OT.Sorry it wasn't more.

Years ago,when I was way younger, came to N.W Wis to do some deer hunting with a bunch of friends. Sure was cold then -15o .Going into town for supplies and seen a older fellow walking along side the hwy. Had a real thin coat on and was red from the wind blowing.Stoped and picked him up and asked where he was going. Told me home to tell the wife he didn't qualify for S.S. I asked him how long he was hich hiking, A couple of days I was told. Superior where the SS office is was quite a ways from where we picked him up.I asked him when was the last time he had a warm meal. Again the same awnser.2nd day .I had been saving some money for the hunting trip so I opened up the wallet and gave him $20,00 bill.He started to cry and said he couldn't pay it back.I told him if he ever came upon any one like the fix he was in , to pass what ever he could to the next person. Got into town stoped at a resturant and watched him go in for a meal. Now I wish I had given him Bus fare to his home.I just don't EVER want to see any one go cold and hungry,and will do what ever I can to lighten their load.At that time I could have given him $50.00 and forgot about the beer and supplies.I'm sure there are others on this forum who have shown their compassion for their fellow man. Would love to hear from you guys. God Bless.
LOU.

It's a lot easier if you budget for it. My wife and I give 10% to our church, and though a big chunk of that goes to missionaries there are also funds for other purposes some being local. Yesterday 17 of us painted a house and the owner donated $2,000 to a missions fund that we have. That money will go a long way in Guatemala.

I used to live in one of the largest cities in the U.S., and occasionally I would get hit up by a panhandler. While I would give them food and drink, I would never give them money. I knew d*mn well where the money would go.

One Christmas eve we'd started to a family get together,right up the road was a broke car [tierod end] stopped,guy had gotten off work had car packed with food,and gifts etc.
We rounded up the part before NAPA closed,and I lent him tools he needed,but thought I needed to go on to Mothers.
When I got home he'd put tools back where I told him to,but he never stopped by,even he passed daily to & from job.
It made me feel good to do it,and the Christmas part of it made it more meaningful some how.

Back in the early 80's I was in the union 76 truck stop in Little Rock. Guy come in drivin and old 67 yellow chevy. Had 3 0r 4 little kids that hadn't eaten and wanted food money for them. Asked them when he and his wife had eaten and said he wasn't worried about them. Had had car trouble and spent their money on the car. Fed all of them and gave them another 20 to get home on. Going to Kentucky if I remember right. 2 0r 3 years later he sent the money back to me. Always wished I had gone back and looked them up.

I still Remember one day i was going to the hospital with a broken foot(crushed on an atv) on the way we passed an older gentelmen, 70's? trying to push his ford ranger out of traffic in the late fall. Ill be damned if I didnt turn around and help him push his truck with a crushed foot lol, he tried offering me money but i would never take it. I said i was sorry that i couldnt help any more and explained why, He gave me a handshake and a smile and said, Glad to see there is still hope in your generation.

this past summer my daughter went to weat virginia to help for 10 days in appalacia she is a senior in high school and has already sighned up for next summers trip I asked her if I can go along with her and she said It would be great, Iplan on going with her next summer.

If the guy was 62 years old he would qualify for SS, assuming he worked 40 quarters. He probably was denied SSI disability benefits. I would have to question if guy that can hike for 2 days in freezing weather is disabled and couldn't work.

I know where you're coming from Kruse, but I gotta share this:
My Dad was a skid row alcoholic until I was in the third grade. He stopped drinking, got back with Mom, got his act together and was a terrific father until the day he died.
When I was a teenager, we were walking in downtown San Francisco and there was a bum on the street with his hand out. Dad gave him 10.00 and I said, "You know what he's going to do with that, don't you?" He answered "Yep, I've been there and I know how bad he needs it." Never questioned him again from that day.

