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I'm in Toronto - and I, too, have a "sidewalk friend". His name is Mikey. He panhandles on the corner outside the courthouse where I work several days a week.
I'd always give him a loonie or two-nie when I had it; sometimes we'd just chat for a few minutes.
About six months ago, he excitedly told me that he'd been hooked-up with a social worker, who had found him a room in a boarding house. I gave him $20 as a "housewarming gift". At first he refused it - said it was too much. But I insisted that having his first real "home" in years, he would want to stock it with some staples, maybe some clean sheets, toiletries, etc.
He took the money reluctantly, and promised he wouldn't spend it on drugs or booze. I told him it was a "no strings attached" gift, and he was free to spend it as he liked. But he insisted that having been clean and sober for thirteen years after being a heroin addict (which is what led to his being on the street in the first place), he wouldn't go back to that life no matter what.
A few weeks ago, Mikey reappeared on the corner. I asked what happened; had he lost his room after all?
No, he said, the room was still his. But he was back to panhandling in order to get together enough money to buy a warm sleeping bag, as he was back to sleeping in the park. I was shocked by this, as we were in the midst of yet another massive snowfall.
He explained that the boarding house he was in was full of drugs, and how easy access was to same. "I know my own weaknesses," he said. "Sooner or later, there will come a night that I say, 'Yeah, why not,' and I'll be back in that life I struggled for years to get out of. I don't want to go there. I'd rather sleep in the snow."
I told Mikey that he had more strength of character than a lot of people I know - and were our positions in life reversed, I might not have the fortitude he has.
Whatever I 'donate' to Mikey's lifestyle is money well spent. Sometimes the guy on the corner isn't just another homeless guy down on his luck - sometimes he's someone to look up to. Like Mikey.
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