tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48703540747733708452024-02-07T20:15:20.679-08:00United Way Director: Trials and TriumphsJoy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-68876931514926892192014-03-03T09:42:00.000-08:002014-03-03T09:42:25.453-08:00Groceries for Whoville<div style="line-height: 15.006003379821777px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My column from the Vinton County Courier, 2/26/2014</span></div>
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" 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" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I learned Monday morning that a district representative from U.S. Sen. Rob Portman's office would be available to constituents that afternoon at the Courthouse. No appointment necessary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I should go,” I thought to myself. “Nah, what difference would it really make?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then, as I often do, I thought of a Dr. Seuss story, “Horton Hears a Who.” What if the world was just needing one more voice to make a difference? What if it was me who was that tiniest Who in Whoville?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I gathered my United Way director business cards and headed to the County Courthouse. After all, how can Sen. Portman represent me if I don’t speak up and tell him what’s on my mind?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And you probably know what’s on my mind, for it might also be on your mind. Groceries. Humble groceries. “Tomatoes, beets, beans, pumpkins, corn,” to quote Robert Frost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of me assumed that Sen. Portman knew about the closure of our Super Valu grocery store; that it was the only store in our county; that his Vinton County constituents were worried; that food insecurity had entered our lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But did he? Previously, I had written emails to the Dollar General folks to encourage them to bring a Market concept store to our community. (Epic fail.) But I didn’t write to any of my legislators.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I arrived early, as is the Vinton County way. At first, I was the only person there as a constituent and took every advantage to buttonhole Senator Portman’s representative, Todd Shelton. We talked in the Commissioners’ chamber.</span></div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_KpWiSHdh8uomsL6muo7PQua6hAQg7WJ4TWHRDGOMa5gyfn6_Q7wFn5rz" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT_KpWiSHdh8uomsL6muo7PQua6hAQg7WJ4TWHRDGOMa5gyfn6_Q7wFn5rz" style="background-color: transparent;" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I told him of the United Way’s concerns for those we fund — food pantries overstressed, senior citizens unable to drive out of town for food and low income families without transportation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I talked to him about the fact that our citizens would not be able to succeed and thrive if they were worried about food. But I also talked to him as a worried person who can’t make soup tonight because she forgot to get potatoes and it would take 90 minutes to get to the store and back and that would be bedtime.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I talked to him as someone worried about the value of her house. I talked to him as someone who has made a commitment to Vinton County as my home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mr. Shelton did have some useful suggestions. He said Sen. Portman’s office would contact the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs in Athens to see if they could develop a business proposal that might attract a food store.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a good idea. But I countered with the need to have Vinton County voices in the process. Too often assistance to our region is like butter on cold toast — it just doesn’t sink in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He countered with the idea that the Voinovich School would help us put together a working group (“stakeholders”) of Vinton County people to get the Center’s plan up and running.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He was nice. I was nice. That’s how it works.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don’t mean to get political. I am just upset about lack of attention to this problem. I’m upset that I have been a part of the problem. I should be contacting every elected representative I can, from our local officials right up to the President.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I need to be making some noise. I might be that tiniest Who from Whoville. I invite you fellow Whovillians to join me.</span></div>
Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-28631523712058243302013-08-19T15:58:00.000-07:002013-08-19T15:58:34.141-07:00Grocery Alternatives: Kroger's in Athens OH<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQyEldOviy3QQ1KU59XC3UibTBvUNFtdpFDYnoXR0YIf_ePIxZRCQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQyEldOviy3QQ1KU59XC3UibTBvUNFtdpFDYnoXR0YIf_ePIxZRCQ" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You've probably heard the news by now: The only grocery store in the county I live in, Vinton County, Ohio, is closing. Several years ago, I decided to buy all of my groceries at this local store, McArthur SuperValu. I felt that if people--meaning <i>me</i>--didn't support the store it would not survive. And now this has come to pass. I have been surprised by how disturbing the loss of my local store is to me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For several years, I have not shopped for groceries anywhere else. My choices were a bit restricted, but my needs for basic food and nutrition were met. I never went farther than a mile from my house for groceries. When gas prices went up, my friend Linda joined me in this decision. We shopped together almost every Saturday morning at the SuperValu. (I don't know why we always called it "the" SuperValu, but we did.)</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT6KX29yQk_l2S3_glOz15fPF6ynM6RS3OKMzs_NKxM5HZpj7ia" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT6KX29yQk_l2S3_glOz15fPF6ynM6RS3OKMzs_NKxM5HZpj7ia" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last Saturday, Linda and I were both hesitant to go for groceries at the SuperValu. What would it be like in there? Would we find what we needed? And, where would we go the next week? Where was my food going to come from?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The store was clean and bright. All merchandise was neatly fronted. But many of the shelves were bare. Almost all perishables were gone--no bread or meat at all. To see the meat cases shiny and empty was the biggest shock. It just looked wrong. The soon-to-be-unemployees put on brave faces. I held back tears the whole time I was in the store.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That evening, we decided to go over to Athens for a nice meal out. I know I felt like I needed something to lift my spirits. And, of course, we drove right past Kroger's. We yes-no-yessed about stopping in, and finally did. I was astounded. I felt like Dorothy stepping out of my shabby hovel into rich, colorful, sensory-overloaded Oz. The lighting was beautiful. The produce area stretched for miles, it seemed, looking more like a landscape than a storescape. My eyes didn't know how to focus on this wonderland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first thought was, "oh, this is where the rich people shop." So much opulence, such care in the presentation of the food and merchandise, and so much selection, infinite selection. Forty kinds of bread. Forty different brands of frozen pizza. A great wall of China of breakfast cereal. All beautiful. All so conveniently arranged. I ran into things (and people) with my cart...I couldn't take it all in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's always disorienting to go to a different grocery store. Products all seem to be in the wrong places. I backtrack to find stuff I missed. I soldier bravely through aisle after aisle looking valiantly for...well, in this case it was electrical tape. I braved this extravagant world for prosaic old electrical tape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The absurdity of it all overwhelmed me. Is all this luxury necessary to the procurement of food? What part did the pampering of the patrons play in their affection for the store? Back home in McArthur, it was my affection for my friends and neighbors that made the SuperValu so attractive, not displays of wealth (food IS wealth). How many choices of cream cheese does one really need? And, does it really matter? If people want sun-dried tomato pesto cream cheese, why shouldn't they have it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I felt I had strayed into another world, to another planet. And I had. I had somehow landed in middle class land, from which I had banished myself so many years ago. And now I'm back. Soon, I will be inured to the choices and style, the delectability. I will think this is normal. I will stop thinking there's something wrong with this system that leaves poor people foodless while others wallow in excess. I'll forget how privileged I am to have a reasonably OK income (from three jobs) and a functioning car and gas money to travel 30 miles to get groceries. I'll start going to the post office and farmer's market somewhere else.</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQLJCUmSGb7s_UEXXeDgHdaDDhKzWpEPRnWA7Rx1pPxWrlFf_sfnw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQLJCUmSGb7s_UEXXeDgHdaDDhKzWpEPRnWA7Rx1pPxWrlFf_sfnw" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot of the life is leaving my community with the SuperValu. My sadness is like background music of cello, low and profound. A small town is a fragile place, always threatening to shimmer out of existence, out of reality. Ghosts and shadows all that remain. I hope that whatever entity moves into SuperValu's building will help hold us together. But Oz beckons. No Auntie Em remains back here to lure me home.</span>Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-71035759467556844432013-08-12T17:14:00.002-07:002013-08-12T17:14:54.224-07:00Super Value Closes: Sad Farewell <a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSiJQzyZOJscv_EZQfM9uIaeL-iFBNaUOyv67bY9l7f_T9zy403" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSiJQzyZOJscv_EZQfM9uIaeL-iFBNaUOyv67bY9l7f_T9zy403" width="193" /></a><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;"><b>The News.</b> </span>The news popped up on my Facebook feed at about 2:30 p.m. today--the grocery store in my county, Vinton County, Ohio, is closing its doors. Reactions and reactionaries weighed in on news reports and posts about the shuttering of Super Value. Anger. Hostility. Shock. Sadness. Bewilderment. Fear. Will another store open? What will happen to our community if we have to have a reliable car and gas money to go get bread and milk to avoid paying inflated prices at a convenience store? What will happen to our community if fresh fruit, meat, and vegetables are no longer available? If we go to another community for groceries, will we neglect other local services and institutions?<br />
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<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Food Desert. </span></b>There's a concept in public health called the urban food desert. These are areas in cities that have no access to a traditional grocery store. In these areas, the poorest people end up paying a considerably higher proportion of their income for food than any other income group. They are left with convenience store prices and selections, paying a considerable health cost as well as taking the financial hit. Convenience store food tends toward the fatty, salty, and sugary. A pretty red apple may cost $2.50--the same price as four boxes of mac & cheese (one dessert versus four whole meals) for the same money. If you had a family to feed on limited funds, which would you choose? These are the facts of a food desert.<br />
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<span style="color: #cc0000;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Profit Margin, Not Neighbor.</span></b> </span>Well, we are at risk of becoming our very own food desert. We've flocked to Walmart. Now it may be our only home. I have to say that if I was poor, I would move. I would move closer to a Walmart, frankly. That's where the food is, where it is massively subsidized by a hundred federal tax loopholes. Walmart and other big store chains care about your money, about the volume of customers they can process through a giant intestine of products. They will never care about you like Maryjane Ferguson and her employees have always cared about you. The clerk ringing you up at Walmart won't know your name and won't know that your mom is sick and that your sister just finished a semester at Rio Grande Community College. You are now a profit margin instead of a neighbor.<br />
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There are many other downsides to the closing of our local store. Several people are losing their jobs--and replacement jobs just don't exist around here. Property values will drop--would you happily move into a community with no grocery store? Poor people may have to depend more and more on institutions such as schools and food pantries for food.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Support Ferguson.</span></b> I've been disturbed by Facebook posts that express anger and hostility at Ferguson for closing Super Value. Surely people have seen that the store is struggling to keep its shelves stocked, seen the efforts at new programs to bring customers into the store. Ferguson has been pouring her life's blood into the store to keep it going, especially since the bad storm in the summer of 2012 during which the store had no power and almost all of the inventory was lost.<br />
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Maryjane Ferguson is not a Walmart with massive financing and buying power behind her. She knows the impact of this closing and I know it is breaking her heart, as it breaks the hearts of all who know her and her family. Ferguson is just one woman who has been fighting valiantly against considerable odds. She's greeted each disastrous day with courage and an open heart. She's not responsible for a crappy economy, natural disasters, or the movement of local shoppers to a big box store.<br />
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I'm sure more news is yet to come. But I hope we remember how well Super Value has served our community, has been a meeting place, a caring place. Super Value is where you run into people from all parts of your life--people from work, from school, from church, from 4-H. We will never replace this.Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-41589263052527578072013-06-19T11:06:00.002-07:002013-06-19T11:10:56.523-07:00Vinton County United Way Joins Chamber<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQQDYQ7FI79SDM88Zx2xu1hblrMQzSewmjUmzXqR8oO0R7SVR0Ruw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" data-sz="f" height="400" name="JLq6pqM3QsB-6M:" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQQDYQ7FI79SDM88Zx2xu1hblrMQzSewmjUmzXqR8oO0R7SVR0Ruw" style="height: 167px; margin-top: 0px; width: 137px;" width="328" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A few weeks ago, I was assigned the task of signing up the
United Way of Vinton County (UWVC) for membership in the Vinton County Chamber
of Commerce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Chamber has a
reputation for representing the best in our community—the best businesses, the
best values, and the best attitudes—and the United Way is proud to participate.
