Westside : SPARE CHANGE
Nickels, dimes and quarters are adding up to big contributions for two Santa Monica-based social service agencies that will receive a total of $10,000 this week from the Dolphin Change Program.
The Westside Food Bank and the CLARE Foundation, which provides rehabilitation and other assistance to homeless substance abusers, are recipients of the money, collected in a dolphin statue that functions like a piggy bank on the Third Street Promenade. The Bayside District Corp., a nonprofit organization that manages the Promenade, erected the statue in 1993 to discourage visitors from giving money to panhandlers.
The Bayside District started the Dolphin fund after it discovered that aggressive panhandlers were driving people from the Promenade, said Ron Cano, executive director of the Bayside District.
The organization made two $5,000 donations last October. One went to Step Up on Second, which offers shelter and mental health services to the homeless, and the other to the Ocean Park Community Center.
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