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Spare Change?

Local Panhandlers Share Life Stories, Details of Soliciting Money on the Street

Still, Shorey is generally approving of his patrons. "I think that the people in Cambridge are pretty nice in helping us out," he says. "I plan to move down here eventually."

A Family Affair

Alice, her amiable grin and firm stance persuading Shorey to return to his post at the bank, is also eager and faintly amused to talk to a reporter scribbling down everything she says.

"I don't work every day, just a couple of times a week--when we're short on money and food stamps." "We" is Alice's live-in boyfriend of four years and her seventeen-year-old son.

Alice claims to collect $35 to $40 during four to six hours of panhandling.

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She says Saturday nights in the Square are the best since "people out drinking are in a joyous mood and give money."

Alice has been panhandling for supplementary income for years, although she says, "The first time, it was hard to do."

"I was embarrassed," Alice says. "I started just `cause I needed the money, and I saw other people doing it who looked like they were doing okay."

Alice says her boyfriend is currently between jobs.

"We're trying hard to stay afloat, to get money for my son," Alice says.

Alice says she has a high school diploma, but declares that she has no skills and cannot find any sort of job.

"I was thinking of working for Spare Change," she explains, referring to the newspaper sold by homeless vendors, "but they only get 65 cents for each dollar they earn, and they're forced to work regular hours in an assigned spot."

Alice seems happier just panhandling, idly rauling her cup as she engaged in shoptalk with Shorey, discussing new spots and places other panhandlers have been working.

Bragging proudly to her listeners, Alice announces, "I've got Section Eight subsidized housing. We're living in a three-bedroom apartment that normally costs $1062 a month, but we're only paying $240 for it."

Alice's boyfriend, Jerry, looks on silently, but refuses to answer any questions posed to him, only shaking his head and cryptically declaring, "I'd better not say."

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