[Virginia] Public examines face of poverty

From The Daily Progress

By John Yellig / Daily Progress staff writer

The chapel pews were packed Tuesday night, not with worshippers, but with the curious, the concerned, with people interested in society's less visible members: the poor.

The audience came to look upon the face of poverty. If the evening's organizers were successful, the audience would leave with a newfound, or rejuvenated, dedication to helping the poor.

The event was one of four community discussions sponsored by the Quality Community Council, a local advocacy group, and the University of the Poor, the educational arm of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, which works to unite the world's poor with those trying to help them. It was held at the University of Virginia Chapel.

Tim Smith, a 31-year-old double amputee from Charlottesville, said he was the face of the poor.

"A person that has nothing to hide, hides nothing," he said. "I made $15,000 last year."

The federal government considers a family of four with a net income of $19,370 to be at the poverty line, said Karen Waters, executive director of the QCC.

Subtract from that the average amount such a family must spend on rent; utilities; transportation; food, including federal assistance; and medical bills that aren't covered by health insurance, and the family has $515 left, she said.

A minimum level of child-care costs, on average, $2,300 annually, so before the family has purchased clothes, furniture, shoes and birthday and Christmas presents, they're already $1,785 in the hole, she said.

"We've got work to do," she said.

Alex Gulotta, executive director of the Legal Aid Justice Center, said people could help the poor by ending their reliance on an "industry" of poverty.

"We need poverty as a culture," he said. "We need poor people so that when I go to get that $1 hamburger ? there's someone to give it to me.

"We're all supporting it when we take for granted the poor people who serve us and when we leech off the economic system."

Many businesses, such as some used car dealerships and payday lenders, subsist off of the poor by charging them exorbitant interest rates. Gulotta's office has helped clients who have been charged as much as 39.9 percent interest on a car loan.

"When you have people down in Richmond saying we need this industry or poor people won't have access to credit, I say, 'B.S.,'" he said. "Find out who's engaging in these kinds of predatory economic practices and don't support them."

Smith, a public housing activist, said his wasn't the only face of poverty present in the chapel. He pointed to the rear of the sanctuary, where a 9-year-old boy stood.

"My son, that's the face of poverty," he said.