I just realized how fortunate I am. And it took a homeless man to truly make me notice. A REAL homeless man, changed my insight on those less fortunate than I. For a 21 year old, I make what most people call a good living. I own both a vehicle and an 1800 sq. ft. home, married, and adopted two boys as my own. I have a family I can support, and a home to shelter them in. While in Amarillo today, me and my wife ate On The Border, and got a to-go box and headed home. The temperature was a chilling 5° outside. Wind was gusting almost a constant 40+ mph. And this homeless man was sitting on the side of the road, miles from city limits, close to a small corner store. The poor man had a sign stating two words..."cold, hungry". He wasnt asking for money, he wasnt asking for booze, just simply asking for help. Now, I am a soft-hearted guy, but I can tell when somebody is truly in need of help. And this man, had nothing. If your a fake conartist, your not going to freeze in that weather for the sake of some easy cash. And your not going to tear up hoping somebody will show the least bit of compassion. I watched the look on this mans face as I drove by, drove about 1/4 mile, and slowed down. My wife had already known what I was doing. I turned my truck around, headed back, stopped in the middle of the road, and we gave him our to-go box, still warm, full to the top. The old man looked up with tears in his eyes, said "God bless" and "thank you", multiple times, and limped his way to the gas station, sat on the OUTSIDE corner, and ate a warm meal he may have not had in a long time. It wasn't much. But it was something. And even the smallest thing could mean so much to someone. I have no idea if this man had a place to sleep tonight. Theres no telling if he is still trying to make it through this weather, or if he found shelter. If I had a sleeping bag, I wouldve given it to him. Yet again, might have not made a difference, but still yet, it might. It just shocks me that so many people make fun of the homeless, and teenagers do things that just show how low our generation has become, and how careless and ungrateful we can all be. Me and my wife decided to try a little project. Once a month, were going to pack a back-pack with a sleeping bag, bible, small hygiene things you can get at Wal-Mart, bottle of water, and grab a hot plate of food. We will find someone truly in need, and gift this to them. Nothing fancy, but like I said, anything helps. And most people say when you give them money, they buy drugs or liquor. Well in this case, they cant. Anyways, I just hope some of yall and others out there might feel the same way and help those in need. I dont expect anybody to reply to this, just hope people take it to heart when read. Those of you who plan on commenting negatively can comment elsewhere. God Bless to all, and gift the homeless sometime

 

Very awesome. Good job man.

 

I don't think that anyone is going to post negative comments in this thread, or at least, they have no grounds to do so.

I am glad that you feel the way you do. It is things like this that spark a little flame inside my head that says there is indeed hope for humanity yet. It is the little things though that seem to make the biggest impact. I myself have given to those less fortunate before and I still do. IF I'm in an area where I see someone begging, and I can tell that they are truly in a poor state of means, I try to help. No, I'm not talking about those who hold a sign up stating that god is good and all that jazz, but I am talking about people that you ran into. People who are hungry. People who don't care about having gas to get somewhere. In that level of desperation is when I respond. I don't usually have left overs to hand out, but I will go to the closest fast food joint and pick up a bag of burgers or something and bring it back to them.

Again, it's little things that make the difference. Our family also has a policy too. We do not give each other gifts at Christmas. Granted, we still give family members something, but it's not the latest and greatest phone or anything like that. Usually something like a gag gift. At any rate, what we do instead of dropping cash on our own gluttony, is we go out and sponsor a family in need. We do not just hand out money to an organization, but we actually go to stores and pick up clothes, food, toiletry items and toys for the kids. We then wrap up those items (clothes and toys mainly) and show up on Christmas day and hand out the stuff. For the way it makes us feel, we find that it is a much better way to celebrate rather then to give ourselves unneeded items. I mean, sure, I'd like that awesome new DSLR camera, but do I really need it? No. If I want it, I'll bust my *** to get it.

At any rate, good job man.

 

When I was a young man fresh out of the Marine Corps, I took up a job as lead security on a shipping yard.. It was easy $$ and worked with my school schedule.. I found a dude sleeping in one of the trailers, behind a big ol' pile of shredded tires chips.. I mentioned it to my bosses..

The next few days were pretty nasty as far as weather goes- and nothing was said.. One eve when I came in I noticed a blanket hanging out of the dumpster that the guy was using in that trailer.. The bosses had went out and cleared the guys stuff, tossing it in the dumpster..

I had instructions to wait for him to show up and call the police- and I did. They told him to not come back, and to go to one of the shelters..

I waited a few minutes afterward, and went and picked him up in my truck and drove him to the shelter, and had maybe a ten minute conversation with him.. He had lost his job and didn't have any savings.. He had sold his car and made enough to pay rent for only one month- said he explained the situation to his landlord and thought he had a little leniency- but found that the very next due date he was being evicted..(which has questionable legalities, but what does someone in this position do?).. that was a week prior.. He said he just started walking and found a gap in the fence on our yard, and went to an old broken down trailer he figured wasn't being used.. He had started a new job, but was a week or two out from getting his first paycheck.. He was sober, fairly intelligent, clean considering the situation, and had a plan.. He had simply fallen on hard times and had nobody to lean on for help.

