Today I decided to go to dunkin donuts. I received permission to get a little endorsement from them – and got a picture of the cashier holding the sign. I even received a slight discount because they loved the idea of giving to the homeless. I found two homeless people nearby and was able to speak with one. A few things became apparent – the organizations that are meant to help do not always work in their benefit: He was disqualified from eligibility because of his marijuana use. Also, the conditions in some of the shelters are actually so bad that he prefers to stay in the streets – the beds were infested with bed bugs (he had thousands of bed bug bites all over his body). In addition, it seems like mentally there were some hurdles for this gentleman to overcome as well. I hear a lot of criticism about helping the homeless in this fashion because people think that the organizations can help everyone better – but understand that a lot of people do not get helped by them for one reason or another. Also, these homeless people might potentially remain homeless indefinitely for the remainder of their lives… I am not here to fix their homelessness. You can not expect every single homeless person to overcome their addictions, spending habits, health problems, mental problems, immediate financial needs, and apply for a job and begin working right away. It is far more difficult than you can imagine. In the same way palliative care is meant to ease the suffering for terminal patients, these meals can ease the pain for some of these homeless people. It really is that simple.