Are there no prisons? Are the workhouses still in operation?
That may have applied in dickins’ time, but the US today is not that place. Too many scams. My simple rule is to never donate to an individual who’s story I don’t know. My wife and I have both had experiences trying to REALLY help beggars in Seattle that ended up exposing them as total scams.
The bible has two simple rules if you are able bodied.
1. If you don’t work, you don’t eat.
2. True and good religion is to help widows and orphans.
Most of the beggars I’ve seen are neither.