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the United Way’s goals for membership was to let more
people know about our local United Way. We are small, but committed to
sustaining the work of non-profits in our community. Recent recipients of
funding include:</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Shepherd’s House domestic violence shelter</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Care Outreach food pantry</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Truth food pantry</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sojourners Family Development foster care day
camp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The American Red Cross of Athens County,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which serves Vinton County</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Big Brothers/Big Sisters’ school mentoring
program in Vinton County</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Vinton County Senior Citizens</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">RSVP Vinton County activities</span></div>
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last summer’s summer feeding program
administered by Sojourners</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">UWVC’s board of directors is committed to investing its
money in Vinton County. We keep our overhead costs low (we don’t even have a
physical location), paying less than 3% of our earnings in administrative
costs. Our income arrives, for the most part, from outside the county. UWVC’s
main goal is to change the ratio of where the money comes from to reflect
stronger support from the county for the county. Toward that end, we have
successfully signed up many county employees and school employees to contribute
through payroll deduction.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The decisions about who will receive the $18,000 in
investments UWVC made this year involved many tough decisions for the board of
directors. They received nine excellently prepared proposals and worked with
thoughtful consideration. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The investment committee works with Maslow’s Hierarchy in
mind. Maslow devised a pyramid of human needs, with the most basic needs—food,
shelter, clothing, safety—on the bottom. He said that unless the needs at the
bottom are met, a person (or community) cannot move up to the next level (which
might include education, meaningful work, and so on). UWVC invests mostly in
that bottom level of Maslow’s pyramid. Our people need food and shelter and
safety—especially the youngest and oldest among us. When we funded school
mentoring last year, we were aware that for the first time in a long time we
were investing in a “next level up” activity.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you are interested in the work of the United Way of
Vinton County, please give me a call at 740-591-6279. I’d be glad to talk with
you about our investment priorities, how to make a donation, or how to set up
payroll deduction so your employees may contribute that way if they wish—at our
suggested pledge level of $1.00 per week. A dollar at time is how we’ll make a
difference.</span>Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-20446384322948756622012-11-22T08:46:00.001-08:002012-11-22T08:46:23.248-08:00Turkeys to the People<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSS9lnx0kvmceDFHOl__hylVPsS4AgwG96yiBeEvRR_PVVJwv_2" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSS9lnx0kvmceDFHOl__hylVPsS4AgwG96yiBeEvRR_PVVJwv_2" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm a white meat eater. You?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As you read, note that a lot of people in our world are eating none of the items pictured here on this Thanksgiving Day, November 22, 2012. And note that the foods are in order leading off with my favorite and working my way down (through the heaped plate).<br />
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The car pulled up to the yellow line, engine rattling, blue exhaust puffing out of the tailpipe. The trunk is open, grubby but empty. In the driver's seat is an unshaven man with a cigarette in the hand that holds the steering wheel, belly peaking out of his 'Dew t-shirt. An old woman, at least 80, sits in the passenger seat. From her eyes you can tell that she cannot see. She is slouched in every regard--sagging shoulders, vacant face, uncombed gray hair, misbuttoned shirt--except for the hand that tensely holds her cigarette. Life for them has been tougher than I can imagine. Behind them, a line of cars stretches beyond my field of vision, snaking around many block of our tiny village.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQL_KOf5M1YR5GuSJafjt381fXfxaKKEUS0qYArWtgpKeTxWrAe9g" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQL_KOf5M1YR5GuSJafjt381fXfxaKKEUS0qYArWtgpKeTxWrAe9g" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Don't give me that jello-type stuff--I want<br />some crunch and snap in my cranberry<br />relish. And, Craig Graybill makes the<br />best relish--please UPS me some.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
They (mother and son? neighbors?) are actually in a pretty good mood. They are in line for the drive-through food distribution at the local food pantry. They are about to get food, including their very own turkey. And they are in a good mood because the food pantry has a policy of treating each client as a valued customer, a welcome visitor, someone special. This is a special place on a special day; the food pantry on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Their yawning trunk will runneth over.<br />
<br />
<br />
I worked the Thanksgiving distribution this year. I was passing out flyers for a jobs and education program for young adults in the community. I was going to stay for an hour...but it stretched into two and then two and a half hours. It became my privilege to greet and talk with the people in every car. As the director of an agency that invests in this food pantry (United Way of Vinton County), I was especially interested in meeting the recipients of the food. Who were these people? Were they gaming the system? Did they look needy enough?<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqvv9SC_HwS4peP7MvM5zoi1Mw9K4CenJBhtSfq6DgW_psVtceKA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqvv9SC_HwS4peP7MvM5zoi1Mw9K4CenJBhtSfq6DgW_psVtceKA" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like the classic chunks of sweet potato with<br />brown sugar--marshmallows optional.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I opened this blog post with a description of the people you expect to see in a food pantry line...people who are ugly, disabled, smoking, in need of a handout. But I hope you see the pain that was in that car, too, and in every car that came through that day--about 400 cars in all in our impoverished community. Don't ever say to me that it's well-off moochers coming to the food pantry until you have spoken to the people in every car through the line.<br />
<br />
I was especially interested in the food recipients because in the past year I heard comments from many people about the food "handouts" and about people who have "too nice of cars" to need food assistance; and fielded questions about how the recipients are screened to weed out "people who are just looking for a handout"; and heard one too many "why don't they get a job" statements.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRTLq2Tecfozib9GUntKKAod5WsUzIwa0hbD6mOKi9KZHH2qiaqFw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRTLq2Tecfozib9GUntKKAod5WsUzIwa0hbD6mOKi9KZHH2qiaqFw" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yum. Judy Graybill--are you eating them right now?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
First, let me back up. Under hero-director David Graham and his hero-volunteers, our largest local pantry (Methodist CARE Outreach) has, yes, gone to a drive-thru system. The young people I work with at my day job (and the program for which I was handing out flyers) actually helped convert a large aluminum carport into a drive through lane (they helped install a giant ventilation fan). No one has to park, get out of his car, take a cart around to gather food items, then return to her car to unpack it all into the trunk or back end of a vehicle.The drive through line has speeded up the distribution of food, but it also means that "regular" citizens (of course getting no public assistance--medicare anyone? home mortgage tax deductions anyone? Pell grants anyone?) driving along the streets can see exactly what each car in the food distribution line looks like.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSOzQvBQriqUQ_JplqN8xfl_5SU4y1EoPnU_oPrmx9jkylq2NWTOg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSOzQvBQriqUQ_JplqN8xfl_5SU4y1EoPnU_oPrmx9jkylq2NWTOg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I always think of my Grandma Bessie<br />Dickerson when I eat yeast rolls. Thanks,<br />Robin, for carrying on the tradition.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Second, let me back up. Probably some people are scamming the system for food. So what? So we don't feed hungry people? I would rather feed 20 undeserving people than for even one needy person to miss getting food. It's food. It's not gold. I can't judge someone who is cadging food. I know from my upbringing that free food is very hard to resist. Even when I am not needy and not hungry, I feel like I should grab some and stash it somewhere. My brain overrides this impulse most of the time, but it comes out in weird ways, such as the monstrous-huge collection of free pens I have from trade shows and such. When I die, they'll find 3,000 pens stashed in coffee mugs all over my house. Just saying, I am not in a position to critique anyone's behavior.<br />
<br />
Plus, it's not gourmet. Canned vegetables. The apples a bit too ugly for Giant Eagle's beauty contest. Off-brand cereal that was left on the shelves for good reason. Sometimes something odd, like a 12-pack of spearmint gum or a 20-ounce bottle of artificially flavored maple syrup. That's the high reward of stealing from the food system. Better to stake out cars at Krogers!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRL4hcPWnxvYC-vGiZxJxv63jZQXhH97kX4YFIoXd6z2HO_kVGLhA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRL4hcPWnxvYC-vGiZxJxv63jZQXhH97kX4YFIoXd6z2HO_kVGLhA" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wait--I want more Cool Whip!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"Well, if they can afford a Suburban, what are they doing getting a handout for food?"<br />
<br />
Here's an answer. A lot of the people who qualify for the food distribution borrow a car. Or, a kind neighbor or family member drives them. Or, they share a car with other recipients. Or, a case worker, home health aid, or caregiver brings them. Regardless, each recipient has to show his or her card, which is verified by a volunteer. A colored strip is placed under the windshield wiper of each car to indicate how many allotments that car gets (a family of five gets more food than a person living alone, for example). Then the car proceeds through the drive-through's tunnel of food, where volunteers put the right amount of each item into the car. It's cool to watch--and, as I mentioned above, especially cool to see the respect and good cheer handed out with the food (I'm sure that adds to the food's nutritional value). If an allotment is two cans of corn, then a family with 5 allotments will get 10 cans of corn. That's how it works. By the time the car reaches the street, it is full and can motor off home.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT6oydYniD26wx_rN4RAromA3jsv-lpMCqSGJkVj0YLrY7qCnV-" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT6oydYniD26wx_rN4RAromA3jsv-lpMCqSGJkVj0YLrY7qCnV-" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moist, sticky, bready, with oysters, from a box or<br />hand made--love my stuffing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In addition, the cars may look good from the outside, but they are not running that well. The smell of gasoline and exhaust fumes indicated inefficiency. The windows don't go up and down anymore. The door is wired shut. Many cars had distinctive pings, rattles, rumbles, and ka-chunks. These were not great cars. I know. I was checking on that for you. The better cars were mostly those of volunteers taking people through the line.<br />