Good topic Lou.
A few years back I heard about an elderly couple who couldn't afford propane for heating their house in a MN winter, so they were cutting live trees in their yard and trying to burn them in a wood stove they had in the house so they could stay warm. My brother and I rounded up some dry wood on the farm, cut and split it, and hauled them a load in our tandem gravel truck. He came out when I backed in the driveway and said there must have been a misunderstanding because he had not ordered any wood and couldn't afford to buy any. I told him there was no misunderstanding at all, and asked where I could unload it so it would be easy for him to carry inside. I can honestly say I've never seen a grown man cry that hard. Soon I was wiping tears too. An experience I'll never forget. They ended up selling their home and moving to an assisted living facility by the next winter. Both are in pretty poor health now, but my grandma still keeps in touch with them via letters in the mail.

Hi Lou: I'll add my story. In the early 1960 I was trying to drive from Chicago to SW MN in a multi state wide snow storm. Late in the afternoon I was following a semi truck real close otherwise I'd had to stop. (should have anyway) We were almost through a tiny town when I saw an Army guy thumbing for a ride ( I suppose trying to get home for Christmas also..) I looked up at the rear of the semi and also in the rear view mirror. We had maybe 150 foot visability.. I looked back at the rear of the semi and then back to the Army guy looking at me and then he was covered with a swirl of snow. I wanted so much to go back but I also wanted to tailgate that semi. I did not go back to the Army guy but I can still see him looking at me. He was completly surrounded by snow and he stood out so well wearing his Uniform but the sad look on his face when looking at me still bothers me some. A few years later I did my years of required Army time and that softened my not helping that Army guy standing by the road in the snow the day before Christmas. (Yes,that tested my "Spirit of Christmas.") ag

Got home one pretty evening and decided to go for a short motorcycle ride. I passed an older couple pulled off along side the road in an older car, and you could tell that something was wrong. I stopped to check on them, seems the car has just stopped on them and they coasted to the side of the road. Acted like the battery was dead when they tried to start it. They had called AAA, but they had been waiting for over an hour for them to show up. I had him pop the hood, and saw that the battery terminals were heavily corroded. I rode home and got a few wrenches, jumper cables and a wire brush and went back in my truck. By that time, AAA was there, but they were going have to tow him in because the driver didn't know what was wrong. I took the battery cables off and cleaned them, and it started right up, didn't even need a jump. It didn't take much on my part, and it sure made their day.

My son is a mechanic and has a soft heart for a sob story. He was always doing a repair for someone who "couldn't pay right now". I remember stopping by his house one cold Saturday morning and finding the young family sitting in the dark. The power company had cut their power, and he was too independent to tell me. Thankfully they were warm with wood heat. I got my generator hooked up for him so he could turn out some shop work.

He has since partnered with a cold-hearted man, built a new shop, and is booked solid with repair work. His cold-hearted partner won't give a nickel to help anyone, but the money rolls in and the bills are paid.

The interesting part: Every now and then someone will come in the new shop and hand my son a $100 bill. They'll say, "Remember when you fixed my car and I couldn't pay you? Here's a partial payment, and there's more coming." Cold-hearted partner is always flabbergasted. I am too. Son had already written off and forgotten the outstanding bill.

There's lots of good honest people in this world, and many of them are down on their luck, but only temporarily.

I might add that many of the folks who "couldn't pay right now" are back on their feet and are his most loyal customers. You couldn't drive them away with dynamite.

There but for the grace of God go I.
Paul

Easter sunday a few years back i was workin a third shife job,I left work at 7 on a sunday it was cold and wet and i saw a hitch hiker I gave him a lift to the next town,and a ten spot and I dropped him at a mickdonalds so he could get some warm food he was headed fifty miles up the road I wished i had gotten him closer but i couldnt keep my eyes open any longer

We were in downtown Chicago walking back to the motel after eating at a Chicago Pizzeria. One of us had a couple of slices of pizza in a take home box. We passed a panhandler holding a large plastic cup with some change in it. When he was offer the pizza slices, that plastic cup drop and you could hear the change roll on the side walk.

