[South Carolina] A taste of poverty

from The Beaufirt Gazette

Workshop simulates low-income reality

By SANDRA WALSH
The Beaufort Gazette

While their mother was at the welfare office applying for food stamps, the Nattin siblings sat in their makeshift classroom and told their friends all about their plight.

Their electricity had been shut off, the refrigerator was broken, their older brother got fired from his dry cleaning job and the family received an eviction notice in the mail.

"I can tell the utilities are going to get cut off, but at least the children will have clothes and a roof over their heads," said LaVone Cording, 56, shuffling through wads of toy money and a pretend Social Security card.

Cording played the part of Nancy Nattin, a 36-year-old single mother of three, for two hours Tuesday afternoon during a poverty simulation workshop at The Baptist Church of Beaufort.

Cording joined 14 others who played different roles within families living in poverty in various scenarios such as a newly unemployed family, a family receiving public assistance and an elderly person on a limited income.

The simulation was headed by Anne Smith, executive director of Kentucky-based Ministries United of South Central Louisville, an emergency services agency for the poor.

Four years ago, Smith started traveling across the country setting up poverty simulation workshops to educate people about the difficulties of living below the poverty line.

"I just want to get people to learn about poverty in America," Smith said. "It's your next door neighbor, it's in your community. People living in poverty are everywhere."

The Baptist Church of Beaufort paid for the simulation with a $10,000 grant from Coastal Community Foundation and the Clemson Compassion Fund, said Paul Capps, in charge of ministry assistance for the church.

Capps said that through the simulation, the church hopes to bridge the disconnect between parishioners and people living in poverty in the Northwest Quadrant -- a poor, predominantly black, 39-block area in the Beaufort's Historic District just outside the church property. In the simulation, participants were given a scenario outlining their economic situation.

During four 15-minute periods, each period representing a week, heads of households had to buy food, pay rent, and interact with each other by filling out applications and doling out toy money to church members representing various agencies such as a bank, food pantry, mortgage company and pawn broker.

The Nattin family -- played by Cording; Jessica Romine, 14, who played the role of troublemaker Ned Nattin, 9; Tory Sheppard, 14, who played Nicki Nattin, a 12-year-old with learning disabilities; and Terra Marsh, 17, who played Nathan Nattin, a high school graduate unable to keep a job -- all ended up evicted, suffering from malnutrition and in debt without utilities, school supplies or clothing.

"It was sad because it's actually true -- it's real life that people go through," Terra said. "Kids in this situation have a lot of pressure -- I was a 17-year-old with a job. My paycheck went to the family. I couldn't do things I wanted to do ... It's not easy."