"The Stoplight Stickup" - Chicago Tribune, 9/1/10

Green means go. Yellow means caution. And red means roll down your window and donate your parking meter change to a worthy cause. Weekends, it seems, are all about running errands and dodging solicitors in intersections.

Firefighters urge motorists to "fill the boot" to fight muscular dystrophy. Teenagers plead for donations for the marching band's trip to California. Volunteers ask for support for the local homeless shelter, for cancer research, for unwanted pets.

But that traffic signal is there for a reason: Intersections are dangerous places. The busier the corner, the greater its potential for fundraising — and for trouble. A few weeks ago, Homewood village trustees voted to ban fundraising at intersections. Other communities are considering tighter rules or outright bans.

Homewood officials say they just want to shepherd the solicitors to safer locations, like storefronts and train stations. A representative for the Muscular Dystrophy Association who attended the meeting said, not surprisingly, that collections are three to four times as high at intersections. No wonder they're so crowded.

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I put in a buck to help fill the boot. I also put in a buck for Kiwanis, VFW poppies, Misericordia tag day, and the Lions. If it is kids raising money for their youth group trip I might think twice. I guess it just depends on the organization and what the traffic is doing.

I walk past tables with Girl Scouts and their parents selling cookies and Boy Scouts and their parents selling popcorn. No can do.

Requests for money in the mail usually get tossed. If I want to donate I know where to find you. Also, I've found that they tend to multiply.