Poverty in the Classroom
Why is that child so rude? What is wrong with that mother that she allows her daughter to come to school dressed like that? Why doesn’t he ever do his homework? That child is...
A Labor Day Exercise
Purpose: We rarely realize how dependent we are on all kinds of people. This exercise helps us see that our lives are enriched by many other people in ways we often do not think...
Sobering Facts 2016
The 2016 federal poverty level for a family of 4 in South Carolina is $24,300 and is $11,880 for one individual. The area median income in 2014 is $45,238 (SC) and $44,783 (Greenville-Mauldin-Easley)....
Not the Usual Group
When I facilitate the poverty simulation, participants are usually people who have resources who want to learn a bit about what it feels like to live in poverty. They willingly submit themselves to a...
New Study on Financial Self-Sufficiency for South Carolina Familie
New Study on Financial Self-Sufficiency for South Carolina Families Columbia, SC (January 19, 2016) – A new report takes a realistic look at how much is actually needed to support a family in South...
Where Do You Fit In?
People ask me, “What can I do to help people who live in poverty?” and that’s always a hard question for me to answer. Each one of us has a particular passion or interest...
Budget Scenario
Based on very conservative spending assumptions Wages: $11.00 an hour job, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. Net take home: $8.25 /hour or $1430 a month. Housing: ...
Energy and Exhaustion
I have the opportunity on a regular basis to help people begin to look at their community in ways beyond what they know, feel, and think. Sometimes people are extremely grateful that they gain...
Suggested Reading about Poverty and Serving Others
Our Eyes Were Opened, Inc. Annotated Bibliography for Recommended Reading Berreby, David, Us and Them: Understanding Your Tribal Mind, Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2005. Berreby shows how science tackles questions of group...
Crazy Month for Simulations
August is a CRAZY month for poverty simulations. Schools want the experience for their faculties before the students come back for class. The Greenville Health System’s newest class of Medical Students are arriving and...
Definition of Rich
The Bible talks a lot about the rich and the poor. The Bible never talks about the middle class. One is either rich or one is poor. There seems to be no in-between. This...
Comments from the Poverty Simulation
Last week I facilitated a poverty simulation for the MedEx Academy sponsored by the Greenville Health System. Participating were high school seniors and college juniors and seniors who are planning careers in the medical...
Just as They Are
Simone Weil wrote in Waiting for God: “ I have the essential need… to move among of every class and complexion, mixing with them and sharing their life and outlook, so far that...
What Defines a Good Act?
What defines a good act? According to Parker Palmer, good acts “are those that allow people the freedom to choose their own destinies.” (Active Life, p. 47) If we use this definition, how many...
What Can I Do?
Edward Everette Hale penned these words that I’ve seen on posters and quoted many times. That must indicate that he said something significant! You decide: “I am only one, but still I am one....
What High School Students Learned from the Poverty Simulation
On April 21, I facilitated a poverty simulation for 146 students at Hartsville High School. Here are some of the comments from the students: I think that the most successful part was learning how...
How Our Eyes Were Opened Got Its Name
Sometimes I’m asked about why I named my company Our Eyes Were Opened, Inc. Well, the Inc. part is just part of being a company. The name, Our Eyes Were Opened, however, has several...
What I Have Learned
I have now facilitated the Poverty Simulation for more than 5000 people. These are a few of the things I have learned about the process…not the specific insights that people share in the debriefing...
When is a baby no longer cute?
A recent report released by the Children’s Defense Fund reported that one in five children in this country is poor (12.2 million children) In South Carolina, more than 1 in 4 (26.9 percent) were...
Life’s Curve Balls
Sometimes life just throws you a curve ball. You are expecting certain schedules, happenings, relationships. Your well-considered plans simply cannot materialize. The weather may not allow you to go on the hike or bike...