<div dir="ltr">I do still give to panhandlers (though almost never to telemarketers; I now donate online), but these latest reports have me wondering if Providence's lax enforcement has attracted profiteers.<div><br></div><div>Emlyn</div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 12:45 PM, Ethan Gyles <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ethangy@gmail.com" target="_blank">ethangy@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>With you there, Jim. My personal philosophy is that if I'm carrying a couple bucks and a person on the street asks humbly, I'll give. What will I regret at the end: giving a little away to somebody I don't know who appeared to be in need, or turning away, believing I knew better? </div><div><br></div><div>Ethan</div><div>Hillside Ave.<br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><div class="h5"><div><br>On Jun 13, 2016, at 12:30 PM, Jim Barfoot <<a href="mailto:barfootjim@gmail.com" target="_blank">barfootjim@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div>Which should I feel worst about - giving a few bucks to a scam artist who doesn't need it? Or refusing to give the same amount to someone who does? If I can afford it, does the shame of being tricked outweigh the help I could give to someone in need?<br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Jun 13, 2016, at 11:58 AM, Emlyn Addison <<a href="mailto:noisyblocks@gmail.com" target="_blank">noisyblocks@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div><div dir="ltr">I vividly recall, in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, that it surfaced that telemarketing outfits were calling people and asking for donations under the pretense of being charities for the firefighters/police/victims' families directly affected by the tragedy. As it turned out, almost all of these early donation drives were outright scams.<div><br></div><div>Nothing in my experience up to that point had prepared me for such cold selfishness and greed; bottom-feeders looking to score easy money off emotionally vulnerable people. It prompted a mental shift--that I simply refused any longer to trust anyone asking for my money (how many on this list have personally heard the story about needing a few bucks because they've "run out of gas"? I count at least 3 times.)<br><br>It's the age-old problem: cheaters ruin it for the rest of us. We know that most panhandlers are homeless, hungry, and in need; but which ones aren't? Are they being further marginalized by organized scammers?</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Emlyn</div><div><br><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 11:38 AM, Theresa Mathiesen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:elvamath@gmail.com" target="_blank">elvamath@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div>Right after Sept. 11, 2001, I observed something that bears on this topic (panhandling).<br><br></div>I was in Tealuxe, on the corner of Thayer and Angell Streets. (I went there every day on my work breaks.) Firemen were collecting money from motorists stopped at the traffic light on Angell St., at the intersection with Thayer St. They were collecting for the families of the firemen killed during the assault on the Twin Towers in New York City. Lots of people put money in the firemen's boots they held out. <br><br></div>But, ever the scientist, I wanted a "control" -- that is, another situation, similar but different. People were collecting money at the intersection of North Main and Branch Ave. Or maybe it was Smithfield. In those days the people collecting at these intersections wore smocks with printing on them telling what they were collecting for, but I could never see the smocks well enough to read them. So we have to assume that their charity, if there was one, was unknown. And just as many drivers were putting money into these people's baskets and cans as into the firemen's boots!<br><br></div>My conclusion was and is that big intersections are fountains of free money. "Ask and ye shall receive". No wonder the people are fighting over them.<br><br></div><div>Elva<br></div><div><br></div></div><div><div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 8:50 PM, Emlyn Addison <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:noisyblocks@gmail.com" target="_blank">noisyblocks@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">FYI, just posted today on Facebook by a friend of mine:<br><br><div>"<span style="color:rgb(29,33,41);font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19.32px">I always suspected that the panhandlers in Providence were part of some organized group (vast conspiracy etc.) Today I saw a woman with the typical "homeless, anything will help" sign standing at an intersection. A man (her manager? handler?) sitting on a low wall on the side of the road said to her "you can come over here and sit for 10 minutes, then you have to get back out there."</span></div><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px;line-height:19.32px">Also today, one intersection away from there, another "homeless" was holding a similar sign, but as I passed her I noticed she was texting on one of those giant iPhone 6s that she was hiding behind the sign.</p><p style="margin:6px 0px 0px;display:inline;font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px;line-height:19.32px">I've also seen a new homeless person "relieve" another, as if they were punching in and the other person was punching out."</p><div><p style="margin:6px 0px 0px;display:inline;font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px;line-height:19.32px"><br></p></div><div><p style="margin:6px 0px 0px;display:inline;font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px;line-height:19.32px">I doubt it's the norm, but these kind of observations are concerning.</p></div><span><font color="#888888"><div><p style="margin:6px 0px 0px;display:inline;font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px;line-height:19.32px"><br></p></div><div><p style="margin:6px 0px 0px;display:inline;font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px;line-height:19.32px">Emlyn</p></div><div><p style="margin:6px 0px 0px;display:inline;font-family:helvetica,arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(29,33,41);font-size:14px;line-height:19.32px"><br></p></div></font></span></div><div><div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 7:00 PM, Andrew Cagen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cagenlaw@acagen.com" target="_blank">cagenlaw@acagen.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto"><div>I would also be very interested in attending. It would be good if some of the people whom we see at intersections every day were there as well.</div><div>Andy Cagen<br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br><span>On Jun 10, 2016, at 5:33 PM, Tony Adams <<a href="mailto:aa44ee@gmail.com" target="_blank">aa44ee@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></span></div><div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div><br></div><div>I would definitely attend such a meeting!</div><div><br></div><div>Anyone else?<br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Jun 10, 2016, at 13:29, Gayle Gifford <<a href="mailto:gayle@ceffect.com" target="_blank">gayle@ceffect.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’m sure that if the neighborhood were interested, we could arrange a community information session at Rochambeau Library with some of the folks who have strong outreach programs to the homeless.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Diana Burdett, who lives in Summit, is Executive Director of PICA, a really fabulous and grossly underfunded agency (true for all listed below) that has a homeless outreach program that works very hard to help those who are homeless to
apply for benefits, have warrants cleared (many of which are for fines they can’t afford to pay), and connect with other services. PICA also runs the largest food pantry in the state (which I first worked with PICA a few years ago they were serving about 250
folks per month. They now serve 12,000) <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pvdintownchurches/" target="_blank">
https://www.facebook.com/pvdintownchurches/</a> <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Megan Smith is a fierce advocate and works in outreach for House of Hope CDC. (the organization working with WBNA). <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless is just up the street at 170 Main Street Pawtucket. Their director is Jim Ryczek.
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If folks would be interested, I am happy to reach out to them. Many of the organizations that serve those who are poor or without a home have been clients of mine .<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Best,<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gayle Gifford<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black;background:white">“A 2014 Bankrate survey, echoing the Fed’s data, found that only 38 percent of Americans would cover a $1,000 emergency-room visit or $500 car repair
with money they’d saved. Two reports published last year by the Pew Charitable Trusts found, respectively, that 55 percent of households didn’t have enough liquid savings to replace a month’s worth of lost income, and that of the 56 percent of people who said
they’d worried about their finances in the previous year, 71 percent were concerned about having enough money to cover everyday expenses.<span> “ <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secret-shame/476415/" target="_blank">http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secret-shame/476415/</a></span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
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