In a scene that can only be described as chaotic, groups of low income families converged on helping agencies, grocery stores, schools, banks, utility companies and pawn shops in an effort to acquire the help needed to keep their family from abject poverty.
Families traveled from one place to the next in a desperate attempt to secure EBT cards for groceries, housing vouchers, employment, transportation passes and assistance from helping agencies. Would the utility company shut off the lights or could a payment arrangement be made? Would the banker extend the loan repayment? Where will they go if the company follows through on the eviction notice?
As the weeks wore on, the desperation increased. Some found a systematic way to get the help they needed in order to take care of their family. Others fell deeper into a pit of frustration and depression. Some gave up entirely and began hocking jewelry or furniture. Still others found selling drugs more lucrative than working.
Unattended children found mischievous, undesirable and often illegal activities to occupy their time. Hungry students were unable to concentrate at school resulting in frustration, failing grades and, at times, aggressive behavior.
The aforementioned picture is not one altogether unfamiliar to many who work for a helping agency. However, on this day, it stood as part of a poverty simulation sponsored by the Home Solutions Coalition.
The three-hour role playing activity served to give people an idea of what it was like to live in poverty.
As participants arrived Tuesday morning at the Poverty Simulation held at the Texas State Technical College campus, they were given an identity and placed in a family group.
The family groups were varied. Some were single mothers and their children. Others were two-parent households, while still others were single father families. Many of the family units had elderly or disabled parents or grandparents living in the home.
As the new “families” got acquainted, they were given a packet describing their financial situation and family make-up. Some had a parent or other relative in jail. Others had pregnant teenage daughters. Some were elderly living on a fixed income. Some were college students who found themselves having to care for younger siblings while their parents were incapacitated for one reason or another.
Throughout the process, two families were evicted from their homes. One family group moved in with another family taxing their already limited resources while the other simply snuck back into their home.
At this point, Hannah Adams, of Central Texas Opportunities who facilitated the event, had everyone stop what they were doing to look at the two families.
“This is what homelessness looks like in Brown County,” she said. “We see families sneaking back into the homes they have been evicted from or moving in with other families.”
She said it may not be the same picture as in some larger communities where homelessness brings to mind pictures of people living in cardboard boxes in the alley or holding up signs on the street corners, but it is a picture of homelessness in this area.
After a simulation representing a four-week time period, participants were grouped together and asked about their experiences.
People talked about how difficult it had been to maintain transportation as they were routed from one place to the next. Others found it difficult to know exactly where to go and wasted much of their time finding the appropriate office. Others talked of language barriers, lack of apathy, long lines and time constraints. Every group spoke of feeling overwhelmed and frustrated.
Many of those in attendance work at various helping agencies in the community and were able to attest that the situations the participants found themselves in were in no way unusual or uncommon to a large portion of the Brown County population.
Adams ended the morning by asking the participants to commit to do something different based on what they had learned at the event.
Another poverty simulation will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, October 20 at the Salvation Army. Spaces are still available for this simulation. Forms are available at Good Samaritan Ministries office or Central Texas Opportunities offices in Coleman and Brownwood. You may also download the forms at goodsambwd.org. The cost is $10 per person and CEU’s and CPE’s are available for participation. Brochures containing participation forms are also available at the CTO website ctoinc.org.
