Poverty Awareness

- january is poverty awareness month
  
  According to the last census, 4,000 Mooresville residents, 19,000 Iredell County residents, and more than 113,000 Charlotte residents live in poverty. Approximately 9,000 people in North Carolina are homeless.
  
  Local organizations like The Christian Mission, Feed NC, Angels and Sparrows, and The Ada Jenkins House are helping to feed and clothe the poor. Hope of Mooresville: HOME gives homeless single mothers a temporary place to stay while they are helped with child care and job training so they can get back on their feet and take care of their families.
  
  Our own Community Ministries Commission here at St. Therese is also involved in helping the poor with regular food and clothing drives and the Backpack Ministry.
  
  We, who have been given many blessings, are commanded time and time again by Jesus to help the poor. Please donate to and/or volunteer with any of these organizations if you possibly can.
  
  In the name of Jesus, thank you!
- The Peace & Justice Ministry with the Knights of Columbus held a Poverty Simulation Experience at St. Therese.
  The poverty simulation experience is designed to help participants begin to understand what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family trying to survive from month to month. It is a simulation, not a game. The object is to sensitize participants to the realities faced by low-income people. During the simulation participants assume the roles of up to 26 different families facing poverty. The task of each family is to provide for basic necessities and shelter during the course of four 15 minute weeks with the help of community services. Scenarios are created based on real time poverty statistics. There were about 40 participants who found the experience deeply moving and eye opening.
  
  Poverty in America:
  (DeNavas-Walt, C., B.D. Proctor &J.C. Smith. (2013). Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2012. U.S. Census Bureau.)
  
  In 2012, 46.5 million people (15.0 percent) were in poverty.
  
  In 2012, 26.5 million (13.7 percent) of people ages 18-64 were in poverty.
  
  In 2012, 16.1 million (21.8 percent) children under the age of 18 were in poverty.
  
  In 2012, 3.9 million (9.1 percent) seniors 65 and older were in poverty.
  
  The overall poverty rate according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure is 16.1%, as compared with the official poverty rate of 15.1%.
  
  Under the Supplemental Poverty Measure, there are 49.7 million people living in poverty, 3.1 million more than are represented by the official poverty measure (46.5 million).