This post contains 10 Things you SHOULD DO when serving the poor and the homeless, and 10 Things you SHOULD NOT do.
As there are different things you should or should not do for homeless people versus those who have a home but are poor, some of the items on the list begin with the words “Homeless” or “Poor” for things that are specific to those groups of people.
10 Things to Do for the Poor and Homeless
- Get to know the poor and homeless. Spend time with them. Ask them their names, and remember them. Tell them yours. Shake their hands. Be open and friendly. Touch them. Hug those who want hugged. Allow them to tell their stories. Listen. Remember.
- The poor and homeless are our equals. Honor them, respect them and treat them as our brothers and sisters. Feel honored that they are willing to share their lives with you and that you have the opportunity to spend time with them.
- Find out from them what they most need. Your presence, your touch, your love, may be at the top of the list. If you’re giving them “stuff”, personally hand it out. Remember – You’re “sharing”, be it your time or your stuff.
- Homeless: Check with your town or city to make sure they do not have an ordinance against distributing food on the street.
- Homeless: If you distribute food, small items that can be held in the hand and that don’t need plates, silverware, ovens or refrigerators work best. If you plan to give out cooked food, make sure hot food (soup, burritos, pizza, etc.) is kept hot until you hand it out, and that cold food (meat sandwiches, etc.) is kept cold until you hand it out.
- Homeless: Give them new socks and underwear. Bag them individually in Ziplock bags, marked with the size. The highest quality socks and underwear are usually not necessary. When socks and underwear get really dirty they may be thrown out by those who don’t have access to a laundromat.
- Homeless: Give hotel size, single use toiletries – soap, lotion, shampoo, razors (bag one or two disposable razors in Ziploc snack size bags) and so on. Find toothbrushes that have covers. 16 oz. bottles of shampoo or lotion often end up in the garbage (They’re too heavy to carry.) You can buy single use items in bulk from hotel supply companies for a few pennies each.
- Homeless: Many of them have significant dental problems and cannot eat items that require a mouth filled with good teeth, such as apples. They can usually handle bananas, tangerines and oranges.
- Poor and homeless: Give them clean clothes, blankets, and similar items that are in good condition. Launder and fold them and label them with sizes. Dirty clothes and blankets usually end up in a dumpster.
- Homeless: Always take bottles of water, regardless of the time of year. Dehydration is a common problem among the homeless.
10 Things Not To Do for the Poor and Homeless
- Homeless: Never give them money. If they tell you they need it to buy a specific item, buy the item for them.
- Homeless: Never tell them your address or take them to your home. If you doubt the wisdom of this, let’s communicate privately.
- Homeless: Don’t go alone. Don’t go in large groups. Groups of three to five work best. Don’t go after dark. Mid morning to mid afternoon works best.
- Homeless: Don’t take your wallet or purse or wear expensive jewelry or clothing.
- Homeless: Don’t give them new clothing, with a few exceptions – socks, underwear, and possibly shoes. Why? – Three reasons:
- Expensive new jackets, hoodies, shoes and similar items may endanger them in areas with high populations of street people, where it is likely they’ll be mugged (and possibly beaten) and lose that new coat you gave them.
- They frequently sell those items to raise cash to fund their habits. We go the day after Christmas, and they try to sell us brand new coats, shoes, blankets and similar items. Swap meet dealers in vans also patrol the homeless during the holidays, offering to pay cash for new items.
- Many do not have access to laundromats. When the sweatshirt you gave them gets filthy, if they can lay their hands on another one, they’ll throw the filthy one in the trash, whether it’s the $1 one you bought at a garage sale or the $30 one you purchased at the department store.
- Poor and homeless, but especially the homeless: Do not clean out your attic or closets, bag up the stuff and drop it off on a street corner in the homeless area. Most or all of it will end up in a dumpster. They do not need gold four-inch heels, bell-bottom pants from the 70’s and broken blenders. If it’s usable, donate it to the thrift shop. Otherwise, throw it in the trash!
- Homeless: Do not drop off cases of bakery products, such as loaves of bread, packages of rolls, whole cakes and pies, packages of frozen dough, unbaked pizzas, and so on. Most of this will end up in the garbage.
- Try to avoid giving out “packets” of items, such as a toothbrush, lotion, apple, socks and soap, unless you tell them what is in the packet and ask them which of those items they need. Otherwise, they sort through the packet after you’ve left and throw away the items they don’t want.
- Avoid giving out major items at Christmas, especially to the homeless. Visit them at Christmas, take along water, tangerines, little bags of crackers, hotel size shampoos and that type of thing. In most urban areas, many of the people who are on the street on the weekend before Christmas and on Christmas day are not homeless. They only pretend to be homeless and are on the street to get free blankets, sleeping bags, coats and similar items which they plan to sell at the swap meet. Hand out the sleeping bags and similar items at least a week on either side of Christmas, when the real homeless people will get them.
- Avoid giving out large quantities of candy. Many poor and homeless cannot afford dentists and have bad teeth. Also, people who work with drug addicts have advised us against giving out candy. Apparently some addicts will live on drugs and candy if possible.
These are not exhaustive lists. Of course, some of these things may not apply where you live. If you have one homeless guy in your small town who sleeps on the city square, you would probably notice if several other people sat with him on Christmas day, pretending to be homeless so they can receive new blankets and sleeping bags.
