2005-06-24

Giving food

As a resident of New York City, I think it worth pointing out that many homeless people are quite suspicious of gifts of unwrapped food, as there are sickos out there who try to hand out food that they have contaminated with something that will make the homeless person sick (ipecac and laxatives seem to be popular).

In my opinion, the better approach, if you want to give a homeless person food, is to offer to take them into a deli (they are all over the place here) and have them order a sandwich for which you pay. In addition to eliminating the above issue, and making sure that your money actually goes toward food and not something else, this also allows the person the dignity of choosing their own food.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Or how about wrapped food?

John Cowan said...

Even wrapped food can be messed with in ways that doesn't show.