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SALT LAKE CITY — Pamela Atkinson smiled as she wrapped her arms around the bright red "donation meter" on the southeast corner of Main and South Temple.
And when she was done giving it a hug, the longtime advocate for the homeless fed it a few quarters.
Atkinson joined Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, Police Chief Chris Burbank, social service providers and downtown business leaders outside the Zions Bank building for Thursday's launch of the Homeless Outreach Service Team program.
The program, Becker said, "utilizes a collaborative approach to address the root causes of panhandling."
Donation meters throughout downtown will allow people to give spare change to the homeless rather than to those who ask for it on the streets. All money collected in the meters will be distributed to homeless service providers in the city through the Pamela J. Atkinson Foundation.
"We encourage the public to support the HOST program by turning spare change into real change and contributing to meters rather than individuals," Becker said.
Local social service providers will be working with police to respond with appropriate help to reports of aggressive panhandling or disorderly conduct.
Rather than issuing citations and hauling offenders off to jail, police will contact area homeless service providers in an effort to get those individuals the help they need.
"This program is much more than simply changing the behavior of how we donate to panhandlers," Burbank said. "If we don't change our behaviors, (panhandlers) aren't going to change their behaviors."
Even if they put one quarter in it, that quarter, alongside many, many others, it really can make a difference in people's lives.
–Pamela J. Atkinson
He continued, "What we've found, especially when talking about the homeless population who don't have the ability to pay fines, they end up with 15 arrests at the end of the year and they are still in the exact same situation they were when we started at the beginning of the year."
Zions Bank is the first to partner with Salt Lake City and the Downtown Alliance on the donation meters. Zions also has pledged a matching donation of up to $25,000 for money raised through the HOST program over the next six months. Tax-deductible contributions also can be made at any Zions Bank branch.
"Even if they put one quarter in it, that quarter, alongside many, many others, it really can make a difference in people's lives," said Atkinson. "Nothing is too small because it grows as more and more people learn about the program and more and more people give to these meters."
The city has 13 donation meters to be placed around areas of the downtown. The meter outside the Zions Bank building is the only one that has been installed.
Story written by Jared Page with contributions from Shara Park.
