Fundraising by the Numbers

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Du Quoin commissioners Monday night heard representatives of the Du Quoin Lions Club, the Knights of Columbus, the American Legion and the VFW explain how much their charitable fundraising has dropped because of a ban on downtown roadblocks.

Bruce Summers of the Lions Club said downtown roadblocks raise $2,000 for the club's food basket, scholarship and eye programs as opposed to collecting only $400 from a table set up at Wal-Mart. He asked the council to reinstate roadblocks for state-licensed local charities. He discounted criticism from the public or downtown business owners.

"It (giving) is totally voluntary," he said. "The money we raise stays here," he said.

Representatives of the other three organizations said the same thing, that their fundraising has dropped from $2,000 to $3,000 to only a few hundred dollars and is hampering their ability to give back to the community.

Commissioner Josh Downs said he is completely for the roadblocks. Commissioners said the same thing except that there were too many. The council will take up the issue again at its next meeting.