<br />
Listen. The faces of people who need food have a type of strain to them that I learned to recognize when my day job started providing breakfast and lunch to participants. Hunger takes the humanity out of a human. You can't sing and be hungry. You can't learn and be hungry. It's hard to be courteous and be hungry. The general cheer of the recipients in the CARE food line is a tribute to each and every volunteer who helps to bring them food. They honor and dignify the suffering of each person as the food goes into the car.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSNQI5sKcO1AkvfC7grTeTDlRSkN4GA8SqJRUNMMG-iW9ywwpwNkg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSNQI5sKcO1AkvfC7grTeTDlRSkN4GA8SqJRUNMMG-iW9ywwpwNkg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salad? You served salad? What were you<br />thinking????</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2>
<span style="color: red;">SIDEBAR: VOLUNTEER!</span></h2>
For most middle class and above people, the distribution of food to the poor happens outside our awareness. We don't see these people and sometimes we see them but invisibilize them. But, they are the least among us, as in "the least of these my brothers." Take a vacation day and volunteer at a food distribution in your community. You'll find out how it works, who gets food, who "those people" are. And I'm sure you'll be awed by the dedication of the people who serve regularly at the pantry. "Feed the hungry." It's a pretty clear message.<br />
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<h2>
<span style="color: #38761d;">SIDEBAR: PLEASE COMMENT</span></h2>
Do you know of any other food banks who do a drive-through? I'm only familiar with the ones here in the county. Please add a comment to this posting if you know of other innovative strategies for making the food distribution respectful and expeditious.Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-41257703335907086742012-10-08T16:44:00.001-07:002012-10-08T16:44:53.319-07:00Easing the Pain of Poverty, Part 4<span style="background-color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Reminder: This is the fourth in a series of blog posts about easing--not ending--poverty. What can we do to make life easier for poor people? I've let my mind roam on this topic, discussing it with others, sharpening my observation of life around me. So, here we go again.</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Also, remember that I'm not at all concerned with implementation of these ideas, nor do I claim them as original. I'm just answering the question, "How can we make life easier for the poor?"</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.patriarq.com.br/imagens/ged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://www.patriarq.com.br/imagens/ged.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #38761d; font-size: large;"><b>Free GED.</b></span> It costs as much as $50 for people who earn the absolute lowest among income groups--people without a high school credential--to take a test. Them that have no pay must pay to play.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why? Why do we place a barrier in front of people who have already been ill-served by middle-class oriented school systems, by the rootlessness of poverty (they move a lot), by the heinous mistake of getting pregnant, by lack of family or community support, or simply by one or two bad decisions made when they were young and, as the young so often are, stupid. Fifty dollars is a lot for a poor person to scrape together and feels more like a punishment than a fee.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please note that I am dealing specifically with Ohio GED rules and practices. What's the policy in your state? Why don't you know?</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSr3yHsH2k4EYbFdt5VH_yP1ilDpCIMHZ8wOioQHyk4nSVVKRqZ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSr3yHsH2k4EYbFdt5VH_yP1ilDpCIMHZ8wOioQHyk4nSVVKRqZ" width="181" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The GED, or general equivalency diploma, serves as an alternative to high school (although people in high school are not generally permitted to take it). It signifies that you have learned a core knowledge somewhat equal to a high school diploma. The five parts of the Ohio GED are reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, and science. The Ohio test is being revised.</span><br />
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSr3yHsH2k4EYbFdt5VH_yP1ilDpCIMHZ8wOioQHyk4nSVVKRqZ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I propose that the GED be free. No <i>ifs, ands,</i> or <i>buts.</i> And that an online course of study be developed and offered free also. Society will be paid back a hundredfold by this investment in often highly-motivated people. Let's <i>(right this instant)</i> remove any and all barriers between needing a GED and getting a GED.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A note to schools: please do not denigrate the GED to your students--it makes them feel trapped and as though they will be branded a LOSER for the rest of their lives. The GED is well-received in college admissions offices and by employers and is harder to pass than high school standardized tests (and no accommodations are permitted).</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTuLOjJ738AGtSE6ERVm6q27gJrrnOt4ax_oxsg9S0_aSLVrNqgmw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTuLOjJ738AGtSE6ERVm6q27gJrrnOt4ax_oxsg9S0_aSLVrNqgmw" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: large;"><b>The Free Fleet</b></span> I propose a fleet of hybrid or electric Priuses, Civics, and/or Focuses.be made available to poor people. Gas pricies have hit poor communities hard. In some cases, gas costs more than a person actually earns. Local jobs are scarce, so to be employed you must drive (and drive...and drive). It's a tough expense for people with good jobs, but nearly impossible for the poor who are clustered in low-paying jobs. Financially, it's a toss-up--if you work, you have no money and if you don't work, you have no money. In many cases, it doesn't make sense to work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't believe that being poor and being lazy go together. To outsiders, though, I'm sure it looks that way. I regret that. When I see people lined up to get into federal jobs programs, people calling me to see if I've heard of anybody hiring, adults in their mid-twenties calling to see if they can get back into a jobs program for youth--when I see these, I know that the people in my community are not lazy (not lazy disproportionate to any other group of people). However, even the programs I know often require driving--having a car, having a functional car, having a driver's license, having gas money. I'm not even suggesting auto insurance here.</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTXgj28SM372SAxT1_0RGLme1CISJXf8p10D2-sFiQOVFSmq4tzoRIWsOIv9A" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTXgj28SM372SAxT1_0RGLme1CISJXf8p10D2-sFiQOVFSmq4tzoRIWsOIv9A" width="178" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A fleet of small cars with high gas mileage would allow people to get to where the jobs are and to begin to drive out of the deep hole they're in. I know that lots of programs are working on this and lots of ideas are being floated. How about this: If you get a job, we'll get you a car, a decent car with a good repairs record. You can keep it as long as you keep working. That's it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Environmentally, it would be cool to try out a fleet of electric or hybrid cars in a defined opportunity zone, such as McArthur, Ohio, to Chillicothe, Ohio, or McArthur to Jackson, Ohio. Plug-in stations would be easy enough to install. And with our focus on tourism and natural beauty, efficient cars would make sense. Car pooling would also be great, but I don't see why we should expect the poor to be more virtuous than the rest of us individual car owners who travel 90% of the time without passengers. It's the American way.</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR8Iloxg1wMxk_6pRWtrzjghZ_DiEcaxv1P3FFuW5kTP1ITIsiE7Y8Lxkc" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR8Iloxg1wMxk_6pRWtrzjghZ_DiEcaxv1P3FFuW5kTP1ITIsiE7Y8Lxkc" width="138" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is this pie in the sky thinking? Yes. Would this be difficult? Only if we make it difficult. Why should we care? All I can say is that I care. Poor people are not abstractions to me--they are my neighbors, friends. They love, they mourn. They are trapped. I care. I don't believe we can write anyone off as useless. I am so fortunate. I have been directed in my life to the golden crossroad where good luck and good preparation intersect. I'm lucky, and I was well-educated by luck. It wasn't my superior efforts toward achievement that kept me out of poverty. The Christian tradition (and most other religious traditions) says to tend to the sick, the poor, the grieving, the prisoners, to demonstrate a loving kindness. My job right now seems to be writing about poverty.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had to call people the other day to tell them they did not have jobs. The flatness in their voices, the long pause before they acknowledged the news...those were people I cared about, many I knew. I'd like to give them each a Prius. A shiny red one. With a full tank of gas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-26888318606398277472012-09-22T15:19:00.001-07:002012-09-22T15:19:06.028-07:00Poverty: Easing the Pain, Part 3<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the third entry in my series about how to ease the stresses of poverty on the poor. From my experiences in two different poverty simulations, it is clear to me that the conditions of being poor in the United States often ensure that poor people will remain poor and that poverty will be an untenable way to live. I'm not trying to end poverty. Please read my previous posts about poverty to get more background on this series. Now, back to my list of suggestions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #b45f06; font-size: large;">Second Poverty Simulation</span></b> At a recent conference, I went through a second poverty simulation. In structure it was identical to the first one I did. In my own role, though, this was a totally new experience. In my first simulation, I was a "provider." I dealt with the poor, but I wasn't one of them; I was the mortgage banker. This time I was poor--a breadwinner mom with three kids (one of them pregnant) and a laid-off husband. I thought I knew what it would be like. NOT!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well before the whistle started the simulation, my family and I were deeply into how to get things done. Our pace of speech quickened. We passed materials around and dropped them and picked them up backwards. From my first experience, I knew that many families in the simulation would not get their families fed, so I made it my personal priority to get food every week (15 minutes) of the simulation. For the first seven minutes of the week, I had to go to work, then I needed to cash my paycheck, get gas (transportation vouchers) for the next week, and go buy food.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSrXqMEQOFzAy1Y4bdkBeUXxbgOA3wvlODbui6scI9Cp635LoW2iA" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSrXqMEQOFzAy1Y4bdkBeUXxbgOA3wvlODbui6scI9Cp635LoW2iA" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My youngest child--the one who was<br />removed for neglect--was a stuffed bear.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My family started off with only enough transport vouchers to get me to work and one other place--I had to go to the only place you could get vouchers: the quicky loan place--and I had to cash my check there, with the userer taking up to $30 per hundred of my pay. Still, I could get vouchers and that would get me over to the grocery store to get food. By the end of this sequence, there was no time left in the week. I left most of the other needs of the family to the others after pretty much throwing the spare vouchers at them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My family did OK. Dad and the sixteen-year-old were both able to do things during the day. We got food every week (OK, partial in week 4) and paid the mortgage and car payment. One of our children was removed from the home for neglect (she got left behind) and we were almost callous about it. Dad went over to see about getting her back; there was no one supervising her so he just brought her back home. I also found that I did a horrible job at work (we had to fill out surveys). My mind was not on the work--it was on what the rest of my family was doing, whether there would be a long line at the quicky loan place, which place was closer to the quicky loan place--the mortgage place or the JFS, would my husband get us some food stamps this week... My handwriting on the surveys sprawled all over the place and I wrote down random responses. Not the model employee, but my family did eat.