homeless person encounter - Page 3

vhawk01 · #1 10-11-2007, 07:24 PM

Its probably not really that hard to get food in any major city if you really want it. We hear statistics about hunger among the homeless and those in poverty but hunger doesn't really mean starvation or lack of food, it usually means a lack of the quality and diversity of food necessary to be healthy.

Basically I'm agreeing with everyone in the thread that any sober, rational homeless person has absolutely no reason to beg for food or starve. Now, I don't know what % of homeless people are sober or rational but it can't be very high (things like schizophrenia are RIDICULOUSLY prevalent among homeless populations) so some probably do still starve to death.

Arnold_O · #2 10-11-2007, 07:29 PM

she must have grown up in the 70's cause when you said "bread" she thought cash

SNOWBALL · #3 10-12-2007, 01:02 AM

[ QUOTE ]
so anyway I come out of the grocery and a homeless old lady rides up on a bicycle (pretty cool I thought for a homeless to have a bike, I mean it was a really crummy bike but good for gettting around), and asks me for change or whatever, and since it was a woman and she was real skinny and since bread was on sale if you bought 2 loaves I had 2 loaves and so I offered her a loaf of bread, she said ok, I kinda shifted and one bag opened and I was like take it, she looked at me and said is that wheat, I said yes (hello, it's bread), and she said oh I can't eat wheat (she elaborated a tiny bit but I can't remember), and pedaled off.

standard?

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ok no. Everyone in this thread is wrong. Homeless people that know how to be homeless don't really have trouble getting food. If you offer them something they don't want, then they might think "nah, I will just eat something better later"

Now, there are exceptions to this. Namely, some homeless people are bad at being homeless. What I mean by this is that there are some areas which are better to live in if you are homeless, yet some homeless people will still live in bad areas.

I knew a lot of homeless people because I used to be a squatter. Many of them would live in one Los Angeles for the winter, but when the weather got better, they would go back to san francisco or somewhere else. Others would just stay in LA the whole time. Location selection is crucial for homeless people. Those who have trouble getting food are noobs.

yukoncpa · #4 10-12-2007, 03:03 AM

[ QUOTE ]
ok no. Everyone in this thread is wrong. Homeless people that know how to be homeless don't really have trouble getting food. If you offer them something they don't want, then they might think "nah, I will just eat something better later"

Now, there are exceptions to this. Namely, some homeless people are bad at being homeless. What I mean by this is that there are some areas which are better to live in if you are homeless, yet some homeless people will still live in bad areas.

I knew a lot of homeless people because I used to be a squatter. Many of them would live in one Los Angeles for the winter, but when the weather got better, they would go back to san francisco or somewhere else. Others would just stay in LA the whole time. Location selection is crucial for homeless people. Those who have trouble getting food are noobs.

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The homeless in Anchorage Alaska tended to freeze to death in the winter months because they were insane. Walmart helped these insane people out by providing them a safe haven to beg as well as a means to use their money to buy things from Walmart and then return them with no questions asked. The homeless that I tried to help in Anchorage always had many boxes of Walmart products in their apartments. This helped them tremendously when it came to survival.

edit - I should mention, that these "apartments" may be provided to some of the homeless by charity. Most of the homeless lived in the parks.

MidGe · #5 10-12-2007, 07:44 AM

[ QUOTE ]
so anyway I come out of the grocery and a homeless old lady rides up on a bicycle (pretty cool I thought for a homeless to have a bike, I mean it was a really crummy bike but good for gettting around), and asks me for change or whatever, and since it was a woman and she was real skinny and since bread was on sale if you bought 2 loaves I had 2 loaves and so I offered her a loaf of bread, she said ok, I kinda shifted and one bag opened and I was like take it, she looked at me and said is that wheat, I said yes (hello, it's bread), and she said oh I can't eat wheat (she elaborated a tiny bit but I can't remember), and pedaled off.

standard?

[/ QUOTE ]

Standard? No!

