Panhandlers Find Community on Oakland’s Streets

(Front to back) Bill, Jenny and John sit out in front of the Forbes Avenue Rite Aid in Oakland, hoping for some spare change from passersby.

words: Olivia Kappler

photos: Olivia Kappler

Roberta, Bill, John and Jenny are four friends who sit outside of Rite Aid on Forbes Avenue in Oakland, asking passersby for money. They are grateful for a few pennies, or even a friendly “Hello.” This Rite Aid is their favorite spot to gather and talk to one another. Pitt students and local residents graciously give them what they can.

Anna Moyer, a University of Pittsburgh junior, makes sure she has at least a few quarters to give to them when she takes her weekly Rite Aid trip.

“I say ‘Hi’ to them when they’re there,” Moyer says. “Bill always shakes my hand, and I’ll give him a few quarters or what I have handy.”

According to Keystone Crossroads,  a collaborative reporting project that focuses on Pennsylvania’s cities, homelessness in Pittsburgh has increased from 1,423 homeless individuals in 2011 to 1,573 in 2014. If there is any kind of silver lining, it is that the state of Pennsylvania saw the second-lowest growth rate in the country over that period of time, behind only the territory of Puerto Rico.

One of the beggars is Roberta Leonard, 52. Leonard has been homeless for four years. Her family currently resides in Florida, but she was born in Pittsburgh and came back to be with her boyfriend.

That life soon ended after she left him because of constant physical and verbal abuse. The end of the relationship, though, left Leonard homeless.

Sitting on an overturned milk crate, Bill collects change in a McDonalds cup. He enjoys singing to pedestrians in exchange for money.

The especially enjoys the company of Bill Dorsey, 67, who has been collecting money outside of Rite Aid for 38 years. Dorsey is blind, and although he asks for money, he is not homeless and currently resides in the Bedford Dwellings apartments in Pittsburgh.

Not only does Dorsey collect money, he enjoys singing gospel music to entertain those who want to listen.

“I’m not afraid to be out here singin’ in the streets,” he says.

Dorsey does not work right now, which is part of the reason he begs, but is receiving the help that he needs to support himself through “some programs” in Pittsburgh that provide financial aid. He says he can’t remember the agency’s name.

Dorsey says he enjoys most of the people who walk by him on Forbes Avenue that he knows on a first-name basis, but there are some people who give him grief, saying they doubt he is really blind.

“They say, ‘Oh he ain’t blind,’ and I say, ‘Well let me drive your car then,’” Dorsey says.

Dorsey fumbled with the few coins in his McDonald’s coffee cup as he rocked back and forth on his crate, smiling as though he knew everyone who would walk by.

After high school, Dorsey did not further his education. At one time he was employed by a rehabilitation agency, but claims he received unfair treatment because he is an African American. He quit.

Leonard went to Taylor Allderdice High School. She attended CCAC for a year and a half, and planned to transfer to the University of Pittsburgh for nursing.

Leonard was unable to transfer to Pitt, but says her relationship with the university changed from being her dream school to her safe house. Students have become accustomed to Roberta and understand her need. Those who walk by give her what they can, or even a meal.

“I always wanted to go to Pitt,” Leonard says. “I like the students, they [sic] nice to me, they pay me to go get food.”

Zach Halverson, an Oakland resident, shows empathy toward the beggars when he walks by and does what he can to help out.

“You just know that you’re making their day when you give them at least a little bit, you know?” he says. “They always sit out there, so they have become a part of our community in Oakland in a friendly way.”

After Leonard’s college career ended she was jobless and back with her family in Florida. In 2013 and 2014 she had to get surgery on both of her knees because she had trouble walking. She was unable to get a job during her recovery, and then claims that the opportunity to get a job has never been an option thereafter.

Just recently, Leonard applied for help through Operation Safety Net. She hopes that if they reach out, she can have a place to stay until she tries to get back on her feet.

Leonard hopes that within the next several years she can find a job and make a life for herself, and dreams to go back to nursing school at Pitt to become a registered nurse.

Dorsey also has hopes to get a job where he can help people and make them happy when they are in need. He wants to be able to support his teenage daughter so she can have the life she deserves. For right now, he says that he is preparing carols to sing for Christmas time on Forbes Avenue, and that he will worry about the future after that.