</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRU4F60-cQbZZRSFnie2y9cddO7kZO1aQskAySt74bjfjGL55HJCw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRU4F60-cQbZZRSFnie2y9cddO7kZO1aQskAySt74bjfjGL55HJCw" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763; font-size: large;"><b>Get the churches together</b></span> I wish that the preachers in my county--anyone who considers him or herself one--would get together and talk about what they see in their congregations. Some will report hunger, others wealth. Some will report despair, others hope. Together, they could direct resources for the assistance of the poor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my rural community we have lots of churches, mostly small and self-started organizations, meaning that a man (usually) who feels the call starts his own congregation or spins one off from another church or takes over an existing church. These churches come and go, strengthen and weaken, and are not affiliated with any major protestant religion. In the villages (no place in the county counts are a city), we have actual denominations--Methodists, Baptists, Freewill Baptists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Catholics, Community of Christ. However, the denominations struggle with attendance levels and are also dependent on the personality and/or leadership skills of a particular preacher.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The local preachers I know are decent people--even the ones who would consider me the Anti-Christ if they knew the membership cards I keep in my purse. I know of one small group of these ministers meets regularly--primarily pastors from mainstream denominations--and can assess community needs. In larger rural towns, ministerial associations can be a major voice that calls attention to needed changes and reforms for the poor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img height="472" src="http://www.ready4growth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Poor-Vs-Rich.jpg" width="640" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #274e13; font-size: large;">Poor on the board</span></b> Organizations who help or make money off the poor should be urged or mandated to include some poor people on their boards. The boards I have been on (and the one that is my boss) are made up of middle class to upper middle class professional people with college degrees. We talk about the poor as though they were an abstraction--and to many of us the poor are an abstraction. We make programming decisions and funding decisions that affect them without consulting them. Board members are generally people of good conscience who reflect the goals of the organizations they direct. But they may lack in their knowledge of other sectors of our society--well-off people would certainly not want boards made up of only poor people to make rules and decisions for them!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #741b47; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 17px;"><b>The Twelve Socioeconomic Levels - United States</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: lucida grande, tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;">Thinking in terms of lower, middle, and upper class Americans is an oversimplification. I like the dirty dozen given in this list. I pasted this from someone's Facebook post--if you can verify the source, I will gladly give the author full credit. I used to be an 8, but have sunk to a 4 through medical expenses and illness. I have hope of hopping back to 8 someday with the support of my education and family support, just like most 4s.</span></span><br />
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpE66rO3UGVqlt2lpg0R94v5W1JUxOo8uu_pWjFIgmZuH_Z-jnSw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpE66rO3UGVqlt2lpg0R94v5W1JUxOo8uu_pWjFIgmZuH_Z-jnSw" width="312" /></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">1. <b>Generational Poverty</b> - The harsh conditions of this type of poverty may keep these families from breaking the barriers for generations.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">2. <b>Working Poor</b> - These families live paycheck to paycheck, often in fear of being laid off.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">3. <b>Working Class </b>- Generally these workers have more stable employment than the working poor. They may use their hands and bodies as a primary tool to do their work.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">4. <b>Situational Poverty</b> - A crisis (e.g., health, divorce, etc.) results in an income drop causing these situations. They generally make it back to middle class due to assets such as education, family support, etc.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">5. <b>Risen from Poverty Middle Class</b> - They have gained some resources. They often become the “safety net” for others (their immediate family, friends, etc.).</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">6. <b>Illusory Middle Class</b> - These Americans have houses, cars, TVs, etc., but they also have staggering debt associated with each possession.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">7. <b>Lower Aspiring Middle Class</b> - Adults imitate neighbors with consumer purchases. Going to college is emphasized with children although they may not have gone to college themselves.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">8. <b>Solidly Middle Class</b> - They own their home and have investments or business. Assume children will be college graduate/professionals.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">9. <b>Upper Middle Class </b>- They have a higher income due to professional jobs and/or investment incomes.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">10.<b> Millionaire Middle Class</b> - They have a net worth of over a million dollars, but have not mentally accepted their wealth.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">11. <b>Owning Rich</b> - They own income-producing assets sufficient to make paid employment unnecessary.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">12. <b>Ruling Rich</b> - They hold positions of power in major institutions of society and may live secluded lives or are protected from the general public.</span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-85418963512106424832012-08-28T16:10:00.000-07:002012-08-28T16:10:53.057-07:00Poverty: Easing the Pain, Part 2<br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS2MLlkPgyBBrgDhe-nvORSsJxDquube_-pLJFEfslmB_fhwhL3" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS2MLlkPgyBBrgDhe-nvORSsJxDquube_-pLJFEfslmB_fhwhL3" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NOTE: This entry continues two previous posts--"Poverty Sim: Walk in My Shoes" and "Poverty: Easing the Pain, Part 1."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">REMINDER: The ideas included in this blog post are not
terribly new—most have been at least attempted. And, keep in mind that my goal
in sharing these ideas is NOT to end poverty, but simply to remove some of the stresses
that are added to poor people’s lives because they are poor. Most of these
ideas are met with skepticism, others with outright hostility. Alas. I can’t
let a negative reception keep me from putting all of these ideas together in
writing in a publicly available forum.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #660000;">ODJFS: Burn-out
prevention</span></b> </span>Thanks to cutbacks in almost every program for poor people,
county Job & Family Services departments across the state are under great
stress. They have laid off workers to cut their budgets at the same time that
the number of people requiring services has soared. This puts the remaining workers—the ones
charged with helping the poor—under great stress.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.princetonairport.com/41.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="http://www.princetonairport.com/41.gif" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I call upon my own memory of
the poverty simulation I participated in recently. I was the mortgage banker in
this valuable role-play experience, collecting rent and mortgage payments from
poor people. The rapidity with which I developed an intolerance and even a
scorn for the people I served was shocking to me. It was stressful to see that
I was powerless to help and was often the agent of pain for my customers. I
don’t know if this bears on the stress carried by JFS caseworkers, but I have
seen some workers treat some clients with the same rudeness and eye-rolling
that came over me in the simulation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> These workers need help. They need a plan for burn-out
prevention. I don’t know what the plan would be—massages at work? Weekly
debriefing sessions? Free coffee and bagels every morning? New desk chairs?
(OK, the desk chair thing is personal—I know a new desk chair would be valuable
to me personally.) I think regular infusions of food from our local
wunder-chef, Chef Mary from Flutes & Peppercorns, would be a welcome stress
reliever. Anyway, something needs to be done for these dedicated professionals
to help them feel like something other than a paper-pusher or payment policer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #783f04; font-size: large;">Expand OBB (Ohio
Benefit Bank)</span></b> The Ohio Benefit Bank (OBB) is a wonderful computer program
that determines likely eligibility for various programs, from food stamps to
FAFSA, from TANF to tax filing. (TANF is “temporary assistance for needy
families,” pronounced TAN-iff.)
Individuals may process themselves through the OBB program, but usually
a trained volunteer guides the data collection and entry. OBB is a one-stop
application process; applications are generated and sent directly to
appropriate agencies, whether it is for your Golden Buckeye Card or for WIC for
your baby.</span></div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTed5tX5hpdghh0-MtW6MdtCk1NM81CLaH3fK8xOmNnm6orEBvW" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTed5tX5hpdghh0-MtW6MdtCk1NM81CLaH3fK8xOmNnm6orEBvW" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> OBB can be used anywhere there is a computer and internet
service (like our shiny new McDonalds in McArthur). Or, it can be used at your
bedside at a retirement home. Or, you can use it by yourself on a computer at
the library. The casualness of the settings removes barriers for many people,
especially people who are dropping painfully out of the middle class and cannot
face going “up on the hill” (as we say about Vinton County’s JFS) to apply for
assistance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Some Job & Family Services offices see OBB as a
competitor—something that is eroding their authority. OBB counters that the
program only allows people to apply for benefits more easily—JFS still has
total control over determination and administration of benefits. I hope that
these two entities can find a way to co-exist or even cooperate in bringing
services to poor people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #274e13;">Appalachia last in
line: 2-1-1</span></b> </span>The twenty or so counties who still do not have 2-1-1
information line service are all in counties designated as poor and
Appalachian. The Appalachian counties that do have 2-1-1 are often serviced
through neighboring non-Appalachian counties—and that’s fine.</span></div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTK7NjH2uTTD82o2IEJY-jqDwoobNXgYUhZLPjoMueDchHsB7jt" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTK7NjH2uTTD82o2IEJY-jqDwoobNXgYUhZLPjoMueDchHsB7jt" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> But a county like
Vinton is surrounded by other struggling counties. Who is going to step up?
