Comments on: Paying it Forward Poll

By: lefty

lefty — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 18:34:14 +0000

Reaping what they sow.

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/10/18869742-susan-komen-ceos-salary-draws-fire-as-donations-drop-races-are-canceled?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=3

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By: Amy P.

Amy P. — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:48:20 +0000

I once was locked out of my house with a dead cell phone and nowhere to go when a couple I didn’t know walked by and offered to let me make some calls to figure something out. When that didn’t work they let me stay at their place. I’m not sure I’d ever trust a complete stranger in my own living room. After that I’d at least give it a second thought.

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By: Recipe Finding Poll | Bill Roehl

Recipe Finding Poll | Bill Roehl — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 13:02:05 +0000

[...] week’s poll asked about your experiences with giving or receiving good deeds. While there probably have been any number of good deeds I missed over the years on both sides of [...]

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By: Constance

Constance — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:03:59 +0000

Kris, I’ve done the bus chasing thing too. Noticed a woman with a young child by the hand in downtown MPLS desperately running just as the bus pulled away, so pulled up, told her to jump in (she hesitated, as she should have, but I think the sight of this middle-aged dumpy woman with my own kid in the back seat made her feel safe), and we were off and chasing. Took two more stops and a lot of laughing before I managed to get in front of the darn thing. I felt like the Boadicea of metro transit.

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By: Constance

Constance — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:57:41 +0000

Like I said Kassie, I don’t get waylaid by so many requests that it bothers me. Having extensive experience of panhandlers in San Francisco, I can see how a different environment on a regular basis could make me much more irritable. And selective. Which is kind of the bottom line, isn’t it. As long as someone isn’t being aggressive, it’s easy to just say no if I don’t feel like participating in that particular libertarian system of redistribution or, viewed another way, helping drive the economy by keeping $$ in circulation.

I’m being flippant, but I’m a little bemused by how unsettled people are over this sort of thing. If begging becomes such a lucrative and thriving niche market that we suddenly have hordes of people doing the same, yeah, then it’s a problem. Are we there? Heading there? Do I care that some shady individuals are making scratch by telling stories to other people? Not really. Not unless they’re targeting the vulnerable. After all, I’ve worked with marketing departments…

Sometime it’s obvious to me that a story is complete BS. And some of those times it’s such entertaining BS that I don’t feel much differently about forking over a buck for that particular moment of entertainment than I do about forking over $50 for a seat at the theater. Which is sort of how I view all this: theater.

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By: dm

dm — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:50:23 +0000

Kassie, you must live by me.

When i worked at Hennepin County in welfare, our building was right off the downtown exit to 11th street off of 35W. The guys on that corner had a schedule. We knew them all, and they sometimes came and ate lunch with us when we ate outside in warmer weather.

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By: ks

ks — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 17:06:59 +0000

Lefty – well of course. How else would they pay for those ads on tv that they start running on January 1 and play over and over and over and over and over and over – at last on KSTP.

If I see that one “The experience….blah, blah, blah…” with the peppy music one more time, I’m going to gouge out my eardrums. And they’re going to be aired until June. Joy.

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By: Kris

Kris — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:17:20 +0000

In Portland there’s always someone, homeless or just pretending, asking for a handout. After a while it’s easy to ignore. With that said I have done and have been the recipient of random acts of kindness.
Two similar ones, from when I lived in Eagan came to mind as I was reading another comment. One day it was pouring cats and dogs and there was a woman walking in the direction of Cub Foods. I believe her umbrella had been brutalized by the wind so I pulled over and gave her a ride. It was only about six blocks but helped her from getting completely soaked.
Another day I had just gotten gas on Nicols Rd and watched as a guy – mid-30′s probably – ran trying to catch a bus heading north on Nichols, probably heading into Mpls. I had the time so I drove over and offered to take him to another stop, essentially to catch up with that bus. He chided me saying that a girl should be careful about picking up strange men. He’s right but at the same time I felt like it was the right thing.

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By: Sandy

Sandy — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 01:49:38 +0000

lefty, well put.

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By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:30:46 +0000

I always leave my extra pennies in the little “take a penny, leave a penny” cup at the gas station. Does that count for anything?

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By: lefty

lefty — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:29:24 +0000

Sandy,

Not sure what kind of flak you are worried I am going to get. When an organization dedicated to “cancer research” needs $41,000,000 out of the $365,000,000 it raises in a year to support its administration/payroll (2010 numbers), you kind of need to wonder if it is actually a charity at all. The CEO makes over $500,000 per year herself.

Come and get me Komen supporters. Start by defending my facts above.

