Overnight links for December 17th

Columnist Pam Strickland of the Knoxville News talks about the prevalence of food stamp usage in Tennessee. The state has the third highest food stamp usage rate in the US.  

 The Guardian's Poverty Matters blog examines the issue of celebrities getting involved in development aid. Madeliene Bunting says the issue is complex and it is impossible to say if all of the celebirites are really helping or just wasting time. 

Stephen Harper Prime Minister of Canada is signing up to lead the fund-raising efforts for the new U.N. initiative on maternal health. Globe and Mail writer Campbell Clark says that Harper will co-chair the committee with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.







 

Video: Memphis Tennessee becomes US hunger capital

The city of Memphis, Tennessee has the poor distinction of being the hungriest part of America. A new Gallup survey found that a greater percentage of those in Memphis can not afford to buy food than anywhere else in the US.

First, from McClatchy Newspapers this video tells the story of a couple of Memphis residents who have fallen on hard times.



Now some of the facts and factors behind Memphis' new distinction from McClatchy Newspapers reporter Shashank Bengali.

As more and more Americans struggle to pay their bills, a recent survey co-sponsored by Gallup found that 26 percent of people in greater Memphis couldn't afford to buy the food their families needed at some point over the previous 12 months, the highest rate in the nation.

The nationwide recession has compounded the region's economic woes, which experts say stem from the steady decline of family farms, a shortage of skilled workers and few major employers. Slammed with job losses, many middle-class families such as the Caleses find themselves forced to choose whether to pay their house, car, utilities and medical bills — or buy groceries.

"We have seen need grow at certain times, but we have never seen a national economy like this," said Susan Sanford, who's headed the Mid-South Food Bank in Memphis for the past two decades. "And we have never seen so many middle-class people lose their jobs and have to depend on emergency food assistance."

Last year, some 186,500 people in 31 Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee counties that surround Memphis relied on agencies for their next meals, a 28 percent increase from four years ago, the food bank reported. Paradoxically, the region also suffers from high rates of obesity, which experts say is the result of families eating cheaper and less nutritious food.

"It's no surprise that this is a very poor area," Sanford said. "But I never would have expected to be No. 1 in food insecurity in the entire country."

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/26/91171/amid-recession-memphis-becomes.html#ixzz0jZxpv79f

Video: Poverty reduction initiative in Nashville, Tennessee

From Nashville's News Channel 5, city leaders have unveiled a new poverty reduction plan. They hope the plan will cut in half Nashville's poverty rate within ten years.

A neat school group from Tennessee

A high school in Tennessee has a student organization that raises money and creates awareness about disease and poverty in Africa. The club called the Teen African Relief Effort involves about 25 students in McGavock High School.

The Tennessean's Andy Humbles fills us in on what the student group does.

TARE is sponsored by English teacher Faye Walker, but the club is student-driven, with Abbie Alexander and senior Robert Curry the founders and co-chairs. TARE usually sets its own meeting schedule after school or even on weekends off campus.

Last school year TARE raised $940 to buy 94 mosquito nets for African families through the Nothing But Nets campaign. The nets are sent to Africa to help protect residents against malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes and is a leading cause of death.

The group also solicited signatures for an Amnesty International campaign and sent them to President George W. Bush to encourage approval of a United Nations-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force to Darfur, which was approved. About 300,000 people have died and 2.5 million are homeless as a result of five years of fighting in Darfur.

Abbie, an honor student at McGavock, said she tried to launch the club as a sophomore, but it couldn't get approval. It did get approved last school year.

This school year TARE organized a Darfur Awareness Week in November that included setting up booths at school to provide information and solicit donations. The week culminated with a Friday evening showing of the documentary Darfur Now in the school auditorium that was open to the community.

The second semester will focus again on raising money to buy mosquito nets. One net costing $10 is good for four people, Abbie said.