Where is the funding going to come from? The United Way is the implementer of
2-1-1 in many counties, but my United Way only has one part-part-time
employee—me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I think It’s funny that between United Way and my other employer, I am
sort of a mini-2-1-1, a referral service to a range of callers. And my efforts
pale compared to the real 2-1-1 woman in Vinton County—Brandi Betts of the
Chamber of Commerce. Thank you, Brandi, for your patience with so many random
requests for information.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 2-1-1 would assist every resident to navigate among care
providers, find the food pantries, find Sojourners for runaway and homeless
youth services or for Youthbuild or work programs. 2-1-1 would focus only on
helping and not be torn by numerous other responsibilities. When are the poor
people of Appalachian Ohio going to get it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #0c343d;">Subsidize family
activities: The free ride</span></b> </span>I remember from my own impoverished childhood
what it felt like to be left out, what
it meant to never go to the amusement park everyone else was excited about, to
never ride the rides at the county fair. That’s just one reason I am proposing
that we find ways to subsidize rides at local events such as McArthur’s Wild
Turkey Festival (no, not THAT kind of Wild Turkey) and the Vinton County Junior
Fair.</span></div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPUer8PUDxPEfe1-SlrDvrHDaqlAWNPARH8Q1gM4_oHkzuAX3wew" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPUer8PUDxPEfe1-SlrDvrHDaqlAWNPARH8Q1gM4_oHkzuAX3wew" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> When I mention this idea, many people respond with outright hostility. They refuse to consider it. As I often observe, there is a feeling that the poor must be punished for being poor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> But I insist. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let’s find funding for all children to ride free. It shouldn’t be
necessary for families to sacrifice food or rent money to make sure their kids
can ride the rides.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In Vinton County, where 90% of schoolchildren qualify for
free lunch (highest percentage in Ohio), the school district recently decided to just give free
lunch to every child. Everyone gets to eat. No more stigma of being identified
as one of the free lunch kids. This generous act may have been the result of
financial realities, but it is the free lunch for all attitude of the schools
that made me think about free rides at local events. Now, where do we apply for
the free tilt-a-whirl grants?</span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRmjNaU8HsDeduUfTq6C19SuatS1iJwVtQ7pHj4A0ppzXRpgYy67w" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRmjNaU8HsDeduUfTq6C19SuatS1iJwVtQ7pHj4A0ppzXRpgYy67w" width="206" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My parents used a pencil and<br />ruler to make their own<br />spreadsheet.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Sidebar: The Frugal Poor--My Parents</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> My family was poor--poorer than my sisters and I really understood. As with all children, our own family was the norm--we couldn't believe what went on in other families! Others were "less" normal than us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> What set my family apart from other poor families is that my parents had a plan. From their church, they learned about budgeting and tithing and record-keeping. (To figure your tithing, you had to keep track of your income and expenses--sort of like God was your shareholder.) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We always asked whether something was a necessity--and the opposite of "necessity" was "no." </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was always a big sheet of paper magnetized to the fridge, on which my mom or dad would record anything we spent individually or as a family. This was a good thing and kept us off public assistance and kept us housed, clothed, and fed. We even had some savings. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> However--yep, there's a "however"--the budget of my parents didn't allow for much extravagance in the fun-having department. Our gifts from Santa were a bit on the practical side (while our poorer neighbor kids received a lavish haul every year--we were jealous). And only once do I remember going on a non-church-camp vacation. (We hardly knew what to do with ourselves.) And we seldom rode the rides or saw the latest Disney movie.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTEFchU-tpI7BDkekwTEJ4Pa5quSJyw4cTmSYJNLJppTWzJrypa3w" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTEFchU-tpI7BDkekwTEJ4Pa5quSJyw4cTmSYJNLJppTWzJrypa3w" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We always got "books" of Lifesavers for<br />Christmas--and socks and underwear, of course.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I felt that I was privy to some deep knowledge in terms of how my parents handled money. I knew my parents were doing the right thing. But I hated it. I had wants that just wouldn't go away--my wants had way more to do with not seeming peculiar than about a deep urge to ride a Ferris wheel or eat an elephant ear or see a movie. I became my own outcast, went about in my own world, became mentally inventive, grew into a writer. But I have never lost the outsider mentality fostered by my parents' budgeting zeal (and other family peculiarities, of course). I'm pretty frugal, too, and it has kept me marginally afloat during the past several lean years. But it's still not fun. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Free rides would be great.</span></div>
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Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-21120776293946596782012-08-22T18:22:00.002-07:002012-08-22T18:37:21.737-07:00Poverty: Easing the Pain, Part 1<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NOTE: Please read my previous blog post, "Poverty Sim: Walk in My Shoes," before you read this one. It will put into perspective my motivation for continuing to brainstorm about poverty.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRm_BsFbLbJ7i9Uf8-fj6GQ0Mgd0sXILr7k7iHodaWnpeMDYzsW" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Admirable hours--most banks close at 5:00 most</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">days and are closed on Sunday, making it hard for</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">working people to get their banking done.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Poverty: Yuck. Poor people: Can't be punished enough for being poor. Or that is how it often looks to me. It seems like every piece of assistance comes with a value judgment attached, or with a sneer, or with a shower of condescension. Those people are poor because that's what they want. They don't want to work. All they want is a handout, all they do is suck the surplus out of the economy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hear these attitudes all the time, from my middle class friends, from political candidates, from the very people who serve the poor. Harsh words for the despised, the discarded.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I know I'm a bleeding heart liberal, but I do not want to end poverty. What I would like to do is restore respect for a group of people who work very hard, even when it doesn't earn money; who care deeply about their children and their children's futures; who jump over a hundred hurdles a day and never get to the finish line. I would like to find ways</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1) not to end poverty, but to ease some of its worst stresses;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(2) to remove some of the chains that bind people to poverty;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(3) to establish dignity for every person regardless of whether they get food assistance or subsidized childcare, or work in a jobs program instead of "real" job.</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSFCCONoE0PW1q3GcBXmBq5-WYKglFoFAjZj2AJ6SXbwP1PslQ7" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many BHPH car dealers overcharge for the car,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">loan at obscene rates of interest, repossess</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fast, and sell the same car again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Rinse and repeat.)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heather Pennington from the Ohio Association of Food Banks said she wanted to know more about the people in my county (Vinton, perennially one of the poorest in Ohio) and what might help them, in food terms and in general. Accordingly, I have been brainstorming with myself (always fun to call on my many selves), with co-workers, with the internet. Every time I came up with something, I wrote it on a little piece of paper and stuck it into an envelope. Last week I had a wonderful time hashing all the ideas out with Heather and her associate Dawn on the front porch of my ramshackle bungalow on the edge of McArthur. I think they were wondering exactly how many little pieces of paper were in that envelope.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heather asked me to type up the list for her and I thought: "Bing! If I'm going to type, I might as well type right into a blog entry, then cut and paste them to her." Never waste a keystroke. So, here it is--my list of ways to make the lives of poor people in my region less stressful and more productive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DISCLAIMER: My purpose in this blog today is not to discuss feasibility or all the problems people have had who tried to implement any of these ideas in the past. And, these ideas are not new. People know these ideas. But implementation has been sporadic and best and non-existent at worst. Keep in mind--I am not trying to end poverty, just to ease the stress and strain of it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enough <i>caveat emptor.</i> Here we go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #073763; font-size: large;">Barefoot and pregnant: Cheap and easy birth control.</span></b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQGVgJmTt7iIOseB6iqHKky2v-6Zs7xCZVvgtIuZyUCrAQKayM-A" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early pregnancies make possible<br />
the classic 5-generation family photo<br />
and allow for the rise of a matriarch<br />
whose power crosses many<br />
generations.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I know that condoms are cheap and easy, but men don't like them and often won't use them. That's why this strategy is directed toward women preventing their own accidental pregnancies through the patch, the pill, the shot, the shield. These do not prevent sexually transmitted diseases, but that's not the issue that drains the energy out of our women. The shot and the shield would help in the prevalent but under-reported instances when the man throws the birth control pills or the diaphragm in the wood stove and insists on having sex anyway; or when sex is only marginally consensual; or when the husband will not let his wife have the car to go to a doctor's appointment. My local domestic violence shelter can tell you some horror stories about how "accidental" pregnancies are often associated with family abuse. They exposed my own condescension on this issue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Have I put your nose out of joint yet? Read on....</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYSVWi_h_mps3TBIOytOXHF9k0xNcg0NmQjUZ3iDAJxtEg3OcEYQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTYSVWi_h_mps3TBIOytOXHF9k0xNcg0NmQjUZ3iDAJxtEg3OcEYQ" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a quaint vision of the parent-teacher<br />
conference...but I mainly selected this picture<br />
because Bob Cousy is featured in this issue.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #20124d; font-size: large;">School conferences on Saturday and Sunday. </span></b>Yes, each child's whole family may come along, and yes, teachers definitely need to be compensated in some way for doing this. But I am advocating weekend parent-teacher conferences--let's have a party. Get some pizzas cooking; get some Ski delivered from the local distributor; plan some entertainment for whoever is waiting around in the cafetorium. I do not buy the stereotype that poor parents don't care about their kids' education. They have many barriers to weekday conferences--no paid time off from work, being fired for absence from work, distance from work places, multiple users for one vehicle, no child care for the other children in the family or elder care for Grandma, no appropriate clothing for the institutional setting...are you getting the picture? I believe that, given the opportunity, poor people will demonstrate how much hope and concern for they have for the education and future chances of their children.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stay with me now....</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRymoFUIKBZlsrFrwe6C7hv21D1PJgIvfZpwKqEecn890mdhx_V" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRymoFUIKBZlsrFrwe6C7hv21D1PJgIvfZpwKqEecn890mdhx_V" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Appalachia, the road to recovery is rocky and<br />
full of detours and hairpin curves.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: #4c1130; font-size: large;">Community-based treatment and treatment beds.</span></b> Every parole officer, social worker, and law enforcement officer, or anyone else whose life intersects with addicted people is familiar with this issue, and efforts have been made in my community to attempt to make help available locally. Too often, though, a person who desperately needs drug or alcohol addiction treatment has to wait weeks or sometimes months for a bed to open up--and the bed may be 50 to 150 miles away. These sufferers are often lost to the system by the time treatment is available.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all know that the War on Drugs has neglected to supply funding for treatment. But in rural communities, this is especially serious. The number of counselors, therapists, psychiatrists, and mental health services in general is minuscule and services are far apart. I can't get blood work, a mammogram, and a bone density test without driving to three different towns more than 100 miles apart. Put me on drugs, give me a broken-down car and gas at $4.00 a gallon and I am not going to get to treatment.</span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRsQTw_wvtFdei63f8T9Vzj2boGpywta3Jfm6r1U-L70IOHEret" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRsQTw_wvtFdei63f8T9Vzj2boGpywta3Jfm6r1U-L70IOHEret" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The best painkillers are simple phrases of love and<br />
