|
Live Poverty for a Day
From the relative comfort of middle-class life, it's hard to imagine how each day for poor people can become a struggle to survive. Try this simple exercise.
It's 8 a.m. and you, a single parent of a toddler, have many things
to accomplish today. Your annual salary is $12,000 -- right at the
government's poverty threshold for a two-person household. At that
salary level, you have about $33 a day for food, transportation,
child care and other bills. Let's see how you do making ends meet.
- You need a new pair of shoes for the job you're going to start tomorrow. You find a great sale at a discount store, $10. Don't forget the bus fare, $1 -- luckily children ride free.
- You're hungry, and so is your daughter. Where can you eat something that won't wipe you out? A fast food breakfast for two costs $3 (you drink water so your daughter can have juice).
- Time to take care of that terrible ear infection that kept your daughter up all night. The clinic charges a $5 co-pay for the visit, plus $5 for the prescription.
- Who will watch your daughter while you work? You called several day care providers along the route to your new job and found one with an opening. You hop back on the bus to check it out, $1. The woman says you have to pay her for at least the first three days of care, but thankfully that can wait until tomorrow (then you'll need $35).
- It's two in the afternoon by the time you finish and neither of you has eaten since breakfast. For your last meal of the day, you splurge at the grocery store to buy milk (you can only afford a half-gallon), bread, eggs and some cereal (a less-expensive store brand than the one your daughter picked), $5.90. (Never mind the woman ahead of you in line who has a cart filled with food.)
- The bus fare home is another $1.
- With only $1.10 left, you go to bed early; and pray that no
costly illnessess or expensive accidents occur tomorrow - so
you can afford to live another day.
How well would you do in your town? Use this same exercise to test it out. Then report on your experience.
Have you taken our Tour?
|  |
|
press
releases...
story
ideas...
CCHD
news room...
poverty
facts...
Use
this collection of facts about
the state of poverty in America to enhance your story, including
the Top Ten Poverty Rates of U.S. cities, counties
and states.
profiles...
About
CCHD
Bio:
Father Robert J. Vitillo
2004 PSA numbers...
| |
TV:
240 stations in 46 states |
| |
Radio:
504 outlets in 50 states |
| |
Print: 1,274 insertions in newspapers and magazines
|
| |
PSA
Campaign Numbers Soar
|
media
contacts...
For
more information about the state of poverty in America, Poverty
in America Awareness Month or the Catholic Campaign for Human
Development, contact:
Barbara
Stephenson
Director of Communications
Catholic Campaign for Human Development
(202) 541-3364 or
(email)
Or
visit the Catholic
Campaign for Human Development web site.
|
|
