You might feel sorry for them or you might not care and in some cases that cardboard sign asking for a 'little help' causes you to scour the cup-holders in your car looking for quarters.

But when you give a homeless person a dollar where does it really go? And did you know that spare change can actually cost you a lot more in the long run?

On the corner of 1st Street and Grand Avenue Beth Malone stands patiently. "Flying a sign for necessities," says Malone.
She hoping for a little help from strangers. "Some people will throw change, some people throw cigarettes," she says.
Homeless now for a month Malone and her friends live in a campsite by the river, occasionally posting up on a corner asking for money for supplies. Malone says it's for things like, "Dog food, food for us, paper to start to the fires with."

Every now and then she gets the few shouts and taunts. "go get a job, you know, yelling obscenities," says, Malone. And knows that maybe more than a few passerbys think, from there she's heading straight to a liquor store. Malone says, "That's what a few of us do and it makes the rest of us look bad."

But officials say it's probably more than a few. The Grand Junction Police Homeless Outreach Team has been on the streets now for four months. They know from experience who flys a sign and where that money usually goes. Team member Cory Tomps says, "There are some people that are using that to eat but I'd say the majority of people that are out there are using that to buy liquor and things and of course that's anecdotal, that's just from what we've seen."

In Grand Junction there are approximately 860 homeless people. Most of them won't be found on the corners. Tomps says, "It's just important not to group the entire community in with those few people that are the most visible." Mollie Woodard with the Homeward Bound Homeless shelter says, "The numbers are homeless families, homeless children there's over 500 homeless, unaccompanied youth in our community."

Woodard says anyone down on his or her luck can come to the shelter for help. She says, "If someone is homeless in our community and they are reaching out the services are there to be wrapped around them at no charge to them. Meals, clothing, housing we have those services in place." But shelters and outreach programs won't provide contraband. Something Woodard says drives some people to grab a sign and ask for that dollar to get by. Woodard says, "You know that dollar it's likely going to go to an addiction because those are the needs that are not going to be met."

So what's the big deal? Why not give some change to a homeless person for a few beers? Well think about this; a cheap bottle of vodka costs around 10 bucks but a check up at the hospital after passing out in the park costs around $1300. Turning that simple dollar into a much larger bill for the tax payer. Not to mention the time and resources it takes to transport those people from the street to the hospital.

Mike Page with the Grand Junction Fire Department says, "It can be from six to two folks as far as resource wise and those calls usually, average time for those calls, somewhere around an hour." Plus a ride in the ambulance is another fee. Page says, "There are times when those folks that use that service don't have the ability to pay and they end up being government supported to a certain degree."

Many times its the same people taking those rides. Page says, "There are a number of folks that we see that we see on a regular basis."
That's also the case at Colorado West Mental Health. Where individuals are often taken after their doctor check ups for detox.

In October of last year Colorado West started tracking who enters the facility. Tomps says, "As of March they had 500 admissions and they determined they had 37 people that were accounting for about 44 percent of those admissions." That's at least one visit per month for each of those individuals. "After they're sobered up and they leave they end up back on the streets and it's kinda that revolving door of there's no housing in place, there's no treatment in place what would you expect someone to do. They are going to go back and do what they know," says, Tomps.

A reason the Grand Valley Coalition for the Homeless says a dollar out the window goes further when used correctly. Woodard says, "Homeward bound is able to provide a night's stay, clean linen, shampoo, and two meals for $12.34 for one individual. We're able to provide a meal for someone for about $2."

The coalition is also looking to transition most of the homeless, even the ones who don't want services, from the street into self sufficiency.
Woodard says, "That's what the 10 year plan's about. We are really trying to figure out, 'Well, what's going to work for these folks, how are we going to be able to reach everyone?'" A solution that Woodard says starts with the community. "Support the providers instead of the individual on the corner because that's where the long term solutions are," she says.

As for Malone she says she does use the services out there but when she's on the streets it's all about surviving.
"I just try to make it work the best I can, " she says. Even it that means asking for a hand out.

Homeward Bound says the total shelter operating cost from 2009 to 2010 was close to $500,000.