Helping the homeless

When I think about living in California and the vast amount of homeless people I wonder if this has anything to do with why I don't give every person I see here in St. Louis money or some sort of help. I'm on the other side of the fence where if I don't give at least a dollar to someone I see I feel extremely terrible for the rest of the day. My friends always voice to me how dangerous this is and all the ifs? Now I not completely irrational such as if it's late at night or I'm walking to my car after work I'm of course not going to stop and give someone money because I feel that is more dangerous than rolling down my car window and a four way intersection during the day. I think back to be a child and my dad being the same way. Every time he seen a homeless person he would give them money and I guess I learned to do the same. Moving to L.A I realized wow I will be broke if I give every person I see money. There were days you would see at least 20 homeless people and if you went downtown you would see even more. They had little areas where 30 or more would all sleep and hang out. I began to become desensitized to the feeling of guilt I had for them. I would see signs that said, I'm not going to lie I just need another hit, or I would watch somebody give someone money and as soon as the person pulled away the man would be in the store buying liquor or cigarettes. Then I wonder is it even our business what they do with the money we give them? Do we really think they should save up for weeks and weeks just to buy a new outfit or groceries or do we really think they should save up for months to be able to deposit on a place to live? I feel like those things aren't realistic because to better themselves fully they need more than just our dollars here and there. They need a shelter and a great program like people below have been speaking of to help get their life on track. Coming back home to St. Louis I don't like to completely ignore the fact that these people are standing outside my car so if they are "selling" something like candy or something small I will give them money because I feel like they are doing a little bit more than begging and they also don't seem as dangerous. I wish I could give every person I see a home cooked meal and help to last a lifetime but in this day we just can't. It being so close to the Holidays there is a lot of great things we can do in St. Louis to help. I found a site that list over 20 different programs and organizations here in St. Louis that could use our help. I was shocked at home many things we can really do to help. CHECK IT OUT