[nirnira]

Nice. But if you think it's so worthwhile to help homeless people, why don't you help them full-time, instead of just dabbling? And if you're going to help them, are goodie bags really the best way, or can you think of more powerful, uplifting ways to help them improve their station in life? That's the economically rational course of action, after all - devote the maximum amount of your time to the activity you consider most valuable (whether to yourself or others - wherever your priorities lie), and try and be as effective in that activity as possible - otherwise you're just splitting your time, jack of all trades, master of none.

[joeblau]

I'm not spending my full time doing that because helping homeless people isn't my life passion. My life passion is to create technology that will impact the world for a greater good. That doesn't mean that along the way I can't do things to help others out who are less fortunate than I am along the way. I don't think taking a few hours every year to help others would qualify me as a jack of all trades. I spend far more time burnt on HN, DN, and running my OSS GitHub project, than I do helping. I just feel that if everyone helped a bit, we would probably be received better.

[nirnira]

I see what you're saying, and it's very reasonable - I'm not a San Franciscan so I can't comment on the tech community's engagement (or lack thereof) with SF's older cultures - including the homeless/streetkids. Perhaps there is a solution that everyone would like?