by Jim Clayborn | RNN
After spotting a panhandler in his community, a man decided to offer the vagrant a job, saying he’d give him $15 an hour in exchange for doing yard work. When the panhandler refused, the man returned with his own sign. Things escalated — and it was caught on camera.
Ryan Bray was in his vehicle at a Bradenton, Florida insection when a panhandler approached and asked for some cash, according to Fox 13. “He reached his arms inside my vehicle, resting them and said, ‘Hey, do you have any money?’ I said, ‘No, but I have one better for you,’” Bray recalled. Instead of giving the guy a handout, Bray offered the panhandler a job.
Bray — who works for Bray Remodeling, his family’s business — said he’d pay the man $15 an hour to do yard work at his house, which was just down the road. Rather than being grateful for the opportunity to earn an honest living and taking advantage of the offer, the panhandler didn’t take too kindly to the proposal. “He said, ‘Absolutely not,’” Bray explained.
The man didn’t just decline the offer, though. Bray said the panhandler “started getting belligerent and cursing” as he refused the offer to actually earn some money through work, and he allegedly even went so far as to kick Bray’s Jeep as he told him to leave. Bray drove away, but he’d soon return to the scene of the rude exchange with a sign of his own.
“I offered him $15 an hour to do yard work for me and he refused. If we as a community stop paying them, they will leave our neighborhood,” Bray’s sign read. And, he spent three hours along the side of the road with the vagrant, holding that sign high for all to see as the man attempted to beg passersby for money. But, that’s not all.
According to Bray, the panhandler threatened to rape his mother and kill his wife, all because he wouldn’t just give him some money. Bray was undeterred by the threats and determined to warn others. So, rather than staying away, he returned to fight back against the aggressive panhandler once more.
With a local reporter in tow, Bray joined the panhandler who got angry about his offer at the intersection of 75th Street W and Manatee Avenue W again, but this time, he was there with cameras rolling. Unsurprisingly, the unnamed panhandler wasn’t happy to see Bray return with his sign or to be questioned by the reporters who had joined him.
The transient confronted Bray and the news crew, claiming he did nothing wrong and saying that he was the one being harassed. The panhandler also used foul language as Bray stood near him along the street, but he still managed to get money from at least one driver. “You can’t shut me down, brother,” he said after his panhandling victory.
In another clip from WFLA News Channel 8, the unnamed vagrant showed even more agitation and aggression towards reporters on the busy street corner, where he approached cars constantly. “Get the f***ing camera out of my face, brother,” he said. “Quit following me!” he yelled, telling reporters to leave. And, it’s easy to see why Bray, a businessman, felt his community was being bullied by panhandlers:
Ryan Bray said he understands the plight of homelessness but wants the panhandling to end. He hopes for stricter ordinances against it and for drivers to stop handing cash through their cracked windows so that panhandlers leave and stop harassing drivers. “I can’t have my 13-year-old daughter and my wife driving with their windows up and being berated the entire time if [panhandlers] don’t get money,” he said.
Adell Erozer, executive director for Turning Points, a nonprofit that assists the homeless, admitted that some people make a living off of panhandling and discouraged people from giving money to panhandlers. “It’s hard to tell the difference between someone who is really homeless and somebody who is out there just panhandling,” she said, adding advice for those who want to help the homeless:
According to the Turning Points executive director, if you want to help, you should give money directly to organizations that are helping the homeless and not to those begging for money on the street. “The best thing to do if we all really want to get rid of panhandlers is to don’t give to panhandlers,” Erozer said, explaining that giving to panhandlers encourages the behavior.
As the saying goes, “Give a man a fish, he will eat today, but teach a man to fish, and he will eat forever.” What do you do when the man has no desire to fish for himself and would rather spend his time begging for your catch instead? Ryan Bray might have found a viable solution, simply holding a sign to warn others as he encourages panhandlers and the community to seek a hand up, not a handout.
Good job Bray, you did the right thing. Get it?
They don’t want to work. They are lazy and giving them money is the same as enabling a beggar. People need
to wise up. If you work, why give it to someone who refuses to work.
Pan handling is huge problem in my city. There are people who really think they are helping by giving money. I have a friend who owns a business, offered same thing and more to a homeless begging. He was including a place to live and apprenticeship. The guy refused.told him he makes more begging on the street. Really a true story.
There those who seek help, usually not begging at intersections and then the addicts drunks and liars. You can’t tell who is really homeless lots of times. Locally the housing we provide the thousands of homeless leaves the places totally trashed costing millions of dollars. They don’t follow the rules and just like the man in story get belligerent and often violent when told no.
I once offered a mon a bottle of water and some peanut butter crackers, from my travel stash as a home health nurse. He refused the gift. Yeah, I have never offered them anything, they are just moochers.
I once gave a panhandler biscuits for his dog and he got all bent out of shape. I guess he’d rather the dog didn’t get so much attention.
I’ve dealt with lots of these bums as a policeman in the Southern California Big City. Society offers PLENTY of facilities and assistance for the street people. The majority will not avail themselves of these options because shelter and rehab facilities have very strict rules against drinking and drugging. This nonsense of begging for money on the street and holding up signs that say “Please Help” are age-old hustles and scams. Don’t buy into that crap. You work hard for your money and in the case of a retired person you worked hard to get that retirement.
I have only offered food. as in a fast food meal. Both men, likely strung out, took the food gratefully. But I will never give out cash.
Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, give a man a poison fish and you feed him for the rest of his life.
I’ve seen this very thing in our small town in Pennsylvania. I refuse to give anything. But I have called the police on them. Years ago we saw a man hitchhiking and my oldest yelled ‘get a job’. I told him that was wrong. How do you know he doesn’t have a job. I told him maybe he broke down or run out of gas. He said ‘ mom did you see a car’s. No I didn’t. Guess he was smarter than me. Since them I avoid those people. Some are druggies, some are drunks and some get in a better car than mine and go home to their fancy house.
Here in Illinois one of the news reporters/investigators did a report on this some 20 years ago. He watched one particular panhandler on the exit ramp of the expressway, day after day, same clothes (work uniform) waving his Starbucks cup if front of cars. The reporter started following him at the end of his begging shift, down the hill and two blocks down. There on a side street this man popped open the trunk of his new Caddy and changed into normal, clean clothes. Finally the reporter stopped the guy and confronted him. Yes he’s cheating, yes he buys a new Caddy every other year and lives in a above average paid for home. After that day, the panhandler was not seen again on that intersection.
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