As the leaves turn and the weather gets colder, many of the panhandlers on State Street will move into shelters or on to other states, as they do every year. One of those panhandlers, an army veteran named Bill, said he will have to leave Madison and move to a veterans' shelter in Stevens Point, Wis. Until then he will continue to ask for change from passersby.
Bill uses a wheelchair as a result of various ailments, including a back injury he said he received while serving in Korea in 1978. He cannot get enough benefits from the Veterans' Association, he said, so he begs on the street to sustain himself.
\I buy things to eat, I do my laundry, and yes, I do drink; I'm not going to deny it,"" Bill said.
His situation is typical among panhandlers on State Street, who spend donations on a multitude of things including food, clothing and liquor. Some say giving Bill money just enables him to continue a dependent lifestyle. Others say if any of the money puts food in his stomach, it is worth it.
One thing those on both sides of the issue agree on is that is the winter weather may give the problem a hiatus, but it won't make it go away.
The city has been divided over panhandling for years. Former Mayor Sue Bauman even appointed a commission to study the issue last year, but the committee never issued concrete recommendations before it disbanded at the end of her administration.
In recent weeks, some store owners have put up signs as part of a public education campaign that encourages people not to donate to panhandlers, but to give to outreach programs instead.
Meanwhile, those programs are suffering from budget cuts on the state, county and city levels.
""It's incredibly frustrating right now because there's no money anywhere for anyone,"" said Chip Wood, street outreach specialist for the local charity Briarpatch.
Wood said Briarpatch gave out 334 hygiene kits with items such as toothbrushes and soap to street people this September alone. But the group constantly needs donations to fund these types of efforts, he said.
Another program that could suffer from lack of funds is the Downtown Outreach Program, which tries to decrease panhandling during its peak in warm weather months by connecting homeless people with job services and addiction treatment programs.
The program was funded from last May through Nov. 1 with money from the city, county and United Way, but coordinator Joe Lindstrom said there is no guarantee it will receive enough funding to continue next year.
Lindstrom said the problem will never be solved if community members continue to enable panhandlers' addiction by throwing coins to people like Bill.
""Putting money in that guy's cup makes my job harder,"" he said.