appreciation.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rural poor also suffer disproportionately from painkiller addiction. And it's not only the dealers who are getting rich. Drug-makers are dumping huge numbers of pain-killers into the system, and doctors are prescribing them. If you read my "Poverty Sim" blog entry, you'll remember the upstanding gentleman who ended up committing robbery to keep his family together--it wouldn't be a hard decision to sell just a couple of your pills to a neighbor. Twenty bucks could get your kid a nice outfit to start school in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are you getting me now? Still with me?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I apologize for dragging you through all this, but please don't tune out. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've got a lot more to share, but this blog entry is getting too long for a single-setting read (which violates my "rules of blog"). I'll try to post Part 2 on Monday.</span><br />
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Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-2704322419179272002012-08-02T04:30:00.000-07:002012-08-02T07:38:32.414-07:00Poverty Sim: Walk in My Shoes<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why am I interested in the poor?</span><br />
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<a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgVUOOWRCCAkNHg4nzTG3SuUpm7LtaDTIwd4N_UZCf9BwWVfm8" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="rg_hi uh_hi" data-height="251" data-width="201" height="251" id="rg_hi" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgVUOOWRCCAkNHg4nzTG3SuUpm7LtaDTIwd4N_UZCf9BwWVfm8" style="height: 251px; width: 201px;" width="201" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First, I've been pretty poor at times, getting closer to the fire than I ever dreamed. Imagine Star Trek's <em>Enterprise</em> skimming the outer edge of a planet's atmosphere, feeling the heat, but pulling out just before being burned to a cinder. That's me and poverty. I've never really had to land on that planet, live its culture, get wet from its rains, experience the upheavals of its plate tectonics. I've just skimmed. My parents were poor and I was raised poor, but Mom and Dad managed (through hard work and amazing self-sacrifice) to keep the nose of the ship just above the re-entry burn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second, I live in an impoverished rural area and work with low-income families. I am curious about the values and practices that are common to my home. And, from study (thank you, Ruby Payne) and observation, I see that most of the "help" that is applied to my region is misguided and sometimes damaging. There's nothing like help that feels like a smack in the face or that makes no allowance for local conditions, desires. My favorite image for the help applied to Appalachian communities is butter spread on cold toast. It just don't soak in. Interventions must be guided from within, not smeared on from without. Low-income people will tell us what they need. Will we listen?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Third, I am aware of my own good fortune and assets. My mind is good. I went to college. I have people who care about me. I have <em>enough</em>--I can move to the next level, enhancement. At the same time, I am aware that I am about two months away from full-blown poverty if I lose my job, need expensive medicines, or add a child to my household.</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRYA7EJQw5Ec9rdXut3IbNHsU3Xx2fRTbYAcTwq3jBxN3KfvZyeb9R61vT8RQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" height="200" name="3XNiUMuZBbNwCM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRYA7EJQw5Ec9rdXut3IbNHsU3Xx2fRTbYAcTwq3jBxN3KfvZyeb9R61vT8RQ" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fourth, humans have always been explorers, and I hope to be part of that long tradition. As a writer of fiction and non-fiction, I see that each person is his or her own planet, developed in response to very specific conditions; and yet we are all part of a phenomenal spider web of connection and commonality. (Thanks, Darwin.) If you would cross a concert harp with a spider web, you'd get a sense of the concerto of interdependence I'm talking about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, exploring other person-worlds and community-worlds and walking in the moccasins, pumps, trainers, wing-tips, steel-toes, flip-flops, fluffy pink house shoes, and plain old bare feet of this world is my favorite hobby. And, might as well start at home, right here in poverty-stricken but incredibly rich Vinton County, Ohio. That's why I'm interested in the poor. That's why last week I attended an exercise called a poverty simulation, in which a group of non-destitute middle Americans did a guided role-play of being poor. If you ever get a chance to participate in one of these, please do it. You'll be richer for a better understanding of the poor.</span><br />
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<a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4iZOXPap35rVcad_jCt84Ro00PpmCB1KKZ5cyTvfXHoD1FvJp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" data-src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4iZOXPap35rVcad_jCt84Ro00PpmCB1KKZ5cyTvfXHoD1FvJp" data-sz="f" height="166" name="6Lypy6b2vYJbAM:" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4iZOXPap35rVcad_jCt84Ro00PpmCB1KKZ5cyTvfXHoD1FvJp" style="margin-top: -3px;" width="221" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">About 60 people filled up the social hall of the Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Ohio, to do a sort of being-John-Malkovich slide into someone else's--a poor person's--skin. The edges of the room were lined with tables representing community entities--Job & Family Services, a bank, a daycare center, the Quicky Cash vendor, utilities, the mortgage banker, a school, a workplace, Community Action, the homeless shelter, and jail. Inside this ring of tables were chairs grouped into any number between one and six chairs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The chairs represented families. Out in the waiting area, each attendee was given an identity card. When the doors were opened, participants searched around until they found their "home" and met their "family." Each family had a packet of information, telling them all about themselves--age, medical condition, mortgage/rent obligations, placement of children, employment status...a demographic souffle. To simulate the money spent on transportation, each family was given transportation vouchers that had to be spent at EVERY stop they made. Lots of play money floated around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The facilitator (from the Ohio Association of Food Banks) announced that the simulation would last a month--a month of 15-minute weeks. She would blow a whistle to announce the beginning and ending of each week. If you went to school or work, you had to spend 7 minutes there each week before you could go about your business. During the month, the family was to keep itself fed and housed and serviced with utilities. Week 3 was summer break from school. (One woman lost her "job" because she couldn't find daycare for Week 3.)</span><br />
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<a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTC9wRFpmsVRfpiz6JI3tYvcZRXC5QBAShKyEOm3ExS80NBuezP" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" data-src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTC9wRFpmsVRfpiz6JI3tYvcZRXC5QBAShKyEOm3ExS80NBuezP" data-sz="f" height="114" name="SMiL-XmrFx2shM:" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTC9wRFpmsVRfpiz6JI3tYvcZRXC5QBAShKyEOm3ExS80NBuezP" width="188" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The groups dug right in, sometimes talking right over the facilitator in their urgency to get a plan together, to somehow make sense of their new lives. What do we do first? How do we get baby Jill (a 50-year-old man with a full beard) to daycare? Should we go for food or for transportation first? While you go to work, I'll drop the boy off at school, pick up my unemployment check, and go pay the mortgage... Oh, their plans sounded so great, logical and clear.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Except. Meet me, Joy the mortgage banker, one of the "providers." We had packets, too, giving us a set of activities for each week in the simulation. I had a "closed" sign. I had warning notices. I could evict. The careful planning blew up when the line was long at the bank and by the time you got to my office, the "closed" sign was out and I was walking through the community handing out overdue warnings. When I got back to my place of business, I could see a participant eagerly pushing through the crush to get to me. Then the whistle blew. That's one week late on the mortgage.</span><br />
<a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQpjW8LsSs4S93dCpug61IFrvHDBtQqiNm2RWYydkLWD7zl67bi" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" data-src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQpjW8LsSs4S93dCpug61IFrvHDBtQqiNm2RWYydkLWD7zl67bi" data-sz="f" height="132" name="lf-J_MA9WA2FMM:" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQpjW8LsSs4S93dCpug61IFrvHDBtQqiNm2RWYydkLWD7zl67bi" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The simulation was loud and pushy. Common courtesies vanished. Raised voices. Arguments over who was next in line at the bank. One of the saddest reactions I saw (several times) was tired resignation, like when I refused to take a housing voucher because they were no longer accepted after Week 2 of the month. There was no flexibility in the rules. My mortgage banker self developed more rapidly than I thought possible into a confrontive and snotty worker. By Week 4, I was (to my shame) flipping groups of chairs over with a grim glee--the signal for eviction. When the evicted participants came to me to ask what was happening, I found myself saying (with shockingly smug superiority), "You're homeless--the shelter is right down the street."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One participant started an argument over getting incorrect change at the Quick Cash place, with police involvement. The police, of course, sided with the business owner and off the cheated man went to jail. While this argument was diverting everyone's attention, another participant, without even thinking, cleaned out Quick Cash's cash drawer and tripped merrily over to me to pay the mortgage. Stealing really seemed like a rational act. The thief could feed and house her family. The man who sought traditional justice got screwed. In real-life, the thief is a respected member of the community who probably never even gets pulled over for speeding.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPUr-o1Mt7Mg_JEzF5VN1G3dVZ_DPd0kYhTG_C1iYUR6w1op_tgEzEIreHRxuC51m64_UMfhb-J9Sj2qPv_76xcfhkBg9ywMgN_NeRVAJYwRFcCigNSuIXkQMQtnTsjv9pv5PYmIWzZ4m/s1600/flip+flops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" id="il_fi" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPUr-o1Mt7Mg_JEzF5VN1G3dVZ_DPd0kYhTG_C1iYUR6w1op_tgEzEIreHRxuC51m64_UMfhb-J9Sj2qPv_76xcfhkBg9ywMgN_NeRVAJYwRFcCigNSuIXkQMQtnTsjv9pv5PYmIWzZ4m/s200/flip+flops.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Several families in our group did not manage to feed their families. In fact, a couple of families had not managed to secure food for their families during the entire month. The facilitator worked her way down: who had managed to get food all four weeks; a decent number of hands went up. Three weeks out of four; a larger number of hands. Only two or one of the weeks; several hands up. No food; a smattering of hands. When the connection was made to children and families going without food for a significant amount of time each month, the whole group sobered up. This wasn't just a game about poor people--it was a regular experience for many of them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These types of insights were happening all around the room. Even in the wrap-up, people were angry because the bank didn't have enough tellers. The simulation was still playing out inside them--the stress lasted. It was a high blood pressure experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of my insights (these are not unique or special--most people in the group had these insights).</span><br />
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<a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJSDJUuacuMZEv1cxoJUUwfaR1dqz8v0BOHigsKO_wufO6P4nP" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" data-src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJSDJUuacuMZEv1cxoJUUwfaR1dqz8v0BOHigsKO_wufO6P4nP" data-sz="f" height="164" name="-UUzUKH5z2aliM:" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJSDJUuacuMZEv1cxoJUUwfaR1dqz8v0BOHigsKO_wufO6P4nP" style="margin-top: -2px;" width="218" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">INSIGHT 1: Many of the behaviors associated with poor people, such as pushiness, hostility to authority, and not paying the bills on time, spring from the conditions of poverty, not from the personalities of poor people. Most of the "nice" people participating in the simulation rapidly developed these traits.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">INSIGHT 2: Poor people do not have leisure time. They are our modern hunter-gatherers, always on the go, on the move, just to fill the most basic needs of their families. Poor people are either working or exhausted. Throw a parent-teacher conference into the mix and the whole structure of the week may collapse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">INSIGHT 3: Helping kids with homework (oh, those middle school "projects") and tending to your key relationships is something there is little time for. The participants I was with gasped when the facilitator asked whether they had interacted with their families in any way other than urgent problem solving. None of them had.</span><br />
