Raising funds for a charity or nonprofit group used to mean work, not standing on the side of the road sticking scoop nets into people's car windows.

Social mores dictated that donations had to be earned, be it washing cars in the hot sun or selling chili tickets.

But lately a new style of fundraising has taken hold, and it is at best off-putting and at worst dangerous.

Though it happens on roads and streets around O'ahu, Mililani's Meheula Parkway has a convergence of circumstances that keep the scoop nets scooping. The tree-lined road has heavy traffic, multiple streetlights that keep people idling in their vehicles, a grassy median from which to operate plus the high school nearby with its myriad clubs and organizations. Add to that sports teams, church groups and service organizations and it's hard to drive around the lovely Central O'ahu suburb without being hassled for cash.

What happened to the arduous work of making laulau in the school cafeteria to sell? Or working a booth at the carnival, something hot and greasy, while all your buddies tease you for having to wear the hair net? That stuff builds character. It is the sort of humbling work that makes every dollar earned seem so much more valuable.

Not that it isn't hard to stand on the side of the road, look perky, sing little cheers and slide a scoop net or coffee can under every grumpy driver's nose.

But it doesn't seem as earnest as other means of raising funds. Nothing is given in exchange. Sure, a gift to charity should come without strings, but from the other direction, a fundraising effort should come at some cost to the group or individual or else it's just begging.

And for the poor drivers just trying to get where they're going with the last $5 in coins rattling in the rusty pull-out ashtray, how are they supposed to drive the gauntlet every day and hold on to their dignity and paycheck? Shame if you stopped at the light with all the people in red shirts and visors and sometimes Santa hats yelling at you to roll down your window and you, just sitting there, trying to blast your cassette tape of "Sense of Purpose" like maybe you cannot hear.

And then there's the danger factor. How safe is it to stand in the median of a multiple lane roadway distracting drivers with signs and songs and then darting between cars while they're stopped, timing it "just right" so you're out of traffic before the SUV guns it when the light turns?

Stay off the roads. Keep the scoop nets for fishing. Sell some chili.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.