I-10 closed down and they came through town

While I am also aware of the massive budget cuts and all..I am wondering when it became the norm to teach our children to beg for money out in the street and risk getting hit rather then working for it by holding bake sales and such? These teens and their parents make it a Friday event to stand in the middle of traffic with signs and buckets, screaming and hollering as traffic stops. And as children do, they were crossing from corner to corner, standing in lanes with no safety vest and cutting up, not watching for oncoming traffic. Several times I held my breath as a car came very close to hitting one of them as well as a parent or two,standing in the middle of the lane with them. This was especially concerning last Fri. as the traffic was diverted off I-10 and very heavy.
So Welsh, considering what would happen should there be a fender bender chain reaction, pushing the cars thru the red light and into half your teens, is this worth the amount of money they are collecting???
Is this practice a form of child endangerment with parental permission?

From what I understand, the Chief of Police was notified about this very dangerous situation and "supposedly" told the organizers that if they wanted to continue, they would have to wear orange vests to be seen better by traffic. I have YET to see an orange vest on any of these people!!!! None! Not one. Nada. These teenage girls stand in the middle of the intersections jumping around and acting silly, not paying attention and they are just really LUCKY that someone hasn't hit them yet!! They do this with their mothers and sponsors sitting by watching them and even encouraging them.
I've been scared out of my wits more than once when some silly little 15 yr old jumped towards my car as I was turning the corner at the same intersection pictured above. Had I not had my kids with me, I would have pulled up, parked my car, got out and walked over to the grown ups sitting across the street who were supposed to be looking after these girls and gave them a HUGE piece of my mind. I was so mad! She scared me AND my children. Not only did she put herself in danger, but she put my kids in danger as well. That is just STUPID!!

The town, people, sponsors, school and parent consider the begging of money is more important then the safety of their children. Gee kids, it's ok to go play in the traffic! Can we say "Lawsuit?"