We would love to hear additional ideas or questions in the Comments section from those of you who also come alongside your poor and homeless friends.
There is so much need in the world!
And YOU can help.
Fill out the form below to receive several emails about how to love and serve the poor and homeless.
(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)
I’m sorry for asking a rude question but to be honest is it dangerous to touch an homeless person?
I’ve never touched or hugged any homeless, and if that will make them feel better I wouldn’t prevent my self from doing that if one will ask me to.
My only concern is to become infected in a very dangerous illness, because they live in the street for years and it seems that they carry diseases.
Again, sorry for being rude but that’s my current point of view.
We don’t consider it a rude question. We know that many people have this concern. We asked our doctor how to avoid colds, flu, viruses and other contagious illnesses. She told us that whenever we are in public and touch anything or anyone, to never touch our own bodies above our shoulders or when using the bathroom until we thoroughly wash our hands with soap and water. She said many contagious illnesses are picked up by what we touch, and certain viruses and so on can live on surfaces for a day or longer. So that can of applesauce in the store, or the person’s hands you touched to shake hands may have something on them that will transfer to your hands, then to your eye, nose, mouth or whatever when you touch those.
Before we started rigorously applying that advice, we had an average of five or six colds, viruses and other things each year. Now we average one or two. To the best of our knowledge, however, we have never caught anything from the thousands of homeless people we have touched or hugged.
The doctor also told us to use common sense and don’t touch people who say they are ill, or who are obviously ill, and don’t touch anything they have touched. We apply that advice to everyone, homeless or not.
Touching or hugging anyone is a personal choice. Some homeless do not want to be touched, and we don’t try to touch every homeless person we see. We almost always shake hands with those who want to shake hands and hug those who want hugged. Often in handing someone a sandwich or bottle of water, we touch a little as part of the process of transferring the item to the other person.
What I am saying here is that we try to treat everyone alike, homeless or not. If we know someone has a bad case of the flu or a bad cold, we try not to touch them until they’re better. Otherwise, we touch and hug anyone who wants to be touched or hugged, and try to respect those who don’t.
Jesus was never afraid to touch the untouchable sam is giving good advice but in the scriptures when a person in the old testament touched a leper or a dead person they became unclean that is our fear.What is different with Jesus is that when he touched the lepers his righteousness made them clean instantly when he touched the dead they came to life that is the power of the holy spirit and that power is in all of us who believe by faith in Jesus Christ.So we dont have to be afraid because we are covered in Christ.brentnz
Thats messed up. what if you were homeless.
Hi! I have a question…you mentioned never giving out your address or taking them to your house. I live on a busy road near a homeless headquarters (Room In The Inn) and the homeless walk past my house every day (maybe 10 a day). As its getting hotter I thought about putting a cooler out at the edge of my front yard with bottled water and oranges for the taking. Bad idea?
Tiffany, These are intended to be general guidelines, especially for people who are new to helping the homeless, and are not intended to imply that most homeless are dangerous. If you have friends who work in law enforcement, most will advise you to not give out your home address to any stranger or take them home, and that is where this advice comes from. I know people who have done it and come to no harm, and others who did not fare so well. You might consult with the staff at your nearby homeless headquarters and ask their opinion of your idea, and then proceed with your idea if those folks think it would help the homeless who pass by your yard.
I think it would be okay. Just use a cheep styrofoam cooler or lock it to a fence.
What’s wrong with giving them money? Not all homeless folks are addicts. Just like not all Pastors are con artists. It seems to me the giving is what’s important, not what is done with the gift.
Shawna, Look through the answers to this same question in both “Older Comments” and “Newer Comments.” The key is to know and know well those to whom you might give money. That means building relationships with them. Then you will know if they really are homeless instead of a panhandler pretending to be homeless, and you will know if the person to whom you are giving money will use it for something other than drugs and similar things.
Building relationships with folks is not practical. As I don’t have 3 people to go with me and I don’t speak Spanish.
When I was homeless money is the one resource I could carry and use. Living on the streets means you either travel lightly or stash your belongings and hope no one finds them. I ate out of fastfood trash bins, continued looking for a job. What little money I had found went towards stuff I needed.
Where I was, the homeless shelter was the worst place to go. Women were constantly being raped and belongings were stolen. I am glad folks get to know folks. Get to know their needs. However imho, talking to someone about giving birth does not mean you know what it is like unless you have gone thru it.
Now where I live there are only 2 homeless shelters, 1 for women and kids that are involved in domestic violence. The other is for folks with aids.
I give when the Holy Spirit tells me to. I leave it in God’s hands.
Thank you for your compassion and care. My group, Radical Love, serves two nutrient rich meals to people in our area who are homeless. By getting to know my neighbors who are homeless I have learned better how to minister to their needs. In the beginning, I gave candy! 🙂 Now, all sweets and sugar are banned from the meals I serve. We serve up wonderful, rich, nutrient dense foods that really contribute to health. And I do a lot of talking, a lot of sharing and a lot of hugging. When I am down time with my neighbors who are homeless grounds me and puts me in God’s presence. Thank you for all you do, and for giving people loving guidance. http://www.RadicalLoveMinistry.com