New record set in Tennessee for food stamp usage

1 in 6 Tennessee residents use food stamps according to the state's monthly survey. That's one million people in total, an increase of 75,000.

In this Associated Press article found in the Chattanooga Time Free Press, those in charge of the system say it's directly effected by the slumping economy.

“Food stamps absolutely trend with the economy,” said Human Services Department spokeswoman Michelle Mowery Johnson. “And when the economy is doing poorly, we get really busy.”

An Associated Press analysis of the state Department of Human Resources data shows the rate of food stamp usage was highest in West Tennessee, where 324,000 people, or 21 percent of the grand division’s population of 1.55 million, were receiving assistance.

Similar numbers of people received food stamps in the other two divisions of the state, but since their populations are larger the rates came in at 15 percent in East Tennessee and 14 percent in Middle Tennessee.

Food stamps contribute an average of about $100 to a family’s monthly food budget and is available to people who earn less than 1.3 times the federal poverty rate, or $27,560 for a family of four.

Tennessee’s highest food stamp rates were in Hancock, Scott and Grundy counties, where about one in three people received assistance. At least a quarter of the people in six other counties received food stamps.

The almost 200,000 people on food stamps in Shelby County made up the highest number of individuals receiving assistance in the state. But the rate of 22 percent of the county’s 911,000 people on food stamps ranked Shelby County 19th among Tennessee’s 95 counties.

CROSS proposes North Main homeless shelter

from the Shelbyville Times Gazette

By John I. Carney

A house and lot at 262 North Main St., jointly owned by the city and county, may become a volunteer-run homeless shelter and child care center, using surplus Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers which have been cleared following a recent formaldehyde scare.

Carl Bailey appeared before Bedford County Board of Commissioners' courthouse and county property committee on Tuesday to discuss his proposal for Community Religious Outreach Social Services and request the use of the house.

The committee voted to pass the request on to the full commission, but wants to make sure that any lease agreement holds the county harmless from liability arising from the use of the property.

Bailey said the current economic conditions and a decline in charitable giving and social service agency budgets have made it more difficult to respond to individuals and families in need. He said CROSS will be a way for the county's faith community to come together and meet such needs.

Bailey said the shelter would house homeless families for up to 30 days and would provide child care for up to 90 days, so that even after a family moved out of the shelter they could use the child care facility while establishing themselves in new jobs or living quarters.

Bailey said the lack of affordable low-income child care is a major contributor to poverty. There would be one paid employee, but the facility would be primarily operated by volunteers and financial contributions from area churches. Bailey has been discussing a funding formula with area churches based on a specific amount per church member per month.

Bailey said he is not asking for any financial support from city or county government -- both of which are expecting budget cuts in the current year. His written proposal indicates that city and county funding would be "limited to assistance with fixed operating costs, i.e., insurance, utilities and facility maintenance," but he told the Times-Gazette on Wednesday that the written proposal was out of date and that he was no longer planning to ask for government financial support for those issues. Instead, that would become a part of the budget to be funded by church contributions.

Bailey said a board of community leaders is now being assembled so that the group can organize.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

'Hard times' push more to request food stamps

from the Tennessean

By JANELL ROSS
Staff Writer

Rising gas and food prices in an economy facing recession are forcing more Tennesseans to do something they never expected — ask for help feeding their families.

Participation in the federal food stamp program here and nationwide is approaching 2005 levels, when Hurricane Katrina scattered the poor and suddenly disadvantaged across the country.

The program — which adds an average of about $100 to a family's monthly food budget — is limited to those who take home less than federal poverty line wages. Food bank workers say they're seeing more working professionals, putting pressure on pantries when donations are low.

"When I first started doing this, we had pregnant teenagers, we had seniors," said Margaret Ingram, who coordinates a Second Harvest food pantry at Donelson Christian Church. "Now, I can't tell you how many times this year I have had someone come in and say, 'I never thought I would be here.' 'I have never had to ask for help before.' 'I am so ashamed.'

