A 2024 Resolution: Give Cash to the Homeless

In a cashless society, resolve to always have some money on hand for the people who need it.

I’m a soft resolutions guy, meaning I put a little thought into New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m not super militant about it. However, I did make one a few years ago that’s been good for me and I’m going to encourage you to do it too. Most of us don’t really need to carry much cash anymore. We pay with credit cards and our phones. It’s great. It’s super convenient. I love it. But living in a cashless society is very difficult for people who rely on the generosity of strangers.

These people’s lives are already difficult in ways that many of us would probably not survive. One small thing most of us can do to make homeless people’s lives a little easier is to go out of our way to make sure we have cash on us at all times to give to them.

I was thinking about this while reading about a new hell being foisted upon the homeless of Kentucky. Republican lawmakers in Louisville are moving ahead with a sweeping bill that would make life even more miserable for homeless people than it already is. According to Louisville Public Media, this new legislation would ban street camping, gut funding for the city’s Housing First initiatives and add “street camping” to the state’s “stand your ground” laws — essentially making it legal for homeowners to shoot and kill homeless people on their turf. The bill is called “the Safer Kentucky Act.” Safer for some Kentuckians, I guess.