While other organizations give the homeless a place to sleep or a psychiatric referral, Spare Change "provides them with the means to [earn]cash and the cash gives them choices," she says.

And it seems to be working.

"The vendors are a vulnerable population, but at the same time they have to have a lot of will, courage and faith to stand on a street corner trying to sell a stack of papers," Larson says.

Dougherty, whose relationship with Spare Change began six years ago, was homeless at the time the paper started.

"I had a job, I lost my job and then I lost my place," he remembers. "I didn't want to deal with life. An ugly side of me came out. It took me a while to get a grip on myself. I needed to like myself again before I could love myself."

Like many involved in Spare Change, he encountered the program by chance.

"The program told me I would earn $100 for organizing a rally," Dougherty says. "But after the rally, they said they didn't have any money to give me, so they asked if I would try to sell a pile of 100 papers instead."