"We try to tell them this isn't anything to be embarrassed about. … It's just one of those hard times for a lot of people."

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, which collects food and distributes it through area food pantries, has served 1,100 more households to date than at this time last year.

Last month in Tennessee, 407,104 households — nearly 6 percent more families than during the same period in 2007 — turned to the federal food stamp program for help buying food.

The Congressional Budget Office, the financial analysis arm of Congress, is predicting 28 million Americans will be enrolled in the federal food stamps program by next year, bringing national participation to levels unseen since the 1960s.

Downturn hits home

The increase in food stamp recipients is an indicator of the economic well being of American households because of the program's income restrictions, said Stacy Dean, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' director of food assistance policy.

For example, a family of four with at least one working member can net no more than $1,721 per month after partial deductions for housing, child care and transportation costs.

States like Tennessee have done a good job identifying, vetting and connecting people in need with food stamps, Dean said. Benefits are accessed by debit card.

Demand has in Tennessee has been up since 2001, said Richard Dobbs, who directs food stamps policy for the Tennessee Department of Human Services. It has grown steadily with the number of poor people living here and follows changes in the state's economic tide.

"You can pretty much map the food stamps participation over time," Dobbs said. "Changes in the program and changes in the economy, they pretty much mirror one another."

When fuel prices went up and stayed up last July, for example, the number of families receiving food stamps grew from 391,456 in July to 398,687 in November.

The offices at Manna Inc., a Nashville nonprofit agency that connects families with food aid, routinely went hours without a call last year, said Executive Director Dale Gray.

This year, a 30 percent increase in inquiries means there are often messages waiting for the staff and steady calls all day. Gray is hearing stories about increasing rents and mortgages and struggles to pay bankruptcy settlement agreements and medical bills.

VU anti-poverty class heads to Bangladesh

from the Tennessean

By KATHLEEN SMITH
For The Tennessean

Twenty-five Vanderbilt University graduate students will spend spring break helping those at the "bottom of the pyramid," the people of Bangladesh.

Students in the Project Pyramid Global Poverty Alleviation program, a class offered by the Owen Graduate School of Management, will travel Wednesday to Bangladesh for a firsthand look at some solutions to poverty.

A highlight of the trip includes meeting with Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and a Vanderbilt University graduate, whose Grameen Bank is changing the lives of the poor in Bangladesh through micro-lending.

"He is a man filled with not only deep experience but a ton of new ideas and inspiration for addressing poverty," said Bart Victor, director of the Cal Turner Program in Moral Leadership Across the Professions at Vanderbilt and professor for the Project Pyramid course at the Owen School.

After meeting with leaders of Grameen, the students will see operations at the ground level such as fisheries and livestock venues and talk to borrowers who got the micro-loans.

"These organizations have taken a very holistic approach towards development and poverty alleviation," explained Asif Shah Mohammed, an Owen student originally from Bangladesh.

"Microfinance is a form of social entrepreneurship and it engages the close-knit social structures of a village."

The majority of the recipients of Grameen's $5.7 billion in loans have been small groups of local women, who consistently have used the money to raise the quality of life for their families and then successfully pay back the loans.

Statistics show that for every dollar lent, a local woman invests 98-99% in her family.

The success of lenders like Grameen in recent years has caught the attention of global investors and business leaders.

"Developing solutions for poverty situations is not solely an altruistic end," said Ryan Igleheart, president of Project Pyramid and organizer of the trip.

"Companies have made millions of dollars offering the right product to people in countries like Bangladesh."

Study transcends finance

In addition to microfinance, students will examine energy solutions, housing projects, telecommunication, and education initiatives in the country, guided by their personal interests.

Incorporating students from backgrounds in business, divinity, education and other fields, Project Pyramid provides an interdisciplinary approach to helping those in poverty.

"The divinity students and Peabody students ensure that we're not just lost in the profit motive and remind us that there are social implications to whatever we do," explained Mohammed.

