Good that you KNOW the person requesting.  Personally, and not my call, I don't know if posting on a chat board is a good idea.

 The notary chat boards I belong to last year and this year are having a rash of "please send me money" for medical expenses and various other personal problems.

 For me, I have sympathy and do not know these people.  In past years, a few posters have been "caught out" in their more-than-I-can-afford cars, homes and cruise vacations after the fact.  NOT to say all requests aren't valid, just that it is difficult to weed out the "true" need.  I tend to give to specific charities rather than individuals or to personal friends (or requests by relatives for their personal friend) that I know.

 For example, last week in San Antonio, so many homeless people were asking for "money for food" that my husband and I gave a donation to the local food bank and told the individuals asking that we had done so.  A few expressed their displeasure :( , which makes me wonder what the money would have been spent on.  A short time later, one of our friends was horrified to see someone she gave $10 to coming out of a local store with a package of cigarettes.