"Flying a Sign"

I recently had a long talk with a woman who had spent many years of her life homeless.  She had worked for carnivals for twenty-five years and had developed friendships with other workers.  Many of them had alcohol or drug addictions.  They would travel together, sometimes sleeping in cars or pitching in to get a motel room.
When the economy turned down, they could no longer make it working in the carnivals.  She told me about "flying a sign."  When they needed money, one of them would go out for a few hours and stand on a corner with their signs, asking for help.
I was fascinated to hear about the ways people responded to them.  She told me that they were often given bags with toiletries and toothbrushes (which is funny since she didn't have any teeth).  They received snack bags and lots of protein bars and bottles of water.
She told me that they had people who would regularly give them bags of groceries.  They, also, received lots of gift cards from Chick-fil-A (Way to go Christians!) and other places.  She said that there was one thing they didn't get but could use and that was laundry detergent. 
Did you know people were doing this?  I didn't.  Not too long ago, I saw a young man get out of his car and go over and give someone a loaf of bread.  I thought this was an isolated event.  Little did I know!  I am so inspired by the goodness of people!  Thank all of you who are regularly helping others in this way!