Myth Busters
Myth Busters Compiled by Beth Templeton, 3.30.18 Based on Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, Mariner Books, imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015 Not...
Hidden Voices ( Part 5 in a series)
If we were watching live theater now, we’d see a crowd behind a scrim mumbling softly and then getting louder and louder. In the wings, we would hear the sound of buildings coming down...
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...
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...
Prophetic Ministry: Not me…or Me
“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.” — From Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination...
Resource for Congregations’ Missions Programs
When I was at a meeting with ministers, one of them asked me how a congregation decided what service ministries to support financially and what ministries for them to create or be involved with. ...
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: ...
Back to School for Angelika
August 1 Journal Entry I’ve been feeling a tightness in my insides. I look at Mama and she says that she’s already eaten when she gives us our supper but she looks skinnier 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...
Welcome to my world of writing
I love taking an idea and playing with it. Putting questions, thoughts, and insights on paper to see how they develop and what I learn in the process is great pleasure for me. For...
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...
Affordable Housing Can’t Be Found for Many
The National Low Income Housing Coalition just released a report about the shortage of affordable rental units for people who are deeply low income (DLI= household with income at or less than 15% of...
The Cost of Winter Weather
With our area’s ice, sleet, snow, and below normal temperatures, many things have come to a halt. Schools, childcare facilities, medical practices, businesses, service organizations, and churches have been closed or opened only for...
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...
A Sampling of Comments from a Recent Poverty Simulation
Answers to poverty quiz questions 16-20: 16.c; 17.b; 18.c; 19.a; 20.c What was the most successful part of the simulation for you? Teaching us about poverty and hardships people may have in their lives...
Poverty Quiz 2015 questions 6-10
The answers to questions 1-5 (see previous post) are 1.b; 2.c; 3.a; 4.c; 5.c What percentage of people age 5+ in South Carolina speak a language other than English at home? a.6.8% b.8% c.21.4%...
‘Tis the Season of Giving Gifts
I recently revisited some articles I wrote for the newsletter at United Ministries when I still worked there. This scenario from December 2007 touched me once again. Gifts come in all shapes and sizes. Many of...
Angelika’s Thanksgiving
Edited excerpt from Angelika’s Journal November 20 I hope that Mama can work out something soon. With only one bathroom, I have no privacy for ANYTHING. I want to be able to take a...
Innocence
I told a friend about my mantra verse for all these years of working in poverty: Matthew 10:16 where Jesus is teaching the disciples before sending them out. He says, “Be ye wise as...