You are not logged in.
Panhandlers want your money; <BR>advocates say don't give <BR> <BR><blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1><b>quote:</b></font><p>...Much research and anecdotal evidence suggests a majority of homeless have chronic health problems and frequently are hooked on alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes and harder drugs. <BR>... <BR> <BR>Walter Sanders, 63, a panhandler with one arm who frequently works the intersection of Kingshighway and Oakland Avenue, offered a rhetorical question: "If begging is against the law, then shouldn't giving be against the law, too?" <BR> <BR>Several donors didn't want to comment on why they handed over money. One simply cited pity before driving away. <BR>... <BR> <BR>For James Scott, a captain with the Salvation Army, begging did nothing but prolong his days on the street. He was homeless on and off while fighting a crack cocaine addiction in the late '80s and early '90s. <BR> <BR>He spent days "working a trail" among charities for food and street corners for drug money. Only when he hit bottom and enrolled in a Salvation Army rehab program did he get clean. <BR> <BR>He still gives a dollar from time to time, even knowing how little good it will probably do. <BR> <BR>"We should never lose our compassion," said Scott, 49. "But I can say from my experience, it was never a few dollars that got me clean. I needed real help." <BR> <BR><!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote> <BR> <BR> <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/F69491C0A9B09B4B862575E20080FCEC?OpenDocument" target=_top>http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/F69491C0A9B09B4B862575E20080FCEC?OpenDocument</a><img src="http://www.atomorrow.net/discus/messages/13/1472.jpg" alt="">
Offline
You know, I used to donate to a lot of the panhandlers until I read that they can make as much as $400 a day. <BR> <BR>What I did was fun though. I'd keep empty cardboard and pens in my car. I would donate and ask for the guy's sign, giving him one of my empty signs and a pen to make a new sign. I collected about thirty signs when I quit. <BR> <BR>The look of surprise and the conversations I had with them was interesting. I still have some of those signs and wonder where those poor guys are now. Never ran into a woman panhandler though. <BR> <BR>renie
Offline