VENTURA : Anti-Panhandling Campaign Planned
Holiday shoppers making their rounds in Ventura this season will see new signs in store windows: “Don’t Give Spare Change. Help Make a Real Change.”
Sponsored by the city, the Chamber of Commerce, downtown merchants and the Ventura County Homeless and Housing Coalition, the placards are part of a citywide campaign to discourage panhandling.
Homeless advocates say panhandlers are best served by appropriate social service agencies--not by good Samaritans who dig into their pockets to dole out change.
“A lot of people who give, give out of fear, and there are others who give out of guilt,” said Rick Pearson, the director of Project Understanding, an organization that provides services to the homeless. “We’re trying to reach those people.”
The signs will be accompanied by cards listing the various city agencies that provide services to low-income and homeless people.
The program will begin before the holiday shopping season starts, officials say.
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