What difference does it make ?
So I should be getting ready to drive out to Rockville but instead I've spent longer at Eastern Market. I walked past this guy on the way to the car and then walked another couple blocks to the car and got a few hand warmers and toe warmers out of the trunk and walked the couple blocks back and gave him those and a five that I had on me. He asked me to put the warmers near the top of a bag that was near him so he could reach them, and I added the five to one of his other bags.
I told him I hope things would improve for him but mostly I feel like s*** that I have no idea how I can do much more.
I don't remember him being on that street corner before. And a lot of what surrounds him is simply trash.
I suppose I could have given him more hand and foot warmers (which reminds me I should move them into the cab of the car so I can give them to people who approach the car on the street) And I suppose I could have given him more cash than I did.
But none of that would have actually fixed his problem. Maybe a few thousand dollars to get into an apartment. It's not like the city services don't exist even though they kind of suck in a lot of ways.
I started thinking the other day about how maybe I could get trained not as a full social worker but at least enough to help people apply for services.
But I'm seriously not sure I could handle it.
There's that story about the kid throwing the washed up starfish all back into the ocean and someone pointing out that there's a bazillion starfish and he can't possibly touch even a fraction of all of them how could it make a difference. And he throws one in and says it made a difference to this one.
Thing is - perhaps I made this guy feel seen for a change, and I gave him some money for a hot drink and I kept his hands and feet warm for a few nights maybe.
But in the grand scheme of things it's no difference at all.
Over on Facebook I've got a fundraiser going for DC Central kitchen. Not only do they collect surplus food and create nutritious meals for people who need it but they train people for culinary work, especially people who have been in prison and otherwise would not be able to get the training or the work. They make a difference.
It also turns out that the change in the tax code hit a lot of small charities very hard. Giving USA's report indicates that there wasn't all that much of an overall change in how much money went to charity last year but mostly it's skewed toward foundations and large donations from wealthy donors to larger entities. This makes sense, in that the tax code changed to make it less useful to itemize for middle class families but it still is useful not higher tax brackets.
But it means that your local food bank is also hurting.
This entry was originally posted at https://vvalkyri.dreamwidth.org/1719261.html. You can add to the
comments there using OpenID, or here is okay too.
I told him I hope things would improve for him but mostly I feel like s*** that I have no idea how I can do much more.
I don't remember him being on that street corner before. And a lot of what surrounds him is simply trash.
I suppose I could have given him more hand and foot warmers (which reminds me I should move them into the cab of the car so I can give them to people who approach the car on the street) And I suppose I could have given him more cash than I did.
But none of that would have actually fixed his problem. Maybe a few thousand dollars to get into an apartment. It's not like the city services don't exist even though they kind of suck in a lot of ways.
I started thinking the other day about how maybe I could get trained not as a full social worker but at least enough to help people apply for services.
But I'm seriously not sure I could handle it.
There's that story about the kid throwing the washed up starfish all back into the ocean and someone pointing out that there's a bazillion starfish and he can't possibly touch even a fraction of all of them how could it make a difference. And he throws one in and says it made a difference to this one.
Thing is - perhaps I made this guy feel seen for a change, and I gave him some money for a hot drink and I kept his hands and feet warm for a few nights maybe.
But in the grand scheme of things it's no difference at all.
Over on Facebook I've got a fundraiser going for DC Central kitchen. Not only do they collect surplus food and create nutritious meals for people who need it but they train people for culinary work, especially people who have been in prison and otherwise would not be able to get the training or the work. They make a difference.
It also turns out that the change in the tax code hit a lot of small charities very hard. Giving USA's report indicates that there wasn't all that much of an overall change in how much money went to charity last year but mostly it's skewed toward foundations and large donations from wealthy donors to larger entities. This makes sense, in that the tax code changed to make it less useful to itemize for middle class families but it still is useful not higher tax brackets.
But it means that your local food bank is also hurting.
This entry was originally posted at https://vvalkyri.dreamwidth.org/1719261.html. You can add to the
comments there using OpenID, or here is okay too.