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<a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTuIHyEPc1S3NKk4OcYbkrrORkl2NrCF_0B1K_midDEjaQ8SBkGNw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="rg_hi uh_hi" data-height="173" data-width="291" height="118" id="rg_hi" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTuIHyEPc1S3NKk4OcYbkrrORkl2NrCF_0B1K_midDEjaQ8SBkGNw" style="height: 173px; width: 291px;" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">INSIGHT 4: A low-income or part-time job can be more of a liability than an asset--it greatly increases transportation and daycare costs and, given the structure of our business culture, may bar you from all of the activities that are only available from 8:00 to 5:00.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Conclusion and INSIGHT 5: Making assumptions is a human way to simplify the data each of us deals with in our lives--but assumptions make an ass out of u and mptions. Please add imagination to your assumptions--try on someone's dollar flip-flops and see how it feels. Sign up for a poverty simulation. Read any book by Ruby Payne. We can't afford to write off a whole group of people--any group. Put your "ass" in compassion instead of assumption.</span>Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-79444324332293393332012-05-25T09:43:00.000-07:002012-05-25T09:46:52.106-07:00Drive-Thru Community Baby Shower<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[Part of the purpose of this director's blog is to record process. In this post, I'm at the very beginning stages of planning a community event.]</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-S8O9oPjOfAjQ_dbMQ0j8o51xd3eu1Ou9fSkejfq6r_H9Mn8V0g" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="rg_hi uh_hi" data-height="224" data-width="224" height="224" id="rg_hi" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-S8O9oPjOfAjQ_dbMQ0j8o51xd3eu1Ou9fSkejfq6r_H9Mn8V0g" style="height: 224px; width: 224px;" width="224" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's my latest hair-brained scheme: Have a baby shower for all of the babies recently born and to be born in Vinton County. Let's celebrate the birth of every child with the basic necessities--diapers, onesies, rattles, wet wipes, and more! Let's give the future citizens of Vinton County a head start even before Head Start. United Way of Vinton County will sponsor this event, with lots of community support, but it will not be a fund-raising enterprise. UWVC just wants to demonstrate its commitment to the future of this place we call home.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I propose a community drive-thru baby shower. Pull up, get a piece of cake and a cup of punch while your donation is unloaded, and drive on. We'll even give you a receipt--and you never have to get out of your car. This idea is my attempt to do what every non-profit struggles with--making giving as easy as possible. I recall food drive-throughs, toy drive-throughs at Christmas. People seem to like the no-fuss approach to just dropping it off without leaving the car.</span><br />
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTHb6_0BAYpaJluMCNd9MxJCONKno1sZggr_w_CEtQaj1epAJzKTQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="rg_hi uh_hi" data-height="225" data-width="225" height="225" id="rg_hi" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTHb6_0BAYpaJluMCNd9MxJCONKno1sZggr_w_CEtQaj1epAJzKTQ" style="height: 225px; width: 225px;" width="225" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I admit that this idea was triggered by the McDonald's restaurant that is being built on the road I drive to work. As the block walls went up, I was tickled to see a drive-through window hole, and then a second one (meaning that we'll be able to pay separately from ordering and picking up food--we've hit the big time). The thought of just cruising through for a coffee or sandwich makes me happy. I'm not sure this is a good thing about me (or my culture), that I want my food to not interrupt my flow, but I do own it; it's real. It's (for better or worse) part of who we are at this time in this place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first step in planning any event is to go through the classic journalism questions--who, what, where, when, why, how, and how much. I know that if I can answer these, I've covered the basics. Let me know, readers, what you think about this event--your ideas, suggestions, and cautions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Who (is doing the work):</strong> United Way of Vinton County (sponsor); potential partners include other agencies that serve families, women, and children, such as Sojourners, Head Start, Help Me Grow, Shepherd's House, HRS, ISS, schools, Families and Children First Council, Rio Grande Community College, Ahoy, Health Department (immunization schedules) and many others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">[Just since I started writing this, I've been on the phone with wonder woman Trish from Shepherd's House and she agreed to help with this project.]</span></div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ-UBAx6Y1xhU0QFEdMxhswcCr322todK82BZaONNNu5ucDdax0CQ" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="rg_hi uh_hi" data-height="160" data-width="241" height="160" id="rg_hi" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ-UBAx6Y1xhU0QFEdMxhswcCr322todK82BZaONNNu5ucDdax0CQ" style="height: 160px; width: 241px;" width="241" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm hoping that some corporate sponsors will jump on board, such as Kohls and Walmart. A big donation of disposable diapers would not go amiss. Would the state highway patrol come and demonstrate correct installation of car seats? Does the library want to have a readathon? Does the American Red Cross want to give babysitting classes that day, or infant CPR?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This lengthy list is only limited by my imagination (and yours--would love to hear suggestions).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Who (is benefitting):</strong> The newborns, babies, and mothers/families of Vinton County will receive some version of a gift box if they apply to certain agencies. One organization will be selected as the holder of the stuff and will distribute it upon receiving a referral notice from another agency. The holding organization will keep a list to prevent a mother from applying to more than one referral source. (I hate thinking of fraud when the goal is generosity, but that's how it is. I know that some donors will not participate if we don't have a plan to weed out dishonesty.) We can also use the list to send out United Way birthday cards, if we get that organized.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>What:</strong> <em><span style="color: #cc0000;">Vinton County Community Drive-Thru Baby Shower</span></em> to shower the future citizens of Vinton County with gifts that make up a starter kit for babies and a pampering kit for mom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Where:</b> Wyman Park, the biggest park in the county. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cars will pull into the parking area through the park's south entrance,
unload, get drive-through cake and beverage and
exit at the north of the parking lot. People can also park and stay, participating in activities and browsing educational materials. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alternate locations might include
Vinton Industries, Super Valu, Sojourners 605,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Beulah May’s lot, courthouse gazebo...or even the old high school parking lot.</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When:</b> Looking at a Saturday in September (8th or 15th?) right now. The United Way wants an activity planned for the longest day of the year, but I didn't find out soon enough to get this idea going. <strong>Time:</strong> 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJR805__KiJSfJDHuOoO-JHbkWDXeOTq63ZfU4wPKSf_N-xuaH" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="rg_hi uh_hi" data-height="184" data-width="275" height="184" id="rg_hi" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJR805__KiJSfJDHuOoO-JHbkWDXeOTq63ZfU4wPKSf_N-xuaH" style="height: 184px; width: 275px;" width="275" /></a><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJR805__KiJSfJDHuOoO-JHbkWDXeOTq63ZfU4wPKSf_N-xuaH" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="64" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJR805__KiJSfJDHuOoO-JHbkWDXeOTq63ZfU4wPKSf_N-xuaH" style="filter: alpha(opacity=30); left: 553px; opacity: 0.3; position: absolute; top: 1581px;" width="96" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Why:</b> To gather
new and gently used baby items for distribution to babies in our
community, to demonstrate that we are the village it takes to raise a child.</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Food:</b> Piece of cake/cupcake and fruity beverage ready for every car that comes through (because cake and
punch is served at traditional baby showers); sell or offer hot dogs/buns,
veggies/dip for those who are hanging around--an organization may wish to do this as a fundraiser.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Decorations:</b> Pink
and blue streamers, of course</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Special Request:</b>
Donations of children’s pajamas and socks to Shepherd’s House</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Referrals provided by:</b> WIC, Shepherd’s House, St. Francis Center, Lutheran Social
Services, Children’s Services, Help Me Grow, Goodwill, Truth Food Pantry,
Sojourners, Care Outreach, police/sheriff, pastors, etc.</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Activities:</b> Every
Baby a Winner Photo Contest (take photos of kids to post on facebook);
infant/child CPR training; make tied fleece baby blankets; tie-dye onesies;
read-aloud story time; face-painting, henna (?)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Booths:</b> For
adoption information, foster care parent recruitment, family planning?, youth homelessness, etc.</span></div>
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRQEchWTfx_45jVm7skJtBDjuUt66VXOtXqwxaRKx9Rh5XIbwzH" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="rg_i" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRQEchWTfx_45jVm7skJtBDjuUt66VXOtXqwxaRKx9Rh5XIbwzH" data-sz="f" height="169" name="Kz0CirAM4ql6EM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRQEchWTfx_45jVm7skJtBDjuUt66VXOtXqwxaRKx9Rh5XIbwzH" style="margin-top: 0px;" width="169" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Donations:</b> from
Kohls, Walmarts, CVS, community, other retailers (focus on disposable diapers,
wet wipes, new toys, etc.), Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Adena, Holzer system, Holzer Clinic, O'Blennis</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Volunteers:</b>
needed for every function, but especially for cake making, unloading, and packaging donations into kits</span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Afterparty:</b> Might
need to meet the next day or that evening to sort out the donations and package
them up for delivery</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Empty boxes or bins: </strong>For collected stuff</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Items accepted: </span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Disposable diapers, pull-ups; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Formula/baby food; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Onesies and sleepers; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Socks and booties; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wet wipes; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Baby blankets; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New and gently used clothing, toys, books; C</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ar seats/booster seats (do these have to be
new?); </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Items for mom--lotions, smelly soaps, loofah, book (What to Expect in the First Year)</span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Publicity:</b> Press
releases one month and one week out for all local newspapers, social media,
radio, ask all partners to publicize to their members and clientele</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Door Prize:</b> I
would love to be able to give out a free labor/delivery from Adena! I’m not
kidding!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'll keep you posted.</span>Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-20963502184496059622012-05-13T15:36:00.000-07:002012-05-13T15:38:43.894-07:00United Way of Vinton County Investments<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PRESS RELEASE</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May 13, 2012</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">United Way of Vinton
County Invests $18,000 in Local Organizations</span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The United Way of Vinton County distributed $18,000 in
investments to local non-profit partners in April, 2012—an increase of $6,000
over 2011. Applications were received from eight groups; seven received
investments, according to UWVC Director Joy Dickerson. “Our United Way Board
had to make some hard decisions, not just about which groups to invest in, but
also how much each partner would receive out of our limited funds.” A
subcommittee of the board reviewed all of the applications and then made
recommendations to the full board. The recommendations were ratified after much
discussion at a meeting of the entire board. “Every board member showed up for
the investment meeting—it’s that important.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The following groups received funding this year: Care United
Methodist Outreach, Truth Food Pantry, Shepherd’s House, Vinton County Senior
Citizens, R.S.V.P., the American Red Cross of Southeast Ohio, and Big
Brothers/Big Sisters of Southeast Ohio. “The Red Cross and Big Brothers/Big
Sisters are located in Athens, but they provide direct service to Vinton
Countians.” Dickerson noted that the American Red Cross of Southeast Ohio
provided assistance to many county residents following the heavy rains that
