Part 3: So I Did a Student Survey on Homelessness...

Hi guys! Here is the LAST part of my student survey analysis. Parts 1 & 2 are already up on my blog, so go check them out! I would like to thank everyone who responded to this survey, you all made a great contribution to my capstone, and I enjoyed reading all of your responses.

For the last question of my survey I asked my 8th grade peers: If a homeless person comes up to you and asks for money/food, how do you react?

Some people said that they would honestly say no to the individual or ignore them completely., and to be honest I do that too, but I still feel guilty about it. Majority of the responses stated that they would give them food or water, but not money because they are not sure what the homeless person would spend it on. Instead, they would donate to homeless agencies to have a better impact on this issue because they know that their money is going to be spent on a good cause.

Responses included:

• "Honestly... I would probably ignore them because I would not want to start a one on one interaction with a stranger on the street. As selfish as it might seem, I would not want to come in close contact with them because I do not know their background or where they came from. In many cases, homeless people are just looking for something to keep them alive, but in other cases, they might be under the influence of something or particularly aggressive. The possibilities are endless, so I would probably play it safe by just ignoring them."

• "This has never happened to me when I was alone but usually (even though I am disappointed in myself for acting this way) I tend to try to avoid eye contact."

• "I would love to give them money if i had any but it usually scares if I'm being honest. When I am in the car and i see someone on the street, i usually just look away but I feel really guilty."

• "If they ask for food and i have food then I give them food. if they ask for money we generally get them other stuff such as food or water. we don’t give them money because a lot of homeless people (not all) are drug addicts one way or another and they can’t control it but they will spend the money on drugs."

• "I would give food to them if I had any and i prob would donate money instead of directly giving because I know it is for a good cause and will be used wisely."