The Operative Word Is "Professional"

If you want to help the poor and needy take Rob's advice; "Give to the United Way or the Sally Ann. Just skip the beggars on the street. They don't deserve your money."

Get rid of professional panhandlers By Rob Granatstein It's time to get something straight, wanting to rid Toronto of panhandlers doesn't mean you are anti-poor. With the murder of 32-year-old St. Catharines resident Ross Hammond, allegedly at the hands of four panhandlers near Trinity Bellwoods park, the calls to ban begging have been renewed. And just as quickly, poverty activists turn it around and make it seem like we -- the people who aren't holding the Tim Horton's cup full of dimes and quarters -- are the ones who have done something wrong. That's just plain ridiculous. Calling for a ban on panhandlers, whether it's in tourist areas or city-wide, is not an attack on the poor, no matter what Beric German of Street Health tries to have you believe. This isn't about sweeping the homeless out of sight and out of mind. It's an attack on people who are panhandling as a business. People who are setting up in front of your local Shoppers Drug Mart, subway station or restaurant, day after day, aren't just trying to make ends meet for their family for that day. They are in business. Whether they make $10 or $70 a day, whether they squeegee your windows or just sit and beg, it doesn't matter. It's a business, and one that should not be taking place on our streets. The people who are poor, those who are struggling to make ends meet, who may have lost a job and can't pay rent, they are the ones couch-surfing with family, using food banks, receiving help from the United Way or Salvation Army. Maybe they put their hand out for help once or twice. But their own personal pride won't let them turn it into a business. They just want a chance to get back on their feet again. They aren't aggressive, they aren't nasty, they aren't twenty-somethings bouncing from city-to-city like summer vacationers, leaving a string of petty crimes behind. It's the poor who need to be helped. And we should help. Give to the United Way or the Sally Ann. Just skip the beggars on the street. They don't deserve your money.