home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- <text id=89TT2714>
- <title>
- Oct. 16, 1989: American Notes:Los Angeles
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Oct. 16, 1989 The Ivory Trail
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 37
- American Notes
- LOS ANGELES
- Brother, No Dimes, Please
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Panhandlers in Los Angeles are being surprised by handouts
- in the form of paper, not paper money but coupons good for a
- meal at the Weingart Center Cafe. The idea was dreamed up by
- Maxene Johnston, president of the 600-bed center in L.A.'s skid
- row, as a new way of encouraging businesses to help the
- homeless.
- </p>
- <p> Johnston figured that donors would give more cheerfully if
- they were sure the handouts would go to a good purpose. In a
- pilot program last March, she asked businesses to buy books of
- the $2.50 coupons to be distributed to street people instead of
- the customary coins. Initial results were so good the program
- became permanent. Soon the center will offer coupons in various
- denominations and book sizes. The brightest sign so far is that
- some panhandlers have begun asking for coupons instead of cash.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-