fell in the area in the last two weeks, a reflection of United Way of Vinton
County’s funding at work right here. The investment in Big Brothers/Big Sisters
supports a student mentoring program that has been operating without funding
for the past year. “We’re so happy to assist that program. Mentoring helps the
mentor as well as the person being mentored—everybody wins with mentoring.” </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/550206_261764863922127_119008194864462_474540_1245244662_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/550206_261764863922127_119008194864462_474540_1245244662_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Board members Jeff Griffiths and Emmett Joy work the United Way booth at the recent Wild Turkey Festival--in all,<br />
six of eight board members worked the festival; a board member was present for almost every hour of the event.<br />
This is a Commoner Journal photo--see more pix at <a href="http://thecommonerjounral.com/">thecommonerjournal.com. </a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The United Way of Vinton County continues to focus
investment on the most basic needs of our community—food, clothing, shelter,
and safety. “Our investments in the community were higher this year than in the
past, but not as high as I wanted,” board member Linda Donahoe said. “I hope
that as people learn more about the United Way of Vinton County, donations will
increase and we can fund a wider range of activities,” she added. The recent
Split-the-Pot fundraiser at the Wild Turkey Festival was an effort to increase
people’s awareness of the United Way. “We made a small sum from the
split-the-pot, and the winner went home happy, but the most important thing was
that we met and spoke with so many people about the role of the United Way of
Vinton County in the community, Donahoe said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Dickerson is happy with this year’s investment decisions,
but hopes to increase community involvement next year. “Next year, I hope we
can invite some people from the community to participate in making investment
decisions.” Dickerson would be glad to speak with anyone who has questions
about the United Way of Vinton County and how it works. She can be reached at
740-596-9811 (leave a message) or by email at <a href="mailto:united_way_of_vinton_county@yahoo.com">united_way_of_vinton_county@yahoo.com</a>.</span></div>
Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-68297373435738766042012-05-05T13:30:00.000-07:002012-05-05T13:30:30.720-07:00Live from the Wild Turkey Festival 1<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="259" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcStz3DfplWsQAahL9JYQMIN_oqJKIQ6yc7Fu4D7a1dJEUmBqoNynQ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The significance of this photo will become clear by the end of this post.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wpGb07fhA8drQXY3PG-Sl1RPU734lE7OWvj2eM9_WbRLJhc1iBRUOlAJB2j5C7Bnchh8XNY_u9AQpmhhNNxI80Idv-vCD30csZuumfkAo9DhkXJ1rUVPBEDoTP1-S4LoRVc44YV_XN0/s1600/IMG_1403.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wpGb07fhA8drQXY3PG-Sl1RPU734lE7OWvj2eM9_WbRLJhc1iBRUOlAJB2j5C7Bnchh8XNY_u9AQpmhhNNxI80Idv-vCD30csZuumfkAo9DhkXJ1rUVPBEDoTP1-S4LoRVc44YV_XN0/s320/IMG_1403.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ridin' the rides at McArthur, Ohio's<br />
Wild Turkey Festival, May, 2012;<br />
more photos at end of post</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hot and muggy...banks of clouds rolling in with rumblings...but passing over our little street festival here in the metropolis (population 1300) of McArthur, Ohio. The United Way of Vinton County is having its first event in more than a decade as we wake the sleeping beauty organization and get her up and walking. In short, we have a booth at McArthur's annual Wild Turkey Festival (and yes, the initials are WTF), which coincides not with breaking out bottles of Wild Turkey liquor, but with wild turkey hunting season. There's not much meat on them, but they're apparently fun to hunt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Our booth is in the "craft tent," although no crafts are being sold there this year. The booth next to us is selling fanatically pro-gun t-shirts, catty-cornered to us is the rifle raffle booth, and just down the way is hunter's paradise bed'n'breakfast and the mildly vigilante Community Crime Watch. United Way and the local community college are strange bedfellows with these neighbors, but true to the spirit of this place, we all just get along anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Good-heartedness is part of the nature of this underpopulated rural county. The local pro-gun secret-KKK-member redneck will still stop and change your tire for you, or pull over to the side of the road to help you carry a piece of furniture up the porch steps, or chip in a quarter for your cup of coffee at the Quick Stop if your're short on change. That's the side I focus on. That's the side I'm depending on for United Way of Vinton County.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everyone's been a client at some point in their lives...gotten food from a pantry, spent a night or two with the domestic violence shelter, had a ride from the RSVP volunteers, or had kids in the mentoring program at school, or had a mom or dad get Meals on Wheels from the Senior Center. This is the United Way. These are the non-profits we fund, serving the young, the old, the sick, the hungry, the scared, the needy in our community. I am counting on local good-heartedness to establish a tradition of local funding for the United Way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Wild Turkey Festival is hot, loud, countrified, well-gunned, cammo-clad, confederate flagged, stroller pushing, corn-dog eating, country music listening, karaoke singing, pick the dropped sucker up off the ground and give it back to your kid doing, rides whirling, political glad-handing, neighbor greeting, good old fashioned fun. The media is different from 100 years ago, when people came in by rail from neighboring towns and the parades featured horses instead of SUVs, and we have the illusion of Little-House-on-the-Prairie wholesomeness, but I bet the feeling and mood are more similar than different.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I suggested a booth at the festival two months ago at a board meeting, wondering which way they would go. The UWVC board is pretty genteel, but also pragmatic. The support for the booth was enthusiastic (if not unanimous) and every single board member who committed to something for the booth carried through with it. As I write, the booth is being staffed by board members--there will be a board member there for every hour of the festival (working either in pairs or with me). And they are selling split-the-pot tickets and chatting with old friends and new and chucking little babies under the chin, and ignoring tattoos, and actually having a good time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The support of the board has been wonderful. I am struck again and again by how badly they really do want to wake Sleeping Beauty with a big old smack on the lips and get our little local United Way on everyone's agenda. Their support makes it fun for me, too, and completely removes the sense of martyrdom with which I anticipated the project.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We may make some money from our split-the-pot raffle, but the real goal is to talk to people about what we do. To switch children's literature references for the third time, we are the littlest Who from </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Horton Hears a Who.</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> We're shouting strong and together: "We are HERE! United Way of Vinton County is HERE!"</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZy_FMlhKd6RtOT4NLG5apBJ7J8fbk5tvifpBHb3lRMCTa_VpKZZ9vXh7NN4l8hsOsJhQBRLjb8iSyptWt9pDNFmfztmvrFDm1mssG6yjIFL9YDRH7t-PDrAx8engWqvb4MhGXNxB6znU/s1600/IMG_1387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZy_FMlhKd6RtOT4NLG5apBJ7J8fbk5tvifpBHb3lRMCTa_VpKZZ9vXh7NN4l8hsOsJhQBRLjb8iSyptWt9pDNFmfztmvrFDm1mssG6yjIFL9YDRH7t-PDrAx8engWqvb4MhGXNxB6znU/s200/IMG_1387.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rifle Raffle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP4c1tbMmZDtLG4lxNJmGollNAZrNCZ20uLrZG2kvHSCRlPFCp3Esre52C8_nZuQDupKXPiI2CZvoYzird0reaAG3o4P1h3OSB1RNPX6lsZHzafDvgvJWyr169ct6f8T5lgSomu4WROpw/s1600/IMG_1411.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP4c1tbMmZDtLG4lxNJmGollNAZrNCZ20uLrZG2kvHSCRlPFCp3Esre52C8_nZuQDupKXPiI2CZvoYzird0reaAG3o4P1h3OSB1RNPX6lsZHzafDvgvJWyr169ct6f8T5lgSomu4WROpw/s200/IMG_1411.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">French fries by the bucket.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuFYnzGOdbT74LnUjYuUd-6UV-VGHQKaKSSBedMn2hWjtkU63-fE3-KoqDMp7vrFZFyNG77JxaAqytUBbtwrQTVOUvd-kkmjJz1_iaKoW22xNnL4Lzh5gom-eM7shCJmE_0XyKRYcD4nI/s1600/IMG_1402.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuFYnzGOdbT74LnUjYuUd-6UV-VGHQKaKSSBedMn2hWjtkU63-fE3-KoqDMp7vrFZFyNG77JxaAqytUBbtwrQTVOUvd-kkmjJz1_iaKoW22xNnL4Lzh5gom-eM7shCJmE_0XyKRYcD4nI/s200/IMG_1402.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My friend Mindy, representing<br />both the pregnant women and<br />the stroller-pushers--you rock,<br />Mindy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-IrJLDk6Dy1tLI8sYfZ0xKOP-JjpPgRrJPh0C8YlXz-bzKtzL_StlBzsB5KuitQpXGij9JS2y0aNqa0SMZqDVeGYhuOJIlNX2R_eIJj_TrTov88Z5H8j4xum0oOdgwShOWg64SIy_0o/s1600/IMG_1410.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-IrJLDk6Dy1tLI8sYfZ0xKOP-JjpPgRrJPh0C8YlXz-bzKtzL_StlBzsB5KuitQpXGij9JS2y0aNqa0SMZqDVeGYhuOJIlNX2R_eIJj_TrTov88Z5H8j4xum0oOdgwShOWg64SIy_0o/s200/IMG_1410.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karaoke contestant<br />on the main stage</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijhlPvwppvy5I5BFnhE83QZ2ntyFFpqSUSFg2pEB8jd1Ovi0K3BdMMhvcDofcA47ntTYWbvlYhkn9vi1wjNINj-3dcRaaEDahIXke5zbZ1WHaSBh6cByYme1A7GBqOnuOx_7vNfP3HNqU/s1600/IMG_1386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijhlPvwppvy5I5BFnhE83QZ2ntyFFpqSUSFg2pEB8jd1Ovi0K3BdMMhvcDofcA47ntTYWbvlYhkn9vi1wjNINj-3dcRaaEDahIXke5zbZ1WHaSBh6cByYme1A7GBqOnuOx_7vNfP3HNqU/s200/IMG_1386.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Examples of shirts sold next to us</td></tr>
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<br /><br /><br />Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4870354074773370845.post-89020159059067916292012-04-30T13:17:00.001-07:002012-04-30T13:17:59.375-07:00New CEO Training<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New United Way of Vinton County<br />
CEO and blogger Joy E. Dickerson</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK. Ready...set...go (crazy). I took on a 1/4-time job several months ago, sort of a 16-hours a month job, sort of a few hours on Saturday and a meeting or two job. Turns out that I am classified as a Chief Executive Officer--the CEO of the teeny-weeny United Way of Vinton County (UWVC). Woot! This is a huge promotion from my paper-pushing day job. I'm a CEO. Does a BMW and golf culbs come with that?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went to training...New CEO training...last Friday in Columbus, Ohio, at the attractively utilitarian offices of the Ohio United Way. There was a clutch of us hatchlings, some of us raw and new and a few United Way "lifers." The staff at Ohio United Way were terrific--professional, knowledgable, encouraging, and sympathetic. Thank you, Barbara, Cheryl, Char, Tim, and Nick.<span style="background-color: white;">The material gave me whiplash. I either knew it already or was totally terrified by it. I alternated between giddy-up and WHOA.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The inner workings of the United Way are intricate, labyrinthine, roccoco, roccokookoo. I felt myself envisioning a tangled web of mammalian DNA, pi to the 10-millionths place. The great mysteries of the universe floated by and then paled in comparison. And I'm supposed to know this stuff. Abstractions littered the landscape. Acronyms crazied the cranium. My brain stretched and groaned as I told it to stay open, just stay open. We can control the cataclysm by and by, lord, by and by.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love my brain. It is flexible and responsive. It holds a monstrous big storehouse of information and is networked not just by topic, but also by sounds and sound-alikes, history, images, strange co-vibrations of the gray matter with the sensory array. My brain (and most brains) makes the internet look clumsy. But it just wasn't enough to cope with this avalanche of information. New tracks must be laid down above the drum track, horns, bass, and strings--tracks for instruments undreamed.</span><br />
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTPs5aDef_MdhIBkfUSJEv4iW5lozbWjigXhNWTpuoCeHTevFaF" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="rg_hi uh_hi" data-height="194" data-width="259" height="194" id="rg_hi" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTPs5aDef_MdhIBkfUSJEv4iW5lozbWjigXhNWTpuoCeHTevFaF" style="height: 194px; width: 259px;" width="259" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was glad to know that even the most experienced United Way directors (oops--CEOs) are still peeling back the rose petals of policy, still peeling leaves off the lettuce of the law. Knowledge of United Way habits and practices, policies and paperwork, campaigns and categories is like an old LAN--more knowledge in the group than in the the sum of the individuals. No one person can possibly know everything and shouldn't, but even in the room of newbies, we were quite a powerhouse of information. I was greatly reassured when an experienced CEO came in to speak to us and got some of her questions answered even as she answered ours.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I'm still in. I'm still swimming (in deeper water) in the oceanic United Way. The staff at Ohio United Way are my water wings; my CEO colleagues are my lighthouse; and seeing the good done by my tiny local chapter fuels my muscles. The wave has crashed over me and I am still afloat, still dog-paddling.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks for tolerating my multitudinous metaphors. See you in the bloggy papers!</span>Joy Dickersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892400440483068126noreply@blogger.com0