Divinity student Kate Burke said the course has made her think harder about global solutions.

"The world is a market world and divinity students tend to think outside of business. This is a great opportunity to get to participate in that world without compromising our morals and convictions."

Previous projects of the program included studying economic recovery in Tupelo, Miss., and last year's trip to Hyderabad, India. The trip to Bangladesh was made possible through financial support from Nashville businessman Cal Turner.

After returning on March 9, the graduate students will try to come up with ideas to offer Grameen and other lenders.,/span>

Tennessee poverty rate rises more quickly than U.S. rate

from The Tennessean

Rutherford County rate rises fastest in Nashville area

By CLAY CAREY
Staff Writer

For the last few years, Ray Parson has lived a poor man's life. He has been without a home, staying with family and friends around Murfreesboro a few nights at a time.

Those who work with the poor say more and more people in the Nashville area are ending up like Parson — living below the poverty line. And while he's not a statistician, Parson has figured out that there are more poor people in his community.

"I run up on people (in his situation) all the time," drinking coffee at fast-food restaurants or walking the streets of Murfreesboro, Parson said.

"They just move around, trying to see where jobs are," Parson said.

The latest U.S. Census numbers show Tennessee's poverty rate rising more quickly than the national rate. Economics experts say things have probably gotten worse since these figures were tallied in 2005.

The trend shown by the 2005 figures is not as bad in most Nashville-area counties as it is statewide. But those who deal with poverty every day — researchers, charity operators and the poor themselves — say they've only seen more need.

In Nashville, traditionally the area's most impoverished county, census figures showed the poverty rate actually went down 1 percentage point from 2004 to 2005. The stats put Davidson County's 2005 rate at 14.7 percent; almost 1 point lower than the state poverty rate but about 1.5 points higher than the national rate.

"If you are talking about real basic crisis services" — needs like food, shelter and help with rent and utility payments — "we haven't seen" a decrease, said Dani Lieberman with the United Way in Nashville.

Lieberman oversees the way money is disbursed from the United Way to the nonprofit agencies it helps fund.

"There have been large increases," Lieberman said. "There's no shortage of need."

Tennessee rate went up

In 1997, the first year analyzed by the census study, Tennessee's poverty rate was about the same as the national rate. But from 1997 to 2005, Tennessee's rate increased by two percentage points to 15.6 percent, while the national rate dipped around 2001 then rose back to 13.3 percent.

Poverty rates for the state's children and teens also rose faster than the national rate, increasing 3.2 percentage points from 2000 to 2005 alone, according to census data. The national increase over the same period was 1.8 percentage points.

David Penn, director of the Business and Economic Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University, called the trends "troubling," especially the increase among children.

For adults, "it could be the loss of jobs in manufacturing," Penn said. "Apparently, they're not getting as good a job as they did in the past."

But James Foster, economics professor at Vanderbilt University and senior fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Studies there, said the census numbers are too old to draw real conclusions about where poverty in Tennessee stands today.

It could be worse now

The census figures stop at 2005. Since then, he said, bankruptcies and foreclosures have been on the rise, more refugees have moved to the area and a national recession is looming. All those factors can play heavily into poverty rates.

"I don't think anyone has a good handle on what's happening with poverty," Foster said.

Penn and Foster agreed that using the figures to compare rates over a short period of time can be misleading. Large increases or decreases over a single year can indicate major changes, Penn said, or "it could be due to the chance of the sample."

"It's kind of inconclusive," he said.

According to the census figures, Rutherford County's poverty rate is increasing faster than any of Nashville's other neighbors. Figures show the county's 2005 poverty rate at 11.8 percent, almost 2 percentage points higher than the previous year and 4.3 points higher than the 1997 rate.

The census numbers show four straight years of increases starting in 2001. Those numbers don't surprise Jim Hargrove, who helps poor families.

