[Indiana] Poverty Awareness Week kicks off Sunday

from The Star Press

By NASEEM SOWTI
nsowti@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE -- The Poverty Awareness Week kicks off this Sunday to help Delaware County residents understand what it is like to live in poverty.

"I think there's such a misconception that if you don't work, you're in poverty," said Molly Flodder, executive director of TEAMwork for Quality Living, one of the organizations involved in facilitating the event.

But "minimum wage is not living wage in this country," she said.

A couple with two children has to work a combined 3.3 full-time minimum wage jobs in order to meet their basic human needs, according to Common Dreams News Center.

The Poverty Awareness Week features a variety of events that mirror what people in poverty often experience.

A bus simulation will focus on what it is like to travel to work and to run errands without private transportation.

A week of living on $1.67 per meal for a week, called the Food Frugality Challenge, will give those involved a glimpse of what it is like to survive on food stamps.

And a tour of local social service agencies will showcase a few of the organizations that work to help those in poverty.

There are also going to be discussion groups on the book Nickel and Dimed and viewing of PBS documentary Waging a Living, both of which focus on the working poor.

In Delaware County nearly 15,000 people live in poverty, a fact that impacts everyone.

"Our community spends between $1.2 to $1.4 million a month on food stamps, and that's just the direct cost," Flodder said.

Through the Poverty Awareness Week, Flodder and her team hope to help people realize that there's something they can do to help.

"We really hope to create camaraderie and a team spirit. This is really a wonderful opportunity to help people whose resource for community compassion is missing."

The event has been organized by the Eliminating Poverty Initiating Committee, a citizen leadership group convened and coordinated by TEAMwork for Quality Living and the Center Township trustee's office.

For more information, visit www.teamworkql.org.

Contact news reporter Naseem Sowti at 213-5829.