Well in the Desert works to find solution for panhandlers

A local nonprofit is working to find a solution for panhandlers. According to Riverside County’s 2017 homeless count report, Palm Springs has 138 homeless, the most in the desert. Many business owners are frustrated with transients loitering outside their doors.

“We offer help as in, call us, and we can show up and actually offer them more than just a, ‘get off of my property’,” Bryan James Johnson, an administrator with Well in the Desert said. Johnson says the Operation Well Assist program is designed to help remove panhandlers, or transients who may be disturbing private property, while offering services. Terry Wilson has been homeless for two years. He said his interactions with Well in the Desert have always been positive. “A business owner comes out and he’s hostile. We react the way you come at us. You come at us hostile, we become hostile. We really don’t need the cops because most of us will leave with a bottle of water,” Wilson said. Philip Chesterman, owner and buyer of Bear Wear in Palm Springs has had to deal with panhandlers outside his business before. “I think it just feels like I’m not calling the police all the time. The police are there to do a service and moving homeless along may not be the one. Having a go-to number and having someone come out and you know they’re going to care a little better, is good,” Chesterman said.
Message from Well in the Desert’s website: “If you see people on the streets who need help please call Bryan at (760) 835-8466 or Arlene at (760) 323-8353 and we will try to dispatch someone with water and a smile to compassionately do what we can. We have nowhere to invite them to go, nowhere they can be out of the elements, but we can offer them company and a little hope that they are not forgotten, at least not by us.”