"Over the last several years, we've had a steady increase year by year," said Hargrove, a pastor and director of the West Main Mission in Murfreesboro. It provides food, clothes and financial assistance to needy families in Rutherford and Cannon counties.

Hargrove estimated a 5 percent increase in demand for those services in each of the last two years. He thinks the area's prosperity is drawing people who need jobs.

"Everybody hears there's work in these counties, so a lot of people migrate," Hargrove said.

Many of them are already poor, expecting to change their fortunes.

"People come in looking for jobs, and by the time they get here they've exhausted most of their resources."

Others, like Ray Parson, have been around all their lives.

Parson, 58, said he worked at a car wash, making enough to get by until he quit about 10 years ago because of back problems.

Since then, he's done landscaping and other odd jobs part time.

"I can work. I just can't work as hard and steady like I did," he said.

Parson got a boxed lunch and some clothes at the West Main Mission Friday afternoon. He said he hopes his fortunes will change in a few years, when he's old enough to draw Social Security.

Educators: Schools need funding to break cycle of poverty

from The Jackson Sun

As a recent report shows a majority of public school children in the South are poor, local educators say more funding is needed to improve students' chances for success.

The study by the Southern Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization that examines economic and social issues in the region, found that for the first time since the 1960s, a majority of public school children in the South were poor. According to its findings, in 1990, 37 percent of public school students in the South were low-income compared to 54 percent by 2006.

Low-income students are children whose family income makes them eligible for free or reduced meals at school. In 2006, 53 percent of Tennessee's public school students were poor, while nationally the figure is 46 percent. When the South is excluded, the percentage of poor students for the rest of the nation drops to 41 percent.

The report attributes part of the rise in numbers to a recession beginning in the late '80s that increased unemployment in the region. Also, changes in demographics for those who historically have been disproportionately poor in the South have played a role, with an influx of Hispanic immigration and a higher birth rate among African Americans.

"As a nation we need to start supporting public education at a whole new level, and I think if we don't, we'll suffer tremendously," said Nancy Zambito, superintendent of Jackson-Madison County Schools.

In 2005, 67 percent of public school children in Jackson-Madison County were economically disadvantaged, and 28 percent of the system's students were at a Title I school. Title I funds go toward resources and services for schools with a high number of needy students. Because school districts are required to keep the amount of funding relatively constant each year, the schools struggle to get the extra money they need for poor students, Zambito said.

"What you ensure is that you're always going to be behind," she said.

An increase in school funding is needed to have the best chance to break the cycle of poverty, said Lane College President Wesley McClure.

"The poor are supposed to escape to the middle class through the assistance that they receive in the public schools," McClure said.

If the trend continues, the majority of public school students throughout the nation could be low-income within 10 years, the report says. If the problem isn't addressed, the nation's status as a global power could be affected, McClure said.

Police crack down on homeless activity, advocates question motives

from the Nashville City Paper

By Amanda N. Maynord, amaynord@nashvillecitypaper.com

Metro police say 454 people have been charged with “quality of life” violations downtown since the department began an initiative focused on cleaning up the area in late July.

Although police officials refrain from labeling individuals as homeless, the persons charged have been homeless or chronically homeless.

“There’s been a consorted effort by the police department since the summer to strongly address quality of life issues downtown,” said Don Aaron, Metro Police spokesperson.

Quality of life violations include public drunkenness, indecent exposure and trespassing.

Police officials said despite criticism from homeless advocates that police are “picking” on the homeless population, they are attempting to help many of them and prosecuting any persons who break the law.

“We don’t categorize people, we don’t go out looking for a category of people,” said Cmdr. Andy Garrett of the Central precinct. “We go out looking for violators.”

Garrett said his officers are arresting or giving citations to chronic offenders, usually for public drunkenness, indecent exposure or trespassing.

Homeless advocates say the increased prosecution is only compounding the issue of homelessness, not helping it.