There are a shit ton of places people should put their money better than that marketing company. (I do admit they are really good at marketing)

lefty

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By: Sandy

Sandy — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:11:03 +0000

lefty, you are more brave than I am. I didn’t want to name that one initially because of the flak that will surely rain down. But I get queasy when I see good people jumping through hoops to earn money for the Komen folks.

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By: Sank

Sank — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:26:26 +0000

I’ve bought many many fast food lunches over the years for people who have asked me for money for something to eat. Homless guy “Steve” here on Nicollet I’ve seen him down here for years and years. I give my starbucks cards when they’re down to 3-4 dollars. Have him a pack of winstons once too. What the hell, makes him happy.

Had a simular deal in Oklahoma. Guy hit me up for gas money outside 7-11. Said he was a youth baskettball coach and was almost out of gas. Wanted $5.00 to get to the hotel where his team was staying. I needed gas too followed him to the gas station filled both cars. He wanted my address to mail a check, I said no.. do this for someone else one day.

Reverse good deed- I backed into a truck in Florida a few summers ago, smashed the tail light on a new truck. There was no one around, would have been very easy to drive away. I left my phone number on the windshield a note about his tail light. He called later in teh day… We connected. when he got back to Kansas where he was from he offered a few options.. I picke don and paypalled him the money. He was very appreciative.

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By: lefty

lefty — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:27:29 +0000

Exactly Sandy,

I think the Komen breast cancer charity is one of the biggest scams in America right now. The last thing they need is to actually find a cure for breast cancer, because a bunch of people would lose their jobs.

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By: Sandy

Sandy — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:06:32 +0000

This is a big problem with charitable giving of any sort, whether it be a panhandler or a giant fund. We often have the talk at home regarding how much of donated money for any “cause” actually helps individuals. Does the giant, much publicized cancer fund actually trickle down to saving lives, much less in any impressive proportion to the wads of money that they take in? How do we ever know that our donated money actually does good?

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By: Kassie

Kassie — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:01:14 +0000

lefty, not all of them, but a lot of them. Some really are poor and live in the city, generally with chemical dependency or mental illness, but it is impossible to tell the difference unless they are fall down drunk.

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By: lefty

lefty — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:10:51 +0000

Don’t most of those guys that stand at stoplights with signs mostly live in the suburbs?

I saw a local news spot about that a few years ago. They followed the guy from his “station” on the corner. He hopped on his bike, drove it to his late model car, threw it in the back and drove home to his middle class home he shared with his family.

Not a bad gig…

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By: Kassie

Kassie — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:54:11 +0000

Constance, that’s great that you aren’t getting pleas for help regularly, but I am. Like daily. And sometimes for outrageous amounts (I only need $25 dollars….) But what scammers are looking for is people like you who aren’t hit daily with their made up scams. That’s how they survive.

There are people in South Minneapolis who go door to door with the stories of how they need money, usually something about getting a car that was towed. I call the police on them, but I see people give them money. What they are doing is illegal and they make a lot of money doing it.

When I worked at Hennepin County, when times were better, I knew people who made $400 a WEEK panhandling. $1600 a month tax free.

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By: Ronalee

Ronalee — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:46:45 +0000

I try to help out where I can. One kindness I will always remember was a guy who stopped in winter to change a flat tire my Mom had. I remember it was very cold and my sisters were very young so it had to be around 1974. Today we befriended visitors to our church. As we walked in we noted they had North Dakota plates and struck up a conversation. The older couple wound up sitting by us. It felt nice.

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By: Sandy

Sandy — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:48:48 +0000

My husband befriended an old Asian gentleman several years ago. This man used to walk around Burnsville dressed formally head-to-toe in a suit, overcoat, and hat, even in hot summer weather. Sometimes he became tired or ill, and sometimes my husband happened along and would drive him home.

Hubby at some point gave the gentleman a card with his name and home phone number on it for emergencies.

Fast forward; hubby was out of town and son and I were at home when the phone rang. It was the manager of a grocery store, who said that our phone number had been given to her by a gentleman who seemed to need help.

We knew who it was. So we got into the car and drove to the grocery store to help the man – he spoke little English, which I don’t believe I’ve mentioned yet.

We put him into our car and took him home. He insisted we come in and proceeded to show/tell us in broken English about his past. There was a map on the wall of his home, and he managed to tell us that he had been the mayor of Hue, Vietnam, before the war, and had barely escaped.

That family no longer lives in that house and we never heard from him again. He was very old at the time, but we admired his dignity and his pluck.

We are very lucky.

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