We used to pick up hitch hikers routinely. My Grandparents lived on our other farm on the county highway and would get tramps at the door from time to time. My grandmother would invite a tramp in, whether my grandfather was home or not, and give him a bowl of cornflakes with milk but no sugar. Coffee if he wanted it and then send him on his way. As a small boy, I was fascinated by this.

Scott you are wrong. When Social security came out farmers, and others self employed, did not have to join. The high inflation of the seventies and eighties caught many short on savings. A family friend retired in 1963 with everything paid for and a hundred thousand in the bank. In the late seventies he and his wife had to go back to work because the cost of living made his savings not return enough to live on. That hundred grand was a fortune in 1963 but not by 1978. In 1966 my Dad as an mechanical engineer made $6600 per year. In 1980 he was making $30,000 a year. In 1966 he bought a new F150 2wd plain jane $1900. In 1980 he bought the same thing for $6500. In fourteen years things tripled. His wages kept up people living on saving did not.
In the late sixties or early seventies everyone had to join. There where many in my rural area that never joined social security.

Larry
If you mean West Virginia Stop by and see me I might find something for you to eat if you are real hungry.

yes., but it was not meant to offend ,sorry if I did, ..... Larry ... sometimes I type before I think

Some people need a hand up others are CROOKS.
I rented a house to a couple and they quit paying the electic bill in December because they knew the utility company could not shut off the power. Then they did not pay the water bill. Then they did not give me notice and just moved out and basically trashed the house. I have no patience for dead beats!

we did something similar a few years ago. mom over heard a lady at her work saying that she was so broke that her and her kids had put blankets over the kitchen door and were sleeping on the floor with the oven on just to stay warm because she couldnt afford to get the oil tank filled or buy firewood. mom came home and told me what. so the next day i went to the bush and found some dry dead logs, cut and split them all up(i had 35 stitches and a cast on my arm after crushing my hand so it was quite a bit of work with one arm) and then hauled it to my moms place and loaded it in her van. mom knew when the lady would be working so we unloaded it in her driveway while she wasnt home. a few days later the lady was sitting at work in the lunch room crying because some "angel" had drop off a load of dry split firewood for her and her family. i still dont think to this day she knows who it was and i hope it stays that way.

When farmers were included in SS my Mom's father paid in 5 quarters and then retired. He was already over 70 at that time. He was 85 when he died, Grandma collected SS for another 35 years.

About 15 yrs ago or so, I was headed to go riding with a friend when I spotted a young man walking along the highway with a Bible in his hand. I circled back and picked him up. He was trying to get to his mom's in Louisiana. Dropped him off at a little cafe and gave him enough $ to have a good meal and still have a few $ left over.

I Have never, would never, will never mind helping someone who is truly in need, I have done so many times, But two things happened that make me careful about choosing the time and place to lend someone a helping hand.
1. Had an uncle who spent his retirement in a small RV fishing and traveling the whole country. One day, on his way back from a fishing trip , he decided to make a detour to a campground he liked. the route took him through a very rural area. On a quiet country Hi-way, he came across a young (white) woman standing beside a car with the hood up spewing steam. Woman was waving franticly, so when he got past, he decided to stop to help. As he stoped, he just happened to glance in the right rear view mirror to see 3 black men running up on the ditch side of the camper. (they must have been hiding in the ditch beside the car) He threw it into drive and flored it. one managed to get a hold of the passenger door handle, but was unable to keep up enough to open the door. When he got to the campground, he was talking to his friend, the owner about it. they decided to report it to the local sherif dept. When they did they learned that they were too late. An elderly couple had also stoped to help the girl, and they were beaten (severly) and had their car stolen.
2. On vacation to florida in march 99, Dad and I had just exited the interstate near Tampa. At the end of the ramp was a poor man. Fourty-ish, He had on a dirty flanel shirt, one arm in a sling, walked like his shoes weighed a ton each, holding a sign that said " HUNGRY". I was about the find some change to throuw out the window when the light went green and I had to start moving. Our campgroung was only a couple blocks from there. When I had every thing done for the night and dad was asleep, I went for a walk. I saw that same poor man on the street, but the sling and the sign were gone and he had a spring in his step as walked down the street whistling. He turned in to the first bar he came to. Aparently, he prefered his calories to be of the liquid variety.
I pick and choose my personel charaties more carefully now.