“We’re committed to a positive relationship with the police department — at the same time, their current policies… are resulting in an exacerbation of poverty through a waste of tax dollars by giving people citations and jail time for trying to survive,” said Matt Leber, organizer of the Nashville Homeless Power Project.

He claims that pressure on the police department from the Nashville Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit management organization aimed at improving downtown, and businesses has led to the “quality of life” initiative.

Garrett said he had received complaints from tourists, residential citizens and businesses.

Cindy Demuth said she has been homeless since April and was arrested a month ago for trespassing while sleeping in a parking garage downtown.

“I was just trying to stay dry and warm,” Demuth said.

She said because she didn’t have identification, she ended up spending the night in jail and now, because police are spending more time downtown, it’s become increasingly hard to find a place to sleep.

“You can’t sleep anywhere anymore,” she said. “I actually have a pretty OK spot where I am now, but the hard part is if it rains.”

Garrett said he wants to help those chronic offenders — people who have been homeless for several years — “break the cycle” by providing them information on social services in town and transportation to shelters.

“We’ve got to help these people to break this cycle,” Garrett said. “If we don’t, they’ll die on the streets and I don’t want to find another body on the street.”

Since August, police officers have offered to assist 668 individuals out of the downtown area by referring them to a Metro social service agency or transporting them to shelters like the Nashville Rescue Mission or Room at the Inn.

Out of those, 558 declined the assistance.

“People don’t realize when they give food and clothing and money to somebody that’s living on the street they’re enabling them to die on the street,” Garrett said. “I don’t want to find the next body frozen under a wool blanket somebody gave them — it breaks my heart.”

Leber said he agreed that police are simply doing their job, but he wishes someone would publicly recognize that the initiative “is wasting tax dollars when we could use half that money to house double the amount of people.”

Police officials said they’re watching closely a bill proposed by Metro Councilman Walter Hunt that would ban “aggressive” panhandling — defined as the personal solicitation of money that “would cause a reasonable person to believe that the person is being threatened with imminent bodily injury.”

The Homeless Power Project accused the Council of carrying an anti-homeless and anti-poor agenda when the bill came before the Council for the first time this year at its last meeting.

The bill is up for a second reading at next week’s Metro Council meeting.

Most Metro Students Live In Poverty

from WTVF

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - More than half of the students enrolled in Nashville's public schools live in poverty.

School officials said the number has steadily increased.

In response, Metro Schools has several programs designed to deal with some of the issues students face at home.

Administrators said the district is headed in the right direction.

"I've always enjoyed working with children," said Crisma Carter, a teacher for the past three years at Buena Vista Elementary School.

She said she knew it was her calling. She said she's always wanted to make a difference in the lives of youngsters.

Carter's school is recognized as one of the best in Metro.

Principal Debra Smith attributes it to supportive parents.

Smith said her many of students strive despite financial hardships at home.

"Just because the students are economically disadvantaged it doesn't mean that they can't learn," she said.

Administrators across the district are fighting the same problem.

Nearly 65 percent of students in the school district live in poverty. That number is an increase from last year.

"Principals and teachers and guidance counselors face this issue every morning," said James Briggs, director of the office of redesign and innovations for Metro schools

Briggs' department develops programs such as Small-Learning Communities and Big Picture Schools aimed at keeping students on the right track.

"What that does is you lose less and less kids fall through the cracks," he said.

It appears to be working. Test scores and the graduation rates are climbing despite the financial woes of many families.

Carter said it's a shining example to students that they can be successful regardless of economic background.

"What I try to instill in all of them is that as long as they try we can do it," she said. "As long as they're willing to put forth that effort we can do it."

How does the district determine which families fall below the poverty line?

School officials do not use a set number. The school system uses a sliding scale that depends on a family's income and the number of children they have in the district.

Administrators also point to the increase of foreign students into the district for the increase.

Blount County Poverty

from WVLT

Blount Co. (WVLT) - Of every 100 live births in Blount County, more than nine percent are low birth weight babies.

