Just over a year ago restrictions on panhandling increased in Madison. As of October 2012, panhandling within 25 feet of an alcohol licensed establishment, an outdoor eating area, an intersection, the central business district, or an ATM is illegal. This makes it basically impossible to shake a cup of coins anywhere on State Street anymore and I could not be happier about it. Before I inspire any serious controversy, there is a difference between homeless people and panhandlers. The number of homeless individuals is rising in Madison. According to Porchlight Inc., the largest company supplying housing to low-income residents to Dane County, there are over 3,500 homeless people in Dane County every year. Their statistics show more than 1,200 single men, 500 single women, over 1,000 children and 500 families were homeless in 2010. Porchlight also claims over 2,000 people were turned away from over-crowded shelters in Madison in 2011. I encourage any help for the homeless. There are over half a dozen places in Madison that are specifically designed to help the homeless. Places like Porchlight Inc, and Youth Services of Southern Wisconsin offer resources to the homeless. Anyone can donate to these causes at any time. There are locations in Madison for homeless people to stay like Bethel Lutheran Church and the Road Home. These places could always use the help of college students like us with the time to volunteer. It is important to respect the homeless and treat homeless people like people.
I grew up near enough to Madison to frequent State Street as a kid. People my new college friends wanted to help with spare change were people I recognized from their years of panhandling. At first I still passed nickels and dimes into the cups along with my fellow freshmen. Then I stopped. And I do not regret it. An investigation done by WISC-TV last year estimated that panhandling on Gammon Road intersections shows a $70,000 yearly income for those asking for donations. In addition to making a lot of money, these individuals made a lot of people uncomfortable. Male panhandlers frequently flirted with female students just trying to walk home. One of the things on my bucket list was to buy a meal for someone who could not buy one themselves. One day two years ago I headed to the library on a game day and a woman walked up to me asking if I knew Madison well. I said I did and she tried to explain to me that she could not afford to buy a meal. She was pregnant, she left an abusive partner, and she needed food today because shelters were closed on weekends. This story was a little far-fetched to begin with but I was going to buy a sandwich anyway and offered her one as well. No, she wanted food from Asian Kitchen. She bought as much as one could possibly buy with one meal including two sodas, and after I purchased that she called her sister on a cell phone that was nicer than mine.
Less than two weeks later a young woman came up to me at the end of State Street while I was waiting for a friend. She gave an identical story. She could not go to a shelter, she was pregnant, hungry, and also running from an abusive partner. That was a big coincidence but I gave her the cash that I had. She claimed it was not enough, she was hungry for something specific that cost more than I had and asked me to follow her to the closest ATM. I did not. Both women asked for my help again that semester, using the same line to start speaking with me, neither seemed to recognize me. I did not help them again and I have not helped someone on the street in the same way since.
Some organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin claim panhandling is a right, protected by the First Amendment. Maybe asking for money is free speech, but lying about needing it is not. I wish I had the income to donate to those in need. I believe people in our country treat the symptoms of homelessness, rather than the causes. Those in need deserve aid and respect. I just do not appreciate being lied to and I caution fellow students to avoid being taken advantage of. Volunteer at a shelter, buy Street Pulse, or even buy a meal for someone if you can, but do not allow yourself to be manipulated. We must help the people who need it, but we must also be wary about who actually does need it.
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