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Comment by mlindner | Hacker News Reader

This thing was written by someone who doesn't live in a developed country... There's no way to do those actions in a developed country. Does this person think that just random children are available to be given food to?

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Seriously. If I went up to a group of kids and offered to take them to pizza hut I think I’d probably be arrested.

Yeah, that’s going to be a hard one to explain…

At my youngest child's elementary school, I could pick random kids to give food to and have an 80% chance of them being disadvantaged and/or food insecure. The only tricky part would be contacting their parents to get permission and/or get the parents to come along, and that would be manageable.

Arguably I don't live in a developed country, but it's a US state...

As a fellow parent of children in your school that's possible for you yes in your specific situation, but it's not possible for most people. However even then I doubt you could grab a bunch of the children and take them out for food without negotiating with their parents first.

People generally accept free stuff. Kids aren't some exception to this. You can accomplish this in any developed country with minor effort imo. Have any kids even distantly in your family? Kids know other kids so ask them to invite friends. "less fortunate" is a very broad descriptor for the children you need to feed, especially if you're fortunate.

Depending on the context you could probably give away pizzas pretty easily/innocently. Walking up to some children you do not know and offering to take them to a secondary location in return for free food… would come across very differently

> Walking up to some children you do not know and offering to take them to a secondary location

heh yeah and some kids are very well trained to defend themselves. An offer like that to a larger than average pre-teen or teen may result in way more than you bargained for. If they see you as a threat and the flight/fight coin toss lands on fight, well, you're in for a ride.

Hey want to go get some free food at this public and safe place you've been before with all your friends for backup? Checks out ok.

Welcome to HN, where suburban America is the only developed country.

Let's crowdsource this :) Please give examples of countries where it would be feasible to pick up five random kids and take them to Pizza Hut without having the cops showing up. I live in Sweden and my feeling is that this is absolutely not possible (but it might just be me who have preconceived notions).

This is true in any developed country.

Ring up your nearest orphanage, offer to pay for a pizza party.

Getting permission to post photos of kids on social media is probably the hardest part.

> Getting permission to post photos of kids on social media is probably the hardest part.

This shouldn't be too hard, just ask their parents

yea about that...

The English is non idiomatic. Mistakes make it seem middle eastern/central asian

The article claims the writers are Indian.

Strange. We never write "in Facebook". It's always "on Facebook" in most Indian languages. Though it's possible it was just a mistake.

Do you mean US?

I don't understand your question. This doesn't work in the US either.

I stay in a developed country (Singapore) and random children are available to be given food to.

I think your comment says a lot more about you and your knowledge of the world than them.

exactly. People who need money at the hospital to get treated? Oviously targeted at Americans and other 3rd world countries

It doesn't work for America lol... I'm in America.

I don't understand your point. Do you think poverty is something far away in 3rd world countries only? Your point is probably moot in countries with strong social welfare systems, but the USA for example has 16% of its children living in poverty. I live in a VERY well-off area in the USA, yet one of the local food banks I'm somewhat connected is frequented by a lot of families with children. Non-perishable food + kids clothing + school supplies are one of the most sought-after donation items.

No my point is that it's culturally impossible to just grab someone's children and take them out for food. They're not out wandering on the streets like they are in the world that the writer comes from. It's not a matter of wealth or what not, it's just culturally wrong and impossible.

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