I can only speak from my own experience.
Homelessness is terrifying. If you spot the homeless person you gave food to tossing it out, don't take it personally, or misinterpret it as ungreatfulness. Ppl fuck with the homeless. If I couldn't be completely sure what I was given was uncontaminated, that was a risk I couldn't afford. Half of something, homemade, a package already cracked open - too risky. Especially if the giver had a potential audience to perform for.
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Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Friday, 23-Jan-2026 10:34:01 JST
Miakoda
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Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Friday, 23-Jan-2026 16:02:34 JST
Miakoda
@sarae What I valued most were things to keep clean with. Soap, water, A SHOWER (trucker bought me time at the truck stop shower). I managed to maintain a stash of incontinence supplies, but if I hadn't, that would have been a big deal given my disability. Propane! Camping canisters of propane.
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Sara (sarae@ecoevo.social)'s status on Friday, 23-Jan-2026 16:02:36 JST
Sara
@hellomiakoda what kind of things would have helped, if someone had given them to you?
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Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Friday, 23-Jan-2026 16:39:53 JST
Miakoda
@gersande Ah yes, I forgot about that! Very good point!
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Gersande La Flèche (gersande@silvan.cloud)'s status on Friday, 23-Jan-2026 16:39:55 JST
Gersande La Flèche
@hellomiakoda Also ! Some homeless people are allergic to food and might not realize the food they've accepted has that ingredient until the food is literally in their hands. They're just trying to stay safe!
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webhat (webhat@infosec.exchange)'s status on Friday, 23-Jan-2026 18:25:37 JST
webhat
@hellomiakoda I had a homeless person ask me for some money for food, when I was a young teen. I literally didn't have money, I'd just sped my only money on a McDonald's hamburger. I explained that, and offered my half eaten burger, one that I had literally took a bite of it their presence
They said, "yes, sure," or something like that, took the offered burger and ate it. That stuck with me until this day
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Miakoda (hellomiakoda@pdx.social)'s status on Friday, 23-Jan-2026 18:25:37 JST
Miakoda
@webhat I wasn't homeless at the time of this incident - I was so badly dehydrated following a biking accident that when the guy who stopped when I had dragged myself out of the woods where I had crashed offered an old, half drank lemonade as the only thing he had, I took it despite my germophobia. Sometimes, one can be in need badly enough to be higher priority than all else, including safety.
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