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Anyone hand out food or something else instead? I am not a big can of cigarettes but I bought a big box of Clif Bars the other day and thought that, or something similar/smaller/cheaper, would be a good handout. I'm always weary of handing out money because it just seems very likely that it will be used for alcohol, drugs, etc.

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A few times, my husband and I got panhandled coming back from a nice restaurant, and happened to have a doggie bag with us. Offering that never went over well and either got outright rejected or grudgingly accepted and quite likely not eaten.

As the article says, homeless people have ample food, due to the missions, et al. A friend of mine who had a brief homeless stint confirmed this, saying that it was easy to get three square meals a day while living on the streets. (It just takes standing in line for hours, which makes pursuing other things, which might help one get off the street, difficult.)

Clif Bars (in particular) might not be a good pick. Clif Bars (and likely other energy bars) should be eaten along with a lot of water - generally 1-2 liters. Potable liquids as I understand is much harder to come by than food.

OTOH, I've only ever used Clif Bars in high-impact cardio settings, so YMMV.

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