LOOSE CHANGE OFTEN JUST HELPS THEM BUY DRUGS

With the arrival of nicer weather, most of us are driving with our car
windows down. I have noticed more motorists handing out change from
their stopped cars to the homeless people on King Edward Avenue near
Shepherds of Good Hope beside the complex where I live. Most people
think that they have done a good deed when they hand their loose
change to the destitute. Yet ironically, they probably would not
notice the volunteers on the other side of the street meticulously
combing the area for used needles.

Many of these less fortunate people begging in this downtown Ottawa
area take the money to buy drugs and then promptly smoke them on my
front porch. If you want to make a real difference in their lives,
save your change and make a year-end donation to the Shepherds of Good
Hope, which provides them with valuable services that their drug
dealers cannot.

Scott Keith,

Ottawa