Panhandling: To Give or Not To Give?

In late August Winnipeg Free Press editor Carl DeGurse wrote about the growing phenomenon of traffic light panhandling in Winnipeg. It reminded me of a column I wrote a number of years ago about my own experiences—and challenges—with beggars.

Anyone who works downtown in Winnipeg, or likely any major North American city, encounters panhandlers every day.

I’ve been asked for money so many times over the years I’ve become inured to the requests.

On a typical summer's day, I can be asked for money three of four times during a several-block walk.

I rarely, if ever, give them spare change. I comfort my conscience by reminding myself that I donate regularly to Siloam Mission, which offers meals, beds and other services to those who are down and out.

I’m sure there are some genuinely needy people out there. But being constantly asked for money has a deadening effect on the heart and spirit.

It’s just so much easier to look away or shake your head and say no.

British journalist Tony Parsons felt the same way. Writing in Arena Magazine way back in 1991 about the many beggars he saw panhandling every day, he wrote that begging “degrades the spirit. It dehumanizes you as well as them; it brutalizes us all.

“You learn to walk past these people, you have to, and it makes it easier to turn away from the truly needy . . . [they] harden your heart, put calluses on your soul. They make every cry for help seem like junk mail.”

I can empathize, even if guiltily so.

For people of faith, like me, a panhandler poses a unique problem.

All religions encourage their adherents to be charitable and to give to those in need. But they also teach the value of work and personal responsibility. What to do?

Perhaps we should give to everyone in need, and let God worry about how it is used. It’s not our money, after all—all of our resources belong to God.

But surely God also wants us to give wisely. Giving it to someone who may use it to feed a destructive addiction would not be a good investment.

Or maybe we can see panhandling as the 21st century equivalent of the Old Testament practice of gleaning.

Since not many of us are farmers today, perhaps the change in our pockets can be compared to those sheaves of old that were to be left for the poor.

It’s not only individuals that struggle with the question of whether to give to beggars; churches do, too.

Clergy receive many calls from individuals with the most incredible stories of hardship and need. They sometimes respond, usually after checking the veracity of the story.

Other times, they know they are being scammed because other clergy have tipped them off.

In some parts of Winnipeg, churches share the names of people who go church to church, exhausting the goodwill of congregations, in order to prevent them from taking advantage of other groups.

Former pastor Harry Lehotsky was well-known for his tireless efforts to help Winnipeg's poor. But even he admitted to being worn out by the constant requests for money.

Said Lehotsky: “I’ve heard countless stories and requests for cash over the years. Some requests are sufficiently creative to be turned into screenplays. After the first few minutes, however, it becomes evident that the engaging pitch is purely the creation of a desperate imagination or a powerful addiction.”

For Lehotsky, “the most difficult requests are when you don't know if the person is asking from need or sloth, from addiction or hunger, for their family or their dealer. I can usually offer an educated and experienced guess as to the legitimacy of a request. In the end, I have to balance the limits of my own resources with the trust I have in the request and the relationship I have—or can have—with the person who's asking.”

Of course, people who panhandle do so for a variety of reasons. Not all of them are asking for money to feed their addictions. But whether or not people should give to panhandlers is an eternal question that has no easy answers.

Lehotsky may offer the best advice. Over time, he became “more careful giving money to the people who are hurting themselves with my generosity. That way I'll have some left to help those who are helping themselves—with just a little assistance from a stranger.”