Also, I want to just make this a reminder: people shouldn't really need to qualify requests for mutual aid with 'I PROMISE I'll only spend it on food and rent' or any of this other 'hedging-against-being-perceived-as-frivolous' stuff. Asking people to quantify what they use the money for is no fucking different than going 'ugh, I'm not gonna give to a homeless dude, he'll just spend it on booze.' It's just another outgrowth of classist moral rationalization about poverty.
Now, that said, also do your research, and be wary if somebody's story keeps changing. If someone says, for example, 'I need financial aid because I need emergency surgery' and they've needed 'emergency surgery' like five times in a year and then follow it all up with a link to a wishlist of high-resale-value Disney merchandise, then yes, I'm very suspicious of that, and I'm going to dig through whatever information they volunteer before I do anything, because there absolutely are people out there who might want to take advantage of the generosity and kindness and strangers. It is not a bad thing to say 'I'm getting weird vibes and I don't want to get bamboozled.'
But part of the point of 'being charitable' is that once you give the money away, it ain't yours anymore. You gave up any control over what it was used for the moment it left your hands. Making people submit to your personal review of what is a valid use of your charity after the fact is inane bullshit. You don't know their life, and you don't know their needs, and yeah, sometimes, it is worthwhile to spend money on something that will help you get to the next day psychologically as much as something that will help you get to the next day physically. If you are in a position of financial privilege, don't act like you haven't had days where you literally would not be functional without being able to look forward to a candy bar or a new game. You are not a bank and they are not asking for certification for a mortgage. Don't be a cop about this stuff.