A sign panhandlers use when they stand near the Pensacola Bay Bridge in Pensacola, Fl., Monday, March 9, 2015. (Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today)

Specially painted parking meters will be going up in downtown Pensacola, offering people an alternative to giving to panhandlers.

They're part of the "Better Way to Give" initiative, a campaign to raise awareness about homelessness, especially those who are living on the street.

Better Way to Give is a partnership between the Studer Community Institute and United Way of Escambia County. The goal is to encourage people to donate spare change to the repurposed parking meters, instead of panhandlers, who often use the money to support a lifestyle on the street that includes substance abuse.

This weekend, several University of West Florida art students are volunteering their time to paint meters and you can watch them work Saturday, July 18 at the Palafox Market.

The Studer Community Institute is setting up a tent at the downtown event, which offers a variety of vendors the chance to set up along Palafox Street, between Wright and Garden streets.

The students will be painting from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., turning the meters into works of art.

They'll later be placed at intersections throughout downtown, primarily along Palafox Place and set far enough back that motorists won't confuse them with regular parking meters. The Downtown Improvement Board donated 75 parking meters to the Better Way to Give campaign, but initially only about a dozen will be installed.

Elise Poche holds her poster design by a meter which is part of the Feed the Meter, Feed the Hungry campaign at Cathedral Square, part of a campaign in Mobile, Al, similar to "Better Way to Give." Monday, May 4, 2015. (Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Today)

All of the donations received through the meters and the campaign is received by United Way of Escambia County CH746. All donations, after administrative costs, are used to support nonprofit work that can provide measurable outcomes that demonstrate positive change toward ending homelessness.

According to the 2015 Point-in-Time Homeless County, conducted by EscaRosa Coalition on the Homeless, there are close to 1,000 chronically homeless individuals in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. The data shows 33 percent of them have some kind of substance abuse problem and another 33 percent have mental illness. Money gained from panhandling enables them to support their lifestyle and addictions, but as a result many are not exposed to services that could get them off the street.

Besides the chronically homeless, there are thousands more in our community including, families, veterans, and unaccompanied youth who are also struggling to support themselves.

The Better Way to Give campaign is an opportunity to explore the many faces and causes of homelessness and effectively coordinate resources to help the most vulnerable.

Those who would like to learn more about Better Way to Give are welcome to stop by the SCI's tent at Palafox Market, Saturday, where you can watch the artists work and find information about the campaign.