I regret to this day ever mentioning the fact he was in a trailer to my bosses.. And, I've thought of that dude often when I've hit hard times, and realized just how close I've came to being without at several points in my life.. It could happen to any of us and it could happen fast- much of it has to do with planning and being sensible, but at least some of it has to do with fortune..

My job has taken me all over the world guys- in ritxy places and in hellholes.. I'm always taken aback by the differing qualities of life in differing places.. It's sad.. My very first experience with the point I'm trying to make was in Somalia in 1994- In January, just two months after the Battle of Mogadishu.. We were doing diplomatic security and had free movement all over that city.. Some of the places we went, we couldn't even get close air support or even 'Eyes in the Sky' overhead recon/security. We went into a certain area- and the pucker factor was the absolute greatest I had ever felt from then until now.. Everyone was scared.. I was lead vehicle driver, and responsible for leading the rest of the HRPP Heavily Armed convoy right into the middle of 'no mans land'..

I tell 'yall this, to share this- as scared as I was, and as itchy as my trigger finger was that day, I was dumbfounded by driving down the main drag outside of the sea port- I was passing buildings with scars of RPG's, heavy machine gun fire, and small arms all over them- and the building had a sign written in three languages on it (english being the third) which said things like: Family Dentistry, Arcade, Community Grocery Store, you know- things like you would see driving down ANY any small town in the U.S.'s main street.. I realized, 'these folks were living like us not long ago, and this could conceivably be the US one day'.. That was my first experience with a crumbling nation.. I've seen it several times since- and each time I think the same thing..

Your average American is sheltered.. We are arrogant in our beliefs that 'this couldn't happen to us'.. because it can.. It's my belief that it will- though I don't know if I'll live to see it, but I feel it's impossible that it won't happen in my opinion.. Those guys you see on the side streets could be you or me, or they could be our children.. Don't ever take what we have for granted. And give those guys a burger for Christ's sake..

 

god bless ya brother! i was homeless with my wife and 2 kids 25 years ago and someone helpped me so i have always returned the favor

 

I hate American materialism and don't care for Christmas, birthdays, or Hallmark holidays (ie Valentine's Day, Mother's/Father's Day).

While recently encouraging my teen son to get out and experience the world when he gets older, I related to him how I'll never forget witnessing Kenyans picking through the garbage barge tied to the side of our carrier during a 1988 port visit. They were scavenging food and anything else they could carry off.

It put my life in perspective (as did spending 6 hours on the operating table on my 23rd birthday); however, neither my ex-wife, my mother, nor a former girl friend would ever try to understand or respect.

 

Seriously,

"props" to you.

And to everyone else who does similar things. I've never been homeless, and I'm fortunate enough to have been saving long enough that I never should be homeless, but that doesnt mean I shouldn't stop and recognize how fortunate I am.

I had a similar experience, but had a box of donuts. I know a box of donuts isn't the healthiest thing in the world, but we found a couple, out in the middle of nowhere, didn't even have a sign. They were huddled off a two-lane street by a fence and a building with a shopping cart with a very limited amount of supplies.

You could tell they weren't professional beggers (I saw a guy asking for money the other day downtown actually pull out an Iphone and sent some text messages. I found out by reading a report online that this guy does it for a living, has a house and a car!!!!). Shame on people like him by the way...

we handed over the box of donuts to them, and the look on their face was something I don't even know if I've ever even seen before. They even tried to give us what little money it looks like they had (change) because it was clear they felt uncomfortable taking something for nothing.

It had a big impact on me because when they spoke to us, they were very VERY well spoken. In retrospect, I wish I would have asked them their story. I just couldnt believe that someone that came off as intelligent and well spoken would be in that kind of situation where they were clearly homeless.

as we were getting back in the car to drive away, the way those two looked at eachother- the look on their face- over a few dollars worth of measley donuts... was life changing!

In fact, this didn't happen this weekend- or last week- matter of fact this happened about 10 years ago, and I still remember every little detail.

So in summary, thanks for being good to those who need it. Shame on those who take advantage of peoples good will (and therefore make it harder for those who really need it), and to everyone else- Go help someone in need next time you can!

 

Great job man.

This year we donated a bunch of toys and clothes. When I had first gotten out of the Corps, we were broke as broke could be. Couldn't afford a single thing for our baby girl (10 months old). Granted she didn't NEED anything. But Toys for Tots came through for us and I've donated ever since. It breaks my heart to think of Family's and Children, People in general that are in need.

We always donate over Christmas, and when I was in the Marine Corps in Iraq I'd give away MREs to people on the side of the road who were obviously starving.

 

just a quick story.

i was 29 and had a great job and a wife and 2 kids and live was good. my job closed up shop and the mill was gone. i had savings and all but with in 10 months we had to move out of the house and into a small rental home. i was delivering pizza and newspapers and working for a small paving company. my son got very sick and had to have kidney surgery and with the doctor bills and no insurance we could not pay the rent and then we was homeless. all of this with in 18 months. that quick. gone!!!

i was standing on a corner asking for food when a guy pulled up and offered me a job. he gave me the address and $20. i was there the next morning! with in 30 days i had an apartment. now 25 years later i still work there. i will give my money to a homeless shelter and food to a homeless person. too many scams out there.

help those that want to be helped and blessings will come your way.

 

That's quite awesome BIGBIRD85.