Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

Re: Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

And no one will wonder why this homeless man didn't have shoes but had clothes and a jacket....hmmm.

As part of our outreach in Providence, we used to give away boots to the homeless. Over time, we noticed that the "need" for boots was increasing significantly. Guess why......the homeless were taking the boots we gave them and selling them to buy drugs and alcohol.

Re: Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

Hopefully you point is not that act's of kindness are a folly.

Re: Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

Spoken like someone who has never worked extensively with the homeless....

Re: Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

Some people see the world as a hopeful place ... others look for negativity wherever they can find or create it. Even if 9 people took their shoes and sold them it's great that someone would buy shoes for the 10th person and hope he would use them. It should not be the governments job alone to care for our fellow man ... we have to keep trying.

Re: Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

And from this experience you draw the conclusion that helping them is a waste of time?

Re: Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

Fine....then you waste your own time and money doing it. I did it for 5 years pretty much every week giving away both my time and my money until I finally saw the light (just like most of the volunteers did over time).

I'm curious...how many years have you worked with the homeless?

Re: Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

I did it for about 4 years.

But I've seen the light, now I go around setting fire to them, much simpler and keeps me warm at night.

Warm inner glow replaced by warm outer glow.

Re: Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

No, worse than a waste of time. We helped enable bad behavior.

If I had to do it over again, I would have focused on the very small minority who truly wanted to change.

Re: Officer Lawrence DePrimo - Hero
 

I've been donating my money to the homeless since the 80's RI. I always give money to the people at the Thurbers Ave lights ... and i have a few regulars who know me on Broad Street. My personal time I have not given except for gathering items for the Little Sisters of the Poor people ... my money I have given plenty ... and i don't question it's use.

There's plenty who have done way more than me ... and there's people who have done less ... i do what I can and i won't stop. What people like me give to them is not or will never change their life - but if it brings them comfort for even brief moments then i feel it's worth it. Money for food, booze, butts ... if they feel they need it then fine.