NEEDCOM: FOCUS GROUP: Robert G. and Richard G.


	NAMES:		Robert Green and Richard Giorlando
	Ages:		50-55
	Place:		Street corner, 17th St and Park Avenue
	Time:		3:30PM Weekday

NEEDCOM:

I'll start with you [Richard]. Here's number one: tell me about yourself and how you came to be panhandling today.

RICHARD G:

Can I explain this, seriously?

NEEDCOM:

You can take as long as you want to answer a question.

RICHARD G:

Okay, one, two, three. My name ... He hurted my mother, which hurted me, okay? Then I had to go, okay? My mom ... I love my mother on one hand, okay ...? She gone, okay. She died, cause of him ... He hurt her ... [Richard's very drunk, and hard to understand.]

NEEDCOM:

The same question to you [Robert]. Tell me about yourself and how you came to be panhandling today.

ROBERT G:

Well, I was born and raised upstate New York. I was in the military for three years, and I got involved with alcohol and drugs—I'm being honest with you! I'm being honest with you! You want an honest interview. I let it get out of hand.

I said, let me come to New York, 'cause see, I'm born and raised in upstate New York. I wasn't used to this type of stuff when I first came to New York.

NEEDCOM:

Yeah, it's a tough city.

ROBERT G:

What I'm saying is, I just got trapped off! What I'm doing here, I could not do where I was born and raised. I came down here with the intentions of only being here a while, and I've been here 11 years. So how long have I know you, Richie, about 11?

RICHARD G:

About 11.

NEEDCOM:

How much money do you collect on a good day? And do you stop collecting when you have a certain amount?

ROBERT G:

Yes. It depends. It varies, 'cause there's so many people. If I make enough to get something to eat, and a drink, and a pack of cigarettes, I'm not going to sit there all day and try to break the bank.

If I make fifteen dollars, I'm happy. I mean, fifteen dollars to me, when I didn't have nothing in my pocket to start with, is like a million dollars.