Milford To 'Have A Heart' Toward Panhandlers

Milford’s motto is the “small city with a big heart” and that is the attitude city officials plan to take with the recent influx of panhandlers, officials said this week.

Before officials move to outlaw panhandling in Milford they have a created a new awareness campaign called “Have a Heart, Give a Heart.”

Health Department official Deepa Joseph said panhandlers are dealing with a myriad of issues including homelessness, substance abuse and mental health issues.

“They need social services,” Joseph said. “The best approach is education and outreach.”

Joseph said the campaign will educate both panhandlers and city residents on how to help. For example, instead of giving money to a panhandler, residents should donate money to agencies that can assist including Beth El Shelter and the United Way of Milford.

Besides just talking about the new awareness campaign, city officials plans to install signage and hand out service cards to panhandlers listing agency phone numbers for groups that can assist them.

The numbers will include social services contacts, the Beth El Shelter, and the city’s employment training division. Beth El Executive Director Toni Dolan said the city works hard to be sensitive to those in need.

“The big temptation is to hand out money,” Dolan said. “The panhandlers are not Beth El residents, they are not all homeless.”

She said Beth El representatives will reach out to panhandlers and educate them on the dangers of panhandling and offer them a list of agencies that can help the,.

“We plan to send staff out to tell them about the resources available and help them and get them to come to Beth El,” Dolan said.

Last month Milford Patch readers first raised their concerns about the increase in panhandling in the city. A petition was launched and thus far 250 signatures have been collected.

This is what we published last month:

A Milford resident has created a petition for ‘action against panhandling in Milford, CT.’ The argument has been outlined in a post by Milford Patch user Lawrence Reynolds titled ‘Stop the “homeless, hungry” scam plague!”

Check out the petitioner’s argument below:

Many of these ‘regulars’ appear to hardly be homeless sporting clean clothes, haircuts, and cellphones. Panhandling should not be allowed in Milford. It is an eyesore to our community. If these people are truly homeless there are many reasonable options available in milford and the surrounding towns for them. I have offered medium type labor work to one of them for a day at a rate of 10/hr and he refused. That leads me to believe he is not homeless and likely doing better behind the scenes than many others in Milford who are actually working hard for their income. Please sign and repost through any media available to you. Our city needs to take action against panhandling.

We received hundreds of comments about the issue on our story and on our Facebook page.