Shelley Bridgeman: Do you give to beggars?

What's your reaction to people asking for money on the streets of NZ? Photo / Michael Craig

For some people, unemployment, poverty and homelessness have led them to a life of begging on the streets. The reporter on the Campbell Live piece Auckland beggars: "Don't judge us" counted 19 such people on Queen Street. Their tales of hard luck and deprivation made for heartbreaking viewing. There was a former truck driver, a musician and his dog, a group of young people, a newcomer who had received just $8 in a week, a man who sleeps under a bridge - and a refugee from the Christchurch earthquakes who himself was trying to support street-kids.

It was confronting to realise that these people lived rough mere kilometres from where I sat warm and comfortable at home. Seeing the sheer gratitude of these people for any money given was an eye-opener for me. One man, who was so pleased to receive $5 from a passerby, said: "Some people are ashamed and some people walk by quickly and yet some people are so kind and generous."

I'd always been the person who hurried on by. I'd never known the best response when faced with needy people on the street. While sympathetic to their plight, the awkwardness of the situation had always prevented me from showing any generosity. It was the lack of an approved script for the interaction that defeated me. I was always surprised to see someone begging and - being both unprepared and uncertain how to behave - would pretend to not see them.

As luck would have it, I was on Queen Street the day after the Campbell piece aired. I even saw one of the people who had featured. I wanted to give money but it was sheer logistics that got in the way. What was I supposed to do? Stop, rifle through my handbag, find my wallet and look for cash while juggling sunglasses, car-keys and iPhone? It seemed bad manners and socially awkward to blatantly show off the evidence of my conspicuous consumption in front of someone in such dire straits.

So I hurried on to my dentist appointment, vowing to be prepared next time I ventured down Queen Street. Just one week later I was making my way back to have a ceramic cap fitted and an old filling replaced. This time I was ready to deal gracefully with Auckland's homeless people. I knew where this man based himself and I planned to take a slight detour in order to give him some money.

There would be no awkward pause while I ferreted through my handbag. I had a $20 note folded up in my hand. It was more than I wanted to give. Ten dollars felt like the right amount. My reasoning was that five dollars was from the previous week when I gave him nothing and the rest was for this encounter. In the absence of guidelines covering the appropriate rate for beggars, I was making this up as I went along. Then I discovered I didn't have a $10 note on me. So twenty it was.

I didn't have the note for long. Almost as soon as I reached Queen Street, I saw a different man sitting down and jiggling a plastic cup. My instinct was to keep moving along with the crowd, ignore him and continue with my mission. This would have been a fine plan except there was no crowd. It felt like I was the only pedestrian on that block. He was jiggling the cup at me. His eyes were pleading at me. This was personal. There was nowhere to hide and he was quickly $20 richer.

With my original target still in mind, I fished another $20 note from my wallet as surreptitiously as I could while I walked. I needn't have bothered. He was no longer on the corner I'd seen him at. He was gone. Although I'd initially berated myself for giving "his" money to another street beggar, I ended up pleased I'd perhaps been able to ease one day in the life of one of Auckland's homeless people after all.

I've heard the arguments against giving money to beggars. It will only encourage them. They'll only spend it to feed alcohol or drug addictions. It will inspire other people to beg. It's the state's role to support such folk. They're lowering the tone of the street. They chose this life. There's no need to be homeless in Aotearoa. But talk is cheap. For now they're here. Beggars are a fixture in our city. If, knowing their stories and while en route to having $1700 worth of dental work done, you can remain hardened to their plight then you're a tougher person than I am.