The City of Rockford ask the community to say no to panhandling and yes to local nonprofits.
ROCKFORD (WREX) — The City of Rockford ask the community to say no to pan handling and yes to local nonprofits.
The City of Rockford government is pushing the community to give better as a part of their new campaign to stop pan handling.
Through social media postsvideos, billboards, and even going out into the community themselvesthe city government is voicing to the public to consider giving to everyday outreach groups and nonprofits instead of handing out cash on the street.
Carpenters Place, a day shelter is one of the nonprofits being supported by the City of Rockford. The shelters executive director Michael O’Connor believes that panhandling can do more harm than good.
“Giving five dollars to a panhandler really is not solving any problems in fact it is making some of the problem worse,” said O’Connor.
O’Connor continued to say, “is that 10 dollars you give out is it really going to be effectively used maybe but very often it’s not the reality is that lots of the circumstances that lead folks to panhandling are related to substance abuse and other issues and those dollars are not going to be well used”.
Other resources in the area include the Rockford Rescue Mission, which Major Tom McNamara says would be a better use of public spending.
“You can give about twelve dollars to the rescue mission and that can provide case management, a warm place to stay a place for an induvial to clean up and not just impact them for that day but you’re giving them meals for the day you ‘re giving them shelter for the night”, said Mayor Tom McNamara.
Carpenters Place opens at 7:00 AM Mondays through Fridays. In addition to being a day shelter the facility provides meals, showers, case management, employment training and more.
The Rockford Rescue Mission opens at 9:00 AM and serves as the regions only overnight homeless shelter. The Rockford Rescue also provides meals case management programs and other resources as well.
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