Dial Emma of a humanitarian type.

[slowmotion]

A guy banged on our door two weeks ago at 10:30 pm. Loud desperate knocks. He gave me the whole works, both barrels.


"Thanks for opening the door, all the rest of the people on the street didn't.
I suffer from schizophrenia
On Benefits but the next funding is next Thursday
I came to stay with parents who are away in Barbados and I'm at number 38
My grandmother is dying in a hospital in Truro, Treliske, and I need £27 to catch the last coach to get there before she expires.
I'll pay you back next Thursday when I get my next Benefit payment"
He bursts into tears and explains that he can't get his medication.

Well, being a cynical miserable bastard, my instant reaction was to tell him to fark off and to slam the door in his face, but he had got me engaged with his beautiful patter and it was too late to do that. It didn't help that I was pretty tired and just wanted some peace, and had £40 in my wallet. I just did the calculation...this guy is almost certainly a complete fraud, 99% sure of that....but just suppose that he isn't? I wouldn't want to have the doors shut in my face again and again if I was in the same situation. He didn't come back with the notes, but I knew that anyway.

Soup in the shed seems pretty saintly to me.

 

[RWright]

Call the cops, they will give him three hots and a cot or take him to a homeless shelter (at least they do here). A lot of homeless people will do minor crimes in winter so they can get locked up until spring. I wouldn't risk letting him be around family.

 

[PaulB]

If I was living on my own I would probably welcome the guy to stay and then help him get on his feet. However, if I had family in the house then I would probably feed him and let him stay one night if the weather was bad. I wouldnt want a strange homeless person living around my family.
He might be a decent enough bloke but you can never be sure nowadays.

That's disGUSTing. He might be a vegetarian!

I'm all for handing out a helping hand but always wary of it being bitten. I left an old blanket, some pillows, a cushion and a pack of chocolate McVities (curse them since adding whey, which I am intolerant to anyway) with a note telling him to stay safe and warm. He didn't use the facilities last night but my conscience is a bit clearer.

 

[Minotier]

Flask and sarnies and any clothes you no longer want will make your visitor feel that he does matter.
It will also make you feel good too!
There are thousands of people like this who drop through the net. Some are content to live as outsiders, some have just lost everything including their mental well being. Be helpful, be wary though.
It is freezing out there you might be saving a human life.

 

[RedRider]

Hiya,
Who knows what his history is. I'd probably want to talk to him but mainly contact the local homeless street rescue service. They'd come and visit him, see if there's anything he needs and ultimately try and persuade him into a hostel or something. Then it's upto him and you.
Alternatively you could build a relationship wih him, keep a diary over many years and then write an amusing, poignant play about it. Have you read 'The Lady in the Van'?

 

[swee'pea99]

As others have said, chapeaux to 'er indores.

 

[AndyRM]

Blanket in the shed and let your local authority know. He may be known to them and they could help out.

[QUOTE 2381015, member: 1314"]My boss put me down as a reference for voluntary work she's beginning. Working for a London project called Streetlinks that provides a connection between the homeless and support services. Good on her.[/quote]

Not having a go at your boss, but Streetlink is hopeless. My wife works in the homelessness prevention area of our local council. Streetlink didn't inform any local authorities about their processes before it was set up, and probably with good reason. It creates un-necessary work and has poor turnaround times for actually getting rough sleepers help.

 

[Sara_H]

This thread has got me thinking. I'd like to offer shelter to someone down on their luck, but don't want them in my house or garage.
I'm thinking of building a specific "tramp shelter" in my garden. It will be like a large dog kennel with a camp bed and warm bedding inside. Every evening I'll leave sandwhiches and a flask of hot soup. If they've not been eaten by the morning OH can fish them out and take them to work for his pack up.

Sorted.

 

[Star Strider]

Lock him in and keep him as a pet.

You can also start cashing his Giro cheque.

 

[Sara_H]

[QUOTE 2381353, member: 259"]There was a tramp living near the bottom of your garden in London, in one of a row of garages. He was never any trouble, salhtough he used to nick bottles of milk occasionally. When he finally moved out and the owner returned they had to remove a skipful of rubbish, mainly empty bottles. They found out he'd been some sort of vicar who had had mental problems, poor bloke.[/quote]
I suspect thats the case for many of hese "traditional" homeless people. Very sad.

On a brighter note, I used to go to a slimming world class held in the community hall at Sheffield cathedral. It was partitioned off and in the other side of the hall was the the homeless persons lunch club. The smell coming through was devine and nearly caused a riot on a number of occasions with the hungry fatties threatening to break the partition.

 

[Svendo]

A guy banged on our door two weeks ago at 10:30 pm. Loud desperate knocks. He gave me the whole works, both barrels.


"Thanks for opening the door, all the rest of the people on the street didn't.
I suffer from schizophrenia
On Benefits but the next funding is next Thursday
I came to stay with parents who are away in Barbados and I'm at number 38
My grandmother is dying in a hospital in Truro, Treliske, and I need £27 to catch the last coach to get there before she expires.
I'll pay you back next Thursday when I get my next Benefit payment"
He bursts into tears and explains that he can't get his medication.

Well, being a cynical miserable b******, my instant reaction was to tell him to f*** off and to slam the door in his face, but he had got me engaged with his beautiful patter and it was too late to do that. It didn't help that I was pretty tired and just wanted some peace, and had £40 in my wallet. I just did the calculation...this guy is almost certainly a complete fraud, 99% sure of that....but just suppose that he isn't? I wouldn't want to have the doors shut in my face again and again if I was in the same situation. He didn't come back with the notes, but I knew that anyway.

Soup in the shed seems pretty saintly to me.

You are a kind and generous soul.
But it was probably a scam, see here: http://www.snopes.com/fraud/distress/stranded.asp. Good advice on how to deal with such approaches and help those who may be genuine and not those who aren't.

 

[slowmotion]

^^^^^^^ I'm not!

 

[ColinJ]

You are a kind and generous soul.
But it was probably a scam, see here: http://www.snopes.com/fraud/distress/stranded.asp. Good advice on how to deal with such approaches and help those who may be genuine and not those who aren't.

Indeed!

 

[slowmotion]

Indeed!

Thanks Colin. Yep, I'm a sucker.

I wish I had read your original post three weeks ago!

 

[Maz]

I'm a volunteer for a charity for homeless and destitute people.
I suggest you contact the local council - they should be able to assist in the first instance to provide emergency shelter for him.