Nearly three percent of blount county families receive needy family assistance.

These are just some of the consequences of poverty.

And now, Volunteer TV's Jessa Goddard reports, the people that serve the under-served are taking a walk in their shoes.


"I was a 15 year old male child in a family of four."

"I was Olivia. I was a 12 year old girl with learning disabilities."

"And we ended up losing our home and wound up in a homeless shelter."

"Being able to see the struggles that my mother had to deal with, how hard it was for her to get food, to pay our mortgage."

This is a role playing simulation, but the situations are real life.

The Blount Memorial Good Sumaritan Clinic is marking 10 years of providing health care to the county's medically under-served and uninsured.

But instead of a party, they hold a poverty simulation.

Instead of a catered lunch, they eat cornbread and pinto beans.

It's all to remind those that serve the under-served of the challenges they face to make ends meet financially, while balancing children, school and work.

Geanna Stewart with Good Neighbors says, "It's hard to get these services. They have to have appointments, wait in lines, it's time consuming, they're sometimes giving up time at their work."

Nearly 32 percent of Blount County residents under the age of 21 are Tenncare recipients.

Nearly 2,000 children are completely uninsured.

Many face barriers such as language and transportation, but also the attitudes of the people who assist them.

Julia Pearce with the Good Sumaritan Clinic says, "You get desensitized a lot of times after dealing with these same types of situations day in and day out."

"This is to remind us, for sure, look at it from our patient's perspective."

For every 10 of those patients, six are uninsured, Three have tenncare and one has medicare or some other type of government-funded insurance.

In just 10 years, the Good Sumaritan Clinic has more than tripled the number of visits it records each month.

In 1997, it showed about 400 visits per month.

This year, the clinic is averaging about 14-hundred visits on a monthly basis.

Poverty simulation shows life on the other side

from WBIR

By: Robin Murdoch, Reporter

A poverty role-playing scenario in Blount County helped workers to walk a mile in someone else's shoes Thursday.

"I would suggest you go back to the homeless shelter," says one of the participants.
"We are not able to help you with legal assistance."

The conversation had the so called "Miss Jolly" anything but jolly. In the poverty simulation, Miss Jolly is a single mother with two young children trying to make ends meet.

The ordeal was a role playing exercise for the Hospice Volunteer turned actress on Thursday.

"It opened my eyes a lot. It was hard," says Sarah Wimmer.

It was real life for others.

"The whole purpose of this is to encourage people to think about being in the place of poverty, in a low income family, and the day to day stress they have to go through just to survive," said Linda Hyder of the UT Extension Office.

On Thursday, the people participating in the poverty simulation at the Knoxville Airport Hilton mostly worked in community service and the healthcare industry.

They went through a variety of scenarios from paying the bills, to finding child care, to finding a place to stay when faced with eviction.

They are struggles the under served and uninsured deal with daily.

"What did you feel? What did you experience?" Hyder asked the crowd.

"Somebody who was supposed to be helping the poor was heartless and unforgiving," one woman replied. "I think that was the wounding part of the experience."

"I stole a transportation ticket. She doesn't know, I don't think," said another participant.

"Why did you do it?" Hyder asked. "You were a child."

"My mom was so helpless," the woman replied. "She needed money."

The participants learned briefly walking in someone else's shoes meant desperate decisions just to get by. It gave them new insight on a persisting poverty problem. It was a reality check.

"A lot of people in service end up getting burned out," said Good Samaritan Clinic Director Julia Pearce. "They get callused. They think oh yeah, same story, same situation. If they can step back and look at it and remember these are things they felt in the stress of the moment during the simulation, maybe we can meet that person where they are at."

The Good Samaritan Clinic hosted the event in hopes of showing the community the barriers their patients face.

August 1st marked the clinic's 10th anniversary.

Poor students poorly prepared, need better schools, lawmakers say

from WMC

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Legislators told state education officials today that they're concerned students living in poverty aren't being properly prepared to enter college or the work force upon graduation.

