Comments on: “Effective Charity”: Begging for Problems?

By: sahadatu issaka

sahadatu issaka — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 22:12:42 +0000

I am sahadatu and i live in Ghana, Tamale to be precise. Am looking for a group/ individual whowill help me establish an ngo in Niger because we have frequent increase in school drop out in both sex since Education is the cornerstone of our socio-economic development, because the young children we are bringing up today shall become the bedrock of our very survival.

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By: Library on a Donkey

Library on a Donkey — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:59:21 +0000

[...] new ways to raise money for your favorite charity. When traveling, you can be faced everyday with requests for charity and sometimes it can be overwhelming, no matter how seasoned you [...]

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By: Hal

Hal — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:26:51 +0000

This is something that touches everyone's lives…not just travelers, but anyone who lives in an urban area. Personally, I don't like simply forking over cash, but I do it sometimes. If I have the time, I'll go pick up some food or water and bring it back instead. The next step would be to actually invite the person into a restaurant for a meal–I haven't quite worked up the courage to do that yet, but I bet I'd pick up some interesting stories! I like Mexico City's program. Yes, it's treating the symptoms of the problem instead of the cause, but often that's the most you can ask of individuals who aren't directly connected to the issue.

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By: collazoprojects

collazoprojects — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:53:05 +0000

Eva- Interesting! As a former social worker, I know that cities tend to have well-developed social service systems, but that many people on the street are reluctant to take advantage of those services–for lots of reasons, both legitimate and less so. As a wide-eyed transplant to New York, fresh with my first business card in hand, I was totally blown away when a guy came through a subway car and said "I'm homeless, I'm hungry, I have HIV, etc." I thought, "Perfect! My agency deals with all of those problems," and I handed him a card. He looked at me, spat, and threw the card down, saying "I don't want to go to no agency! I want money!" I became a lot more thoughtful about the complexities of begging after that!

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By: Eva

Eva — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:46:36 +0000

Ottawa recently brought in "friendship meters" – white-painted parking meters in the downtown core, where residents are supposed to deposit their spare change that might otherwise go to individual pan-handlers. That way, the money goes directly to the shelters and food banks, rather than to, say, crack. The city also has a PR campaign letting people know that there *are* enough beds and meals available – no one is being turned away. So if someone tells you they're hungry and need cash for food…

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