Wed, and for 12 hours a day, they try to convince the homeless to come with them to get help. Those homeless you still see at the street intersections in the city have been offered shelter, food, and work many, many times on at least a weekly basis and have essentially refused help as they can panhandle and get the drug or alcohol money and walk to the nearby gas station to buy the cheapest bottle of beer as they can make that much panhandling, perhaps $10 to $20 dollars and hour. If they didn't get enough panhandling to support they addictions, they would have left long ago.
These gas station checkout clerks know them by name as they hang out there all day long, all week long and continually sell them beer knowing full well they are totally messed up. Some homeless are completely passed out right in front of the gas station in the middle of the day, in broad daylight, from the 24 or 32 ounce beer sold by the gas station checkout clerks. Far worse than any bar or bartender in general.
Moreover, many individuals, or groups, from churches, short-shortsightedly, home cook and give them hot foods like gumbo or complete box lunches, at the I-10 overpass at almost a daily basis. (They also don't know about organizations like UNITY for the Homeless.) Plus, the homeless and community shelters throughout the city all serve food where the panhandlers and homeless know the exact time and place for each meal served and travel from one meal to another throughout the day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Without a doubt, there are no homeless or panhandlers who are anywhere near, down-and-out, in Orleans Parish, at least food, drink, shelter or offer of jobs wise. I have never seen any who are skin and bones from lack of food or water except for the effects of certain drugs they are addicted to. And I have never heard of anyone starving to death in New Orleans or America, at least in recent memory.
Changing the homeless' selfish and self-destructive behavior via letting givers know what is really going on before they give that dollar at the street intersection, can quickly and easily solve many problems like from the daily cost of jail housing to the cost of mental services as these homeless would become productive citizens not needing any social services or a burden to society. |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| back to Articles on The Problem |
| |
| |
