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-- Panhandler rakes in $52,000 per year ....
Panhandler rakes in $52,000 per year ....
Can you spare a grand? Happy Panhandler lives large
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If he's not Ottawa's wealthiest panhandler, he must be close to it, and yesterday, riding his bike as usual, his life's belongings hanging from the handlebars in two plastic bags, he got me again as I headed toward my car outside a west-end mall.
"Hey, Earl," he shouted. "Hey," I said.
"Remember me?"
"Uh. Yeah. Yeah."
"Mark."
"Right. Sure I remember you. Mark."
And I did remember him. The parking lot of a convenience store a few months ago. He came up behind me on his bike and he was soft-spoken, he was articulate, he was friendly, he was likable, he was not at all aggressive, and I gave the change I had in pocket without qualms. I remembered him from several weeks before that, too. Another parking lot, a different place, same approach, same outcome. Mark The Happy Panhandler. He gets around. You've probably seen him yourself. The bike and the bags are the giveaway. Mark Hewens, 47.
This time he didn't have to ask. Nor did he.
"You need money, Mark?"
"God bless you," he said.
I gave him what change I had in my pocket.
"God bless you," he said again.
"It's all I have," I told him.
"God bless you," he said a third time.
You'll notice I asked if he needed money. Wrong choice of a word. If The Happy Panhandler's to be believed -- and I believe him -- he doesn't need money. Let me put it another way. He shouldn't need money.
"Mark, how much do you average a week panhandling?"
"A week? About $1,000."
"Panhandling? You make about $1,000 a week panhandling? You're kidding me, right?"
He flashed me his remaining pearly yellows. "Nope. Sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more, but usually around that. A thousand a week. Fifty-two thousand a year."
No wonder he's always smiling and friendly, The Happy Panhandler. The perfect job. No income tax. No overhead. Works his own hours. Seven days a week. From dawn to midnight, cruising the city on his battered old bike. And, he says, the perilous economy hasn't touched him.
"How long have you been panhandling?"
"I had other jobs. I drove a taxi, worked in a restaurant. All kinds of jobs. Then about six years ago I saw guys panhandling and it seemed pretty good, so I thought I'd try it."
I asked what he does with his money. Bank accounts? Investments? He obviously doesn't spend it on clothes, dentistry, or better bikes. "Oh, I find ways," he said. Like what, I asked. "Oh, you know. Drinking. Other stuff." Drugs, I asked. "Pot now and then. Just pot." He said he lives on the streets except for four nights a week when he crashes in the small apartment of a buddy. "He's crippled, so I help him do things he can't."
No doubt one of the reasons The Happy Panhandler does so well financially is his nature. "It's all in how you approach people," he said. "I'm basically a nice person, how I am is me. I'm never aggressive. That turns people off. After all, it's their money, not mine. They don't have to give it to you.
"I always ask politely and I always say, 'Thank you, God bless you.' Lots of panhandlers don't say anything. That's rude. There are times I still don't get any money, or I'm told to (censored) off, and that's fine. I don't get mad, I'm still polite and say, 'God bless you.'
"One time a man told me to beat it and I said, 'God bless you sir -- by the way, your right rear tire is almost flat.' It actually was. He thanked me for pointing it out and then gave me some money. The thing is, I'm not a bad person. Some panhandlers give us a bad image."
I asked him what has been his single largest donation.
"At Christmas, outside the Lone Star restaurant, a guy got out of his car and gave me a $100 bill. I've had fifties, twenties."
Do the cops harass him?
"I haven't had any problems." He smiled. "Some of them have given me money."
I asked Mark Hewens, The Happy Panhandler, if he'd let me write about him, and he said yes, and I asked if he could meet me at the same place in two hours so a photographer could take his picture, and he said yes, and three hours later Andre Forget and I were still waiting, no Happy Panhandler.
"Maybe he's raking in big money somewhere," Forget said.
Maybe he was.
Maybe another happy, multi God bless you, day.
CONTACT MCRAE AT [email protected] OR LEAVE A MESSAGE AT 613-739-5133, EXT. 469. KEYWORDS=OTTAWA AND REGION
slow news day?
thought this was common knowledge
how does someone who makes $52,000 a year tax free not have a home in a city where you can get a decent 2 bedroom apartment for $900/m? Dude's a crack head for sure... or just a liar. lol
I'm trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt but someone who collects $52K/yr IN CHANGE either has a bank account or spends it - otherwise he'd be robbed in a second.
Regardless, I doubt any one on this board would trade their tax paying life for an income that had to be earned by begging from other people.
For some people, it's a choice they made - not a situation that they were forced into.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by activate how does someone who makes $52,000 a year tax free not have a home in a city where you can get a decent 2 bedroom apartment for $900/m? Dude's a crack head for sure... or just a liar. lol |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by activate how does someone who makes $52,000 a year tax free not have a home in a city where you can get a decent 2 bedroom apartment for $900/m? Dude's a crack head for sure... or just a liar. lol |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by StereoPrincess you need credit and references to rent an apartment. |
Just because he could afford/get an apartment, doesn't mean it's something he wants.
Not going to read too much into a fluff-piece from The Sun, but from the sounds of the article the guy seems to be content enough staying at his friends place 4 nights a week, staying on the streets / shelters the other times.
Maybe he'd rather not deal with the obligation and responsibilities that come with renting. Having to clean the place, pay rent on time, being tied down to 1 location.
If someone I knew made 52K tax free, they would not be sleeping on my couch.
he's saving up for retirement in the carrib
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Skipper If someone I knew made 52K tax free, they would not be sleeping on my couch. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by StereoPrincess you need credit and references to rent an apartment. |
and with 52k a year, it's really easy to get credit even if you've never had any before.
go to a bank.
put some money in a GIC.
Use GIC to get a secured credit line.
(alternatively some banks offer secured credit cards as well.)
| quote: |
| Originally posted by kaniz Just because he could afford/get an apartment, doesn't mean it's something he wants. Not going to read too much into a fluff-piece from The Sun, but from the sounds of the article the guy seems to be content enough staying at his friends place 4 nights a week, staying on the streets / shelters the other times. Maybe he'd rather not deal with the obligation and responsibilities that come with renting. Having to clean the place, pay rent on time, being tied down to 1 location. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by activate I've never had to do those, and one of my places was REALLY expensive to. I hardly think it would be hard to get a dump apartment. |
he probably has a massive cardboard mansion under a bridge somewhere.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by chinamon he probably has a massive cardboard mansion under a bridge somewhere. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by kaniz I'd be inclined to say the same, but not everyone lives by the same standards that we do. |
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