Signs going up in Canton discourage donating to panhandlers
CANTON, Ohio (WJW) — The city is in the process of placing 37 signs in areas where panhandling is prevalent, asking people not to donate to panhandlers.
The initiative, called “A Better Way to Give,” first caught the attention of Canton’s new Mayor William Sherer II several years ago, when the city of Dublin undertook a similar effort.
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Instead of giving directly to panhandlers, donors are asked to donate to a number of local charities, including the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank and the Salvation Army, where 600 individuals visited their food pantry last month alone.
“A lot of them are our friends who are homeless. They just don’t have a place to go for a variety of reasons and some of them are people who maybe have a place to live but, again, their income just doesn’t meet the needs that they have,” said Maj. Jody Kramer of the Canton Salvation Army.
“We want to make sure that if somebody is going to make donations to these not-for-profits that they are going to the appropriate organizations, so we can help these people way more than somebody donating on the street,” said Sherer.
The effort is welcomed by the charitable organizations that are in need of contributions, and where Kramer said private contributions can be directed to where it is needed the most.
“Some of the funding that we receive has some very specific criteria to it, so we can only help certain folk. But then donations that come in with kind of no criteria, no strings attached — we are able to help people who might otherwise fall through the cracks,” said Kramer.
“If someone is giving to someone, obviously that’s their choice, but when they are going to an actual agency and receiving services, they can identify other things that might be going on with that particular person and be able to provide ongoing support,” said Pamela Hopkins, the Salvation Army’s program director.
“There is such a need in our community right now and we are no different than the city of Youngstown, the city of Akron, or even the city of Cleveland,” said Sherer.
“I think it’s going to help, you know, solve the issue, but it’s not going to happen overnight, that’s for sure,” he added.
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On the street, FOX 8 found a man panhandling while standing beneath one of the city’s signs.
He did not want to be identified but told FOX 8 News he was there several days a week and the sign doesn’t seem to have made much of an impact. He was upset about the city’s iniative.
“It’s wrong. It’s the only way to get a little money where I can get a room or anything and it’s just — I don’t know,” he said.
“It’s been contested in the U.S. Supreme Court that we can’t restrict panhandling because of freedom of speech, but we can encourage residents and people who live in our community that there is a better way to give,” said Sherer.
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