This Is In The,

'what a neat idea' department,

as we move closer in some countries to a cashless society, people who refuse to work and do not receive enough state aid resort to begging, but here is the crunch well meaning greenies and tree hugers do not sometimes nowadays have spare loose change to give them, another thought, if given money will they, the beggars, buy food, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, guns, fund terrorism? who knows, the giver has no way of knowing, well this neat idea solves both problems at once, developed by Carsten van Berkel and Stefan Leendertse of N =5, an Amsterdam-based advertising agency, they have produced a contactless payment jacket that allows people to donate 1€ to the wearer using their contactless smart card, the unusual clothing item has a card reader sewn into it, and in order to donate 1€ to the wearer, all you have to do is hold the card close to the jacket for a few moments, and the sum is automatically debited from your bank account, the contactless payment jacket also comes with an LCD screen which constantly displays instructions of use, the second and even better part of the deal is that the fixed sum (one euro) goes into a bank account managed by a homeless shelter, and can only be used to purchase a hot meal, pay for a bath or spend a night at a homeless shelter (many such centres in the Netherlands require a contribution of 5€ per night), homeless people who really want to turn their life around can also save money for various job certification courses or a down-payment for a home. “We can offer the homeless more than just a warm Christmas,” Jan Jesse Bakker, the designer of the jacket adds. “We give them back prospects.” the full story is here at Het Parool, what a neat idea and hopefully one that will spread pan Europe and other countries in the world.