October 3-10 is Faith to Face Poverty Week in the Fox Cities. It is one of the initiatives of the Project Promise Poverty Coalition, which is a coalition of non-profit organizations, service providers and individual community members with the goal of ending poverty in the Fox Cities.
Here are some statistics that help us understand how people in our area are affected by poverty:
· As of 2008, 7,929 children in Outagamie and Winnebago Counties were living in poverty
· 1 in 10 Wisconsin families faced food insecurity in 2008; locally, St. Joe’s and other food pantries have recorded record numbers of request for food assistance the past 2 years.
· In 2009, the Salvation Army Food Pantry in the Fox Cities distributed over 913,000 pounds of groceries to 33,034 people, and served 53,821 meals to the hungry at their noon feeding program.
· LEAVEN provides emergency financial assistance for housing, utilities, transportation and other basic needs. It has increased its assistance enormously in the past 8 years, supporting 2,667 families in 2000 to 7,400 families in 2009.
· The Tri-County Community Dental Clinic in Appleton estimates that over 60,000 adults in this area are unable to afford basic dental care.
There are many different ways to help people facing poverty. Here are some ideas for the month of October:
· Help out at Community Table on Saturday, October 2nd.
· Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and work on one of the houses
· Volunteer at the Emergency Shelter
· Make a donation to one of the community non-profit organizations that helps poor people
· Participate in a Poverty Simulation, which helps people to understand what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family trying to survive from month-to-month. One is being held on Monday, October 4, 5:30-8:30 pm at the Appleton Public Library; another is being held on Friday, October 8, 9:00-Noon at the Family Resource Center, 1165 Appleton Rd, Menasha. (Call 968-6365, ext. 6210 or email cholz@capmail.org for your reservation.)
· Raise funds and walk in the Crop Hunger Walk being held on Sunday, October 10, in Appleton. (see hallway bulletin board for more details.)
I’m not sure who said it, but it was in an article on fighting poverty with faith. “Poverty in America is a pressing and moral problem. All faiths speak out on the need to care for the poor and vulnerable and to strive for the common good…Poverty is not a Democratic or Republican issue…it is a moral issue.” Let us all consider what we can do to fight poverty in our community.
Here are some statistics that help us understand how people in our area are affected by poverty:
· As of 2008, 7,929 children in Outagamie and Winnebago Counties were living in poverty
· 1 in 10 Wisconsin families faced food insecurity in 2008; locally, St. Joe’s and other food pantries have recorded record numbers of request for food assistance the past 2 years.
· In 2009, the Salvation Army Food Pantry in the Fox Cities distributed over 913,000 pounds of groceries to 33,034 people, and served 53,821 meals to the hungry at their noon feeding program.
· LEAVEN provides emergency financial assistance for housing, utilities, transportation and other basic needs. It has increased its assistance enormously in the past 8 years, supporting 2,667 families in 2000 to 7,400 families in 2009.
· The Tri-County Community Dental Clinic in Appleton estimates that over 60,000 adults in this area are unable to afford basic dental care.
There are many different ways to help people facing poverty. Here are some ideas for the month of October:
· Help out at Community Table on Saturday, October 2nd.
· Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and work on one of the houses
· Volunteer at the Emergency Shelter
· Make a donation to one of the community non-profit organizations that helps poor people
· Participate in a Poverty Simulation, which helps people to understand what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family trying to survive from month-to-month. One is being held on Monday, October 4, 5:30-8:30 pm at the Appleton Public Library; another is being held on Friday, October 8, 9:00-Noon at the Family Resource Center, 1165 Appleton Rd, Menasha. (Call 968-6365, ext. 6210 or email cholz@capmail.org for your reservation.)
· Raise funds and walk in the Crop Hunger Walk being held on Sunday, October 10, in Appleton. (see hallway bulletin board for more details.)
I’m not sure who said it, but it was in an article on fighting poverty with faith. “Poverty in America is a pressing and moral problem. All faiths speak out on the need to care for the poor and vulnerable and to strive for the common good…Poverty is not a Democratic or Republican issue…it is a moral issue.” Let us all consider what we can do to fight poverty in our community.
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Fighting Poverty with Faith is a diverse coalition of national and local faith organizations dedicated to cutting poverty in half by 2020, and ending childhood hunger by 2015.
To accomplish these goals, Fighting Poverty with Faith works to aggressively focus new attention to the causes of poverty, highlight strategies to reduce poverty, and create economic opportunities. In 2010, the third year of this national mobilization, Fighting Poverty with Faith is focusing on protecting critical human needs programming and advocating for new policies to enable more individuals to find employment and move towards self-sufficiency.
For more information on Fighting Poverty with Faith, visit www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com
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