We (the church where I preach) try to help people who are in need. However, we never give out cash. When we pay an electric or gas bill we pay the utility company directly. When we pay someone's rent we pay the landlord directly. When someone needs gas for their car I take them to the station and pump the gas for them. When someone needs a place to stay we have a charge account with one of the local hotels that I can call to authorize one, two, or more nights stay and the hotel bills us directly. If someone needs food we maintain a food pantry and they are supplied from that pantry.

All that being said, most of the people we help are not homeless in the true sense of the word. It is usually a case of not handling whatever income they do have in a responsible manner or they are low income and already barely making it from paycheck to paycheck and something like a car breakdown hits and they don't have the resources to cover it. If someone is a "repeat customer," after about the third time we ask them to let us help them plan a budget or do something that will enable them to support themselves. But you might, or might not, be surprised at the number of people who have the attitude that they should be supported by others while doing nothing for themselves.

There was one couple (probably in their 50s, but looking "worse for the wear," no job, no desire for a job) who we had helped a couple of times in the past, who called me up and wanted me to drive to the pizza place and get them a large pizza (they specified the toppings) and a couple of two liter soft drinks because it was "on sale." My reply was, "If you need groceries we will help you with that so that you can have more than one meal but I'm not making a pizza run for you." They hung up.