State Representative Barbara Cooper of Memphis said she was contacted recently by a woman who wasn't able to find a job, to join the military or qualify for a lottery scholarship after leaving high school.

Cooper told the House Education Committee that poor children simply are not receiving the quality, experienced teachers that they need.

The Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University is using its research findings to prepare recommendations for the State Board of Education about changes needed in Tennessee's K-12 schools.

Among the research findings is that inexperienced teachers are more likely to teach in high-poverty schools, part of a national trend.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Touched by poverty: Belle Meade woman finds her calling amid Haiti's poor

from The Tennessean

Faith in Action

"Mother Theresa" is 65, the mother of two and grandmother of one, the wife of a Nashville surgeon and a savior to Haiti's poor and AIDS-stricken.

"I'm totally humbled," says Theresa Patterson after admitting that many in that Caribbean nation call the Belle Meade homemaker and one-time interior design instructor by that near-holy nickname.

Since this devout Catholic devotes her energies to helping Haiti's poorest find first aid for their souls and bodies, the real Mother Teresa probably wouldn't mind.

Haiti may not be as hopeless as Calcutta's gutters, where the late Mother Teresa delivered faith and love. But it is a blighted land, and Nashville's Theresa pledged her love to its people on the day she arrived for her first visit 28 years ago: "I remember being absolutely appalled by the level of poverty down there. I also was struck by the humbleness and the gentleness of the people. I was hooked."

Crusader inspired her

Her compassionate fire was lighted by Harry Hosey in 1978, when he delivered a speech at her home church, St. Henry's. "He was on a one-man crusade to help Haiti," she says of the late gentleman from Old Hickory.

His devotion was born during a Caribbean cruise stop, when he and his wife ventured from the tourist areas of Port Au Prince and instead visited the slums. "When he saw the poverty, it changed him," says Theresa, adding that meeting him changed her. Shortly after that first encounter "I was on a plane going down to Haiti" to help him.

She joined him in "twinning" parishes from the Nashville diocese with their less fortunate brethren. St. Henry's became the first twinned parish. That program has expanded, with 350 U.S. Catholic churches involved in Haiti and an additional 42 involved in Central and Latin America. "Our concept is to build one-on-one relationships … with a parish community."

Many of her 78 trips to Haiti have been spent escorting parishioners from several states, infecting others with her love for the land where faith thrives despite "unspeakable poverty and devastating health care" and where "it is estimated 5 percent of the population has AIDS."

79th trip is special

The goal is to save bodies while reinforcing those souls. That's why she and her staff at the Visitation Hospital Foundation have been raising money for a clinic that's under construction in Petite Riviere de Nippes.

Her 79th trip, tentatively set for Jan. 18, will be monumental, since she will get her first look at the construction and meet with the regional director of health to begin plotting strategies for outreach.

By Sept. 1 the outpatient clinic, complete with radiology, pharmacy and lab facilities, will open.

But while the almost $400,000 for that clinic has been raised, "we have a long way to go," she says. It will cost at least another $1.2 million to fund the dream of adding a 75-bed hospital with surgical facilities. Then will come funding for satellite clinics throughout the land.

Even though she's far from finished with this campaign, she celebrates that the clinic that will administer doses of medicinal healing and God's grace, is rising, a lighthouse of hope in a sea of despair.

"It's going to be a dream that's finally come true," says Theresa. "I started working toward this in 1999."

When the surgical facility is completed, it's likely Dr. Warren Patterson, medical director of Baptist Hospital Wound Care Center, will make more visits. He's already used his talents to support his wife's mission by performing life-altering cleft palate and burn wound repairs in Haiti and others for patients brought here.

Theresa, whose trips total about three months per year in Haiti, has no plans for retiring. "I have a passion for what I'm doing. And I feel I have a responsibility as a Christian to actually be able to help those who are in need.