My story is receiving not giving. In 65 I was driving from the Naval Air Station in Millington TN to Az where my wife and I yr old daughter were going to stay While I went on to the PT. Mugu Naval air station north of LA Cal. I was driving a 49 Chev and within sight of the first buildings coming into Texarcana I had a blowout.The tire was shot so I drove on the flat to the buildings which turned out to be a cafe and service station. I asked the old gentlman if he had a used tire I could buy. He somehow knew that I was in the service and said that he had a prety good tire I could have for $2.00. I asked him if he would mount it for me while My family and I had something to eat. He told my that it would not be a good idea if we went into the cafe. I wondererd why until I walked close enough to read the sign over the door which read" No dogs or Mexicans allowed" Talk about a shock. When I asked him about it he said that they were serious and not to go in there. He must have talked to his wife because about that time she came into the shop with a platter of sanwiches and a pitcher of Kool Aid.He didn't charge me for the food OR the tire. I have been forever grateful and try to help the less fortunate any time I can.

JD, you are correct, self employed did not have to join, but I did say anyone that contributed on 40 quarters of income would qualify at 62 years old. Neverthless, I would have to ask why would, all those self-employed, farmers, ect that chose to never contributed to the system, believe they should collect anything from it ? When SS started out it was taxed 2% of income, half paid by employeer and half by employee. Now it is 15.5%, I think. You are correct that during the late 70s early 80s inflation was hi, but so were interest rates. SS contributions and benefits more or less kept up with inflation during that period. The biggest payroll tax increase ever was when they "saved SS" in the early 1980's. My grandpa, a farmer, retired in 1968 at 65 years old. He said it took him about 2 years to withdraw every thing he ever contributed to the SS system. He lived to be almost 98. He thought the inflationary period in the 70s and 80's were the good times. He had certificate of deposits paying 17 and 18%. e

That is time past, could do it then,civilisation has degenerated since.

I can see by other posts here, folks are similar:
Its kind of a way of life for me.
If I'm in a position where I can help somebody else out, I always do.
Needless to say, I would have many tales to post then, but this one kind of reflects the "what comes around goes around" theme.
I'll try to be brief.
Years ago, when I could ride, I was out on my motorcycle before work, just unwinding for a couple hours. A guy was pushing his on the side of the interstate. I stopped, and said,"helluva way to ride that thing, ain't it".
Couldn't fix it for him, he knew exactly what was wrong, helped him push it a ways to an exit, then down to a truck stop, where he could phone for the parts he needed. He wasn't too far from family. Walked back to my bike, and kept on with my day.
A year or so later, different town, different Interstate, I had a broken chain. Usually carried a spare, but had ligtened the load for the weekend. Pushin it down the Interstate, along the shoulder, knew there was a motorcycle shop 3 miles up at an exit, then about a mile from there. Suddenly, scared me, heard the brakes lock up on this lifted, overpowered IH scout. Whipped into the shoulder in front of me. I'd heard about random roadside beatings, and thought here comes mine.
Guy got out, and yelled, "helluva way to ride that thing, ain't it". We immediately shook hands, then got to work. We rapped a 30 foot tow rope to my crash bar (Had an old Harley Davidson Dresser), so I could turn loose if things went bad, and he pulled me to the shop--where I was able to get repaired. Of course, we had a long talk and shook hands. Glad to see each other again--I was real glad, lol.
What comes around, goes around. Even if you don't see obvious results like this one.

By the way, yes, I have literally given the shirt off my back to help someone out before. Treat others as you would like to be treated, ain't that the quote?