But more interestingly is what are you trying to say with your post, and many answers to it, btw? That homeless should not attempt to have a balanced, or suitable, diet?

vhawk01 · #6 10-12-2007, 10:09 AM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
so anyway I come out of the grocery and a homeless old lady rides up on a bicycle (pretty cool I thought for a homeless to have a bike, I mean it was a really crummy bike but good for gettting around), and asks me for change or whatever, and since it was a woman and she was real skinny and since bread was on sale if you bought 2 loaves I had 2 loaves and so I offered her a loaf of bread, she said ok, I kinda shifted and one bag opened and I was like take it, she looked at me and said is that wheat, I said yes (hello, it's bread), and she said oh I can't eat wheat (she elaborated a tiny bit but I can't remember), and pedaled off.

standard?

[/ QUOTE ]

Standard? No!

But more interestingly is what are you trying to say with your post, and many answers to it, btw? That homeless should not attempt to have a balanced, or suitable, diet?

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL yes thats what this thread is about.

PLOlover · #7 10-12-2007, 11:52 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Standard? No!

But more interestingly is what are you trying to say with your post, and many answers to it, btw? That homeless should not attempt to have a balanced, or suitable, diet?

[/ QUOTE ]

I was just kinda taken aback that I come out of grocery store with like 5 bags of groceries, homeless older woman asks for money to get something to eat, I offer her something to eat, and she refuses and rides off before I can even offer her something else.

I mean if she was really hungry I had like a 2 pound bag of raisins that were on sale, she could have had that, and they would have kept too, not gone bad.

hitch1978 · #8 10-12-2007, 04:02 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Standard? No!

But more interestingly is what are you trying to say with your post, and many answers to it, btw? That homeless should not attempt to have a balanced, or suitable, diet?

[/ QUOTE ]

I was just kinda taken aback that I come out of grocery store with like 5 bags of groceries, homeless older woman asks for money to get something to eat, I offer her something to eat, and she refuses and rides off before I can even offer her something else.

I mean if she was really hungry I had like a 2 pound bag of raisins that were on sale, she could have had that, and they would have kept too, not gone bad.

[/ QUOTE ]

OK, so when I made my first reply, there was some doubt as to wether OP had forgotten some of the detail that would have made the other person reasonable in her claim of intollerance. This post just vindicates my original thoughts.

In addition, to what others have added. a couple of people have said about food being easy to come accross. FACT.

I have rolled into many cities in Europe with nothing. Nothing. No food, money or place to stay. Not allways as what most people would describe as a 'homeless' person, although I usually was. I allways had/found work, and paid my way, but people would often ask how I could live that way. my reply was always the same.

"A young, physically and mentally healthy person, with any common sense at all will never die of starvation or hyporthermia in a 1st world city."

(Obviously freak accidents etc are an exception...)

foal · #9 10-12-2007, 04:09 PM

hitch, what do you think are the easiest methods of getting food without money? I'm just curious, I find it interesting.

hitch1978 · #10 10-12-2007, 04:50 PM

There are 2 main routes that I used, although there are numerous others.

The first was just to find the bussiest area of a city, at night, if you walk for a while you will find other homeless people, and they will know all the scheduled (And non scheduled) places where you are welcome to eat for free. There are numerous soup kitchens etc, and so long as you look scruffy enough you will be told where they are. Please remenber though that I never said it was easy, I just said you wouldn't starve.

The other way I did it allot was very simple, if illegal. It required that you looked either fairly tidy, or that you were employed. If you wear steel toe capped boots eg, you can look scruffy AND employed if it is ~1pm or 5pm walking into a superstore. (Lunchbreak and after work) Simply grab a trolley and fill it like you would if you were a real shopper, once it is 1/2 full, carry on walking round filling it, but be munching on stuff from the deli, or pies as you go. When you are full, simply leave the trolley and walk out. This is clearly unethical, but we are not talking about that.

I suppose that option 2 is the 'easiest' to ask you question. I could go on forever about what you need to look out for, or other methods of attaining food, like fishing/trapping, and raiding vegetable patches etc.....