Pay it forward!

[SAPD911]

Anyone ever done this?

I was working patrol over the summer and was dispatched to a female panhandling for $ with a small child near wally world. I located her and she saw me and she got into a Dodge Caravan with AZ. plates. Im in west tx. Husband was spending the last of their $ to buy sandwich meat and bread and he approached with his 11 yr old son. They were asking for $ for gas to get back to Phoenix, AZ. (800 mile one way trip). They were also from the country of Georgia and spoke very little English. They had the proper visas. Anyway, I used a translater over the phone and basically none of he social services in town would help.

I ended up putting $50 in the gas and gave them $100 out of my own pocket to get back to Phoenix. They called me a few days later thanking me in broken English. They drove from Phoenix to here for a job locally and he didn't get it because of his lack of English. Anyway, I felt good by helping someone out in need.

Share your pay it forward stories.

 

[bruiser]

Good on ya. It's a shame no local entity could help. But you stepped up and did what was right.

I can't give a lot specifics, but have tried to help as often as I can. Just recently the wife and I stopped at a McDs and she bought food for a homeless man. We've paid for tabs at local restaurants for GI's. When I was working, i'd give away my lunch on more than one occasion to a homeless person. I know many others on SL have done something for someone they didn't know.

 

[DrewNJ]

You got lucky that it was a legit situation
The problem is that there are to many people trying to pull a scam or panhandle for a living.
We just ran into a group with a van working the rest stop on our way down to FL to see my parents. Basically saying they need gas money, just got married, or some other BS story.
When working in NYC we have to deal with the subway scammers.
When we go to Philly they work the south st area parking meters looking for the non-locals.


Sent from my Venue 8 3830 using Tapatalk

 

[DrewNJ]

Haha...I did a quick Google search for panhandle and begging and low and behold, a wiki how to! Its a sad world we live in!
http://m.wikihow.com/Panhandle

Sent from my Venue 8 3830 using Tapatalk

 

[Chupaca]

Careful..!!

I have run across this one in several occasions. Came to town with family for job but fell through now need to get back usually with a kid and a women (the family). Helped once, to a lesser extent, but not the second time. Hope they were truthful you put a lot into helping them...:dontknow:

 

[SAPD911]

I have run across this one in several occasions. Came to town with family for job but fell through now need to get back usually with a kid and a women (the family). Helped once, to a lesser extent, but not the second time. Hope they were truthful you put a lot into helping them...:dontknow:

Ill never know, but it seemed legit since they actually called me and thanked me.

 

[Bob Denman]

The fact that they called you... you did the right thing! :clap: :thumbup:

 

[bruiser]

It is unfortunate that there are people who prey on others. There was a young couple panhandling in front of a local shopping center. Claiming to be homeless. Yes, I did give them some money. But one day I got suspicious when they had a sign that said veteran and homeless. They just didn't look the part. So I followed them to their vehicle one evening. They got into a fairly new Nissan minivan. On the front bumper was an ammo plate. These plates are only available to members of the Ammo community. These are folks who build/transport/load bombs etc. for the fighters. I got their license # too and had a friend run it. They no longer panhandle. At least not around here.

The family I talked about in the earlier post was legit.

I stopped one time to help an elderly lady who had a flat tire. I saw a guy there and when I pulled up he got in his car and left. She said he wanted money to change her tire. I changed it for her, refused any offer of money. She asked for my card which I gave her. Two weeks latter I received a letter from our CEO with a copy of the letter he received from a state senator thanking me for helping his mother. I still have those letters.

 

[Jeriatric]

Ill never know, but it seemed legit since they actually called me and thanked me.

Your heart was in the right place. Helping these days, more than ever, is a judgement call. You did what you judged to be the right thing to do. Don't second guess youself.

 

[bullant12]

I used to give out whatever spare change I had. Not anymore. I would see them again either smoking or drinking booze. If they are going to feed their vices, it's not with my hard earned money!

Years ago, a friend of mine taught me that instead of giving them money, tell them you will buy them a meal from the nearest fast food. If they were truly hungry, they would not refuse. Unfortunately, that only worked for a while. Especially after, like Brusier said, I saw them sitting in a nice car a few blocks away or even chatting on a cell phone.

Pathetic... I rather just donate my money to justified causes.

 

[ARtraveler]

We have similar situations here. Groups here have their homeless and veteran signs out hoping to get passing drivers contributions to their booze and cigarette funds. When they score, they usually set the signs down, sit on the corner, and pass the bag around.

It is now against municipal law to contribute to panhandlers--but it still happens. Most of these people avail themselves of the free meal places and the homeless shelters--but now have to deal with a thirty day limit on services. Our municipal area is filled with homeless camps, and from the looks of the bottles around the places, they are doing just fine with the panhandling.

 

[bruiser]

Yep. Cell phone is a killer deal. There is a gentleman who panhandles at one of the off ramps here in town. Same thing, I gave him a couple bucks. Then one day I saw him on a cell phone when I pulled up to the light. No more handouts from me. We had a bad problem with beggars around the post office. They would stop people going in and out. Some of them got pretty pushy. The cops would run them off but they would come back. Then the post office manager posted that it was a federal offence. Now they stay on the other side of the street or on the sidewalk. One guy in particular used the "I need gas to take my momma to the doctor" ruse. He tried that with Kris and I one day. I offered to take him to the gas station and fill his gas can. He didn't want to do that. Wonder why?

There is another ruse they use. They dress in camies and an old field jacket. That pisses me off to no end.