For a Good Cause

Solicitors will always be with us. And by solicitors, I don’t mean British lawyers or ladies of the evening. I mean other people who ask strangers for money, sometimes in exchange for goods, and sometimes in exchange for a tax write-off.

In hard times, solicitors get a little bolder.  I encountered two this week who impressed me with their determination, if not their people skills.

I was on my way into Walgreen’s when I spied a woman in a white uniform sitting at a table with a can and some laminated materials. I recognized a sob story waiting to happen, so I breezed by, ready to throw an “I’ll stop on my way out” over my shoulder if she spoke to me. She did not.

On my way out, as I had silently promised, I stopped. “Tell me your story,” I said.

She talked about single mothers, the homeless, and the hungry. She showed…(Read more)