Giving, not giving

Most mornings I walk by the "pennies for the homeless" table on the northwest corner of Union Square. Usually it's the same guy. "Help feed the homeless. No man, woman or child should go hungry because they don't have the money to pay for food. Every penny counts." I really like this guy. He's got a great voice and really sends the message home. Unfortunately, I always come up with an excuse. I'm not rolling in dough, I get paid tomorrow, I'll remember tomorrow, My wallet is at the bottom of my bag, I only have a $20, I don't have any cash on me, I never carry cash (why would I?), Is this a real organization? I should look them up on Guidestar... The list goes on.

It struck me this morning as I walked by the same table, different guy. I actually think today's sub, a blond haired guy, might have been there on Monday, and might have admonished me for reading while walking (I was paying attention, thank you very much). Everyone walks by with heads down or eyes averted somehow. Sometimes the substitutes aren't as vocal as the regular, but this guy was pretty loud, not rude, but I just gave him the standard "Sorry" & puppy dog eyes (my apologies, it's a pathetic excuse for stinginess). Well, he responded to that by saying "Finally! Tomorrow?". I don't know why it was so surprising, they always engage passersby.

I've just tried searching to find out what they do, and came up with a NY Post article from December 2008 stating that "the glorified beggars pay the UHO $15 a day for a foldable table and jug and personally pocket whatever else they raise - which can be up to $80 in four or five hours." In addition they are not licensed to be soliciting on the streets. But! They've paid the United Homeless Organization for the setup and they are raising money for themselves. You never really know where your dollars go to a non-profit, unless you have the money to say, here's my million dollars and you are to do X with it. Without that influence, your dollars are probably not going directly to the cause you want to support. So maybe it's a good thing to give to these UHO "representatives." I'm not sure what to think of this now. Here's the link to the article: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/jug_band_keeps_gHTqpQnjbtbhjMaKFNjBXI

Composting!

In other news, I've looked up composting in my community, and found a composting project in North Brooklyn, called the North Brooklyn Compost Project (http://northbrooklyncompostproject.wordpress.com/).

This is exciting, as I have been dutifully saving all of my eggshells, onion peels, leek ends, coffee grounds & other kitchen "waste" in my freezer. The bag is damn near full and I need space to freeze the lentil soup I cook in bulk. I was planning on bringing it to the Union Square market, as they have a composting site set up, but I'd rather give my scraps to Brooklyn worms. Then that "worm poop" can go to making the trees in my community that much nicer.

After the first week of keeping all of the refuse from dinner prep, there was a shopping bag nearly full of scraps, and in the 2 months we've been at the new place, the pile has grown. I know I said "dutifully saving" earlier, but I must confess that a few eggshells & coffee grounds have made it to the garbage, but it really is nice to have the onions in the freezer, because they stink up the trash can like you wouldn't believe. Now, what I really want to know is why my family in NJ doesn't compost. They could do this OUTSIDE. They have a gigantic backyard. Then again, they'd have to bring things out every night because their freezer is chock full of...stuff. Food stuff mostly, but they manage to sneak in large bottles of vodka occasionally too. Plus, the sides are stuffed with coffee. This will be something I take up the next time I go home. If I can compost, or at least contribute to a composting effort nearby, in a tiny little apartment where meals are made for 2 but somehow leave piles of wasted organic substance...well, let's just say it would be a small effort and they'd be able to reduce their garbage load by a bit.

Back to beer

Finally, it is October, and that means beer. I made it through September drinking only 1 beer. Granted, I had many many many glasses of wine and a few gin & tonics here & there, but I'm happy with the effort I made!