Oak Park, Illinois, the community where I live, recently initiated a campaign called “Make REAL Change, Not Spare Change”. The “spare change” they refer to here is giving donations directly to people who are panhandling or soliciting on the street, whereas the “REAL change” is giving money indirectly to local nonprofit organizations to then support those in need. 

The campaign consists of dozens of decals plastered on local sidewalks and local parking meters as well as posters hung inside some local businesses. Each one contains the campaign tagline and a QR code which takes you to a website where you can donate money instead of giving that money to a person asking for it. This entire campaign is a flimsy mask for an effort to discourage people who are panhandling and soliciting from coming to our community.

When we look more closely at the campaign, we see this more clearly. Oak Park’s website states that “this campaign is designed to support local businesses, educate the public and promote long-term solutions to address homelessness while enhancing public safety and coordinating our community’s resources.” The main purpose is threaded throughout this statement: “local businesses”, “public safety”, “community resources”, with a mention of “long-term solutions to address homelessness” thrown in there in the middle. In fact, the Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce serves as the fiscal agent for this campaign, so if you donate money, it goes to the Chamber of Commerce before being routed to nonprofits. 

My concern with this campaign lies in the “not” in “Make REAL Change, Not Spare Change”. Those who can afford it should certainly donate money to nonprofit organizations to address the hunger and housing crises that our community faces. But that shouldn’t come at the expense of being compassionate to an individual who is standing in front of you requesting help. This is not an either-or proposition. It only becomes such when the primary goal is not supporting individuals in need but supporting a view of our community that does not include poverty and homelessness. In fact, we need to do so much more to create affordable housing and reduce the tax burden faced by those who are not able to afford it. We need to institutionalize more funding for local organizations that address homelessness and hunger. 

This is one of many examples where our liberal community shows the limits of liberalism. We want to be caring, as long as it doesn’t affect our bottom line. We want to be compassionate, as long as it doesn’t affect the balance sheet. We want to be understanding, as long as it doesn’t force us to look at the uncomfortable truths of how our society leaves some people behind. 

We need to cancel this campaign. We need to continue to examine where we prioritize our comfort over the needs of others. And we need to implement policies that care for our fellow human beings rather than marginalizing them. 

Please email the village of Oak Park at village@oak-park.us if you agree.

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