That is assuming a lot. I do help. Any time I encounter a homeless person, I feed them.

Alot (certainly not all) of homeless people you see living on the streets are drug and alcohol dependent. Some are also mental to the point they do not want assistance or a new pair of shoes even though they are wearing trashbags around their feet. We recently came across a homless man in the park where we walk our dog. He has a lien-to (not sure how to spell that) in the woods and lives there. We asked him if he needed money and he pulled out a wad of cash and said he did not need anything. We chose not to pry any further - he seemed completely content with his lifestyle in the woods. You can only help someone who wants to be helped.

I was homeless last year and I can tell you that there are NOT enough shelters and soup kitchens for everyone and shelters are not 100% safe. I finally got in a shelter but it was everything but safe...EVERYTHING.. things stolen, no privacy, etc. Most homeless people are NOT dangerous even the mentally ill. they are just down on their luck (like everyone could be tomorrow..everyone is just a paycheck away from being homeless). Even if the homeless do use soup kitchens, they are not open on the weekend and unless you are there early, they run out of food. Having been in that place, I will ALWAYS help the homeless. If I give them money and they waste it, that's their business but there are more ways to help them than money..and I always will. For the record, shelters and soup kitchens can't run without volunteers to cook and do their part also

If I have ten dollars and can feed 5-10 people with it through a well-run program or one person by just handing out the money or buying a meal, I have to consider that. That does not stop me from acting unilaterally, but it does give me cause for pause and informs my stewardship of the limited resources that have been entrusted to me for the greater good. Am I responsible to help? Yes. As a person of faith, there is no question that I have that calling. Is everyone else responsible? I am afraid that is not for me to say. I am.

I feel responsible and have invited the homeless into my home and gave them dinner and a night's stay.I am not religious at all,but find it a spiritual thing to do.I believe that what comes around goes around ,and anyone could be in that position in this lifetime or their next lifetime.

I help whenever I am able. I wish I had time to actually do volunteer work, but unfortunately I work 65+ hours a week. However, I will buy them a meal if I can or give them a few dollars if I see them on the corner (I don't usually carry food in the car with me). I donate items that I am no longer use to organizations that can (goodwill, union gospel mission, etc). I do this because it is a good thing to do. The world would be a much better place if everyone help others whenever able. I don't think most of them are dangerous (especially when I am in my car). Most of them say "God bless you" and I say, "And you as well."

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Many people, including myself, do a little of that help. The easiest way has been to join in with a group of church-goers doing such a thing. You don't even have to like church to help them clean and cook for kitchens for homeless. Everyone should do just a little of this. It connects you to the community a bit. It's like when kids visit nursing homes. I don't help the homeless much after that anymore now quite simply because it would burn me out. There is no point in resolving homlessness for one city and really doing a lot or 100% unless you solve it in all U.S. cities all at once. People will just migrate from one city to the other and overwhem the city that does the right thing. This is a free country. You have a right to move from state to state fairly easy. Handling homelessness is something we have to do together. Being nice to them one at a time like Reagan would because they all remind him of Reagan's-drunk-father too much to think of them all is just rediculous. We have to have a standard of life for the least among us. We have to uphold it together. Not one by one "charitably". This is the 21st century for God sake. We are not setting up tents in the desert anymore. Were would Jesus camp out with his deciples in America now? Under a highway overpass? I beleive giving what people need, not charity to make yourself FEEL generous. I still (almost randomly) say both yes and no to people who ask for money when I travel through town. Sometimes a dollar sometimes three. Sometimes I just get rid of my pocket-change. I don't care if they're homeless. If someone needs something and they are not bothering people too much, I often check if I have it. By The Way: Feed the homeless? Whay are they? Pigeons? The problem with homless people is not that they are hungry. It is that they are homeless. If someone looks like they could use some help with a broken leg you don't offer them a fresh pair of sneakers so you can think of yourself as a helpful person. A person with a broken leg is not offered five pairs of shoes from five different people. We take them to provide basic need for their leg. Regardless of who they are or what they've done. We treat criminals better than homeless people. We treat homless people like pigeons.

They don't generally want help, they want free stuff. I can't stand that mentality. I work DAMN hard for what I have. I'm not giving it to a bum that's incapable of getting a fricken job and being part of the community rather than a burden to it. They are about seven steps up from the welfare mothers who milk the system for years and take thousands of dollars of my money per year rather than going to work.

If I give to an agency, isn't that enough? - am I supposed to give away my paycheck every week and have nothing for my hard work? - What about me? If I do what I can, whose to say "That's not enough"

After reading these questions, answers, and comments on homelessness I've started thinking that maybe it's not about being responsible to homeless people, it's about being responsible to your community. Helping the commuinity with things like soup kitchens you are doing your part to help your community and for some people if they are doing that they might feel that they're not responsible to some homeless person they pass on the street, but for me once I start helping in a shelter or kitchen, then I'll have compassion for every homeless person I feel wants my help and I'll try and give it to them in any way that I can.