Lawrence resident Elizabeth O’Brien, 71, volunteers at Just Food, Douglas County’s food bank. She describes the pantry as a godsend, especially when she lost her job just 18 months before retirement at age 64.
“It was devastating,” she said, of the job loss. “I learned early on to gracefully accept help. That was hard for me.”
At age 30, O’Brien was divorced with two children, ages 8 and 3. She went from having a nice home, two cars and taking family vacations to living in a motel and then an apartment. One evening, a neighbor stopped by and caught her splitting a can of green beans for the family meal. “She freaked out,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien still struggles financially, but said she is making ends meet with careful budgeting and accessing community resources like the food pantry. She’s not alone. Last year, 11,577 Douglas County residents used the pantry.
Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department Director Dan Partridge said poverty is more prevalent in Douglas County than most people think it is. “People often think of poverty as homelessness, but there are people struggling in places that you might not expect.”
Nineteen percent of Douglas County residents — nearly 1 in 5 — are living at the federal poverty level, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. For an individual, that is an annual income of $11,880 or less. For a family of three, that is $20,160 or less. Thirty-eight percent of Douglas County schoolchildren — nearly 1 in 3 — are living near the poverty level, low enough to qualify for the free- and reduced-price lunch program.
“Poverty is such a consuming condition that it rules every waking moment for people,” Partridge said. “It rules what you eat, what you do, what kind of education you get, your hope for a better future. It drives stress and stress physiologically changes you, and not for the better. You live a shorter life and have a poorer quality of life.”
Poverty is one of the five priority issues outlined in the community health plan, “Roadmap for a Healthier Douglas County,” that has been adopted by the Douglas County Commission and cities of Baldwin City, Eudora, Lawrence and Lecompton. They use the plan as a guiding document when making policy and funding decisions.
A handful of local agencies are hosting a unique workshop for residents to learn more about poverty in Douglas County through role playing and group discussions. Workshop participants also will explore action that can be taken to address poverty in the community.
The Poverty Simulation workshop will be from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. June 9 at Lawrence Free Methodist Church, 3001 Lawrence Ave. During the workshop, participants will assume the roles of families and individuals facing poverty because of circumstances like loss of a loved one, job loss, divorce and disability. Participants will have to make difficult choices when adequate time and money are not available.
Lawrence resident David Crawford, 65, a retired boilermaker who worked in the construction industry for 40 years, participated in a similar workshop 10 years ago in Kansas City, Mo. He described the experience as life-changing, despite having what he called a marginal experience in poverty. At the time, he was doing some volunteer work for a neighborhood organization called Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity Squared.
“It was an extremely eye-opening experience,” Crawford said. “When people say, ‘It is a simulation and you are going to leave and go home and everything is going to be fine.’ That’s not the case because we all have family or relatives or people that we are close to that go in and out of these situations in life. I think it’s important to get a better understanding of what they are going through.”
MariaAna Garza, of Lawrence, has worked with low-income families for 10 years as a nurse case manager in the Health Department’s Healthy Families program. The program provides in-home support for expecting or new parents. She said most of her families are working low-paying jobs. They live in housing, but it is not necessarily safe, and they are in what she calls survival mode. They are living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to meet basic needs: housing, food, utilities, transportation and a cell phone to communicate. “We will lose touch with families because they had to make a choice between paying for electricity or a phone,” Garza said.
During the holidays, she said her families will ask for gifts like a coat, boots and blanket. Items that most people consider basic needs. “Many families would love to have a car, but that’s not even on their radar. Buying a car is not possible.”
Kennedy Elementary School Principal Cris Lopez Anderson, who has worked in Lawrence Public Schools for 25 years, said there are many children in the district who live in poverty. Some of these children deal with hunger, homes with no electricity or running water, domestic violence and parents who are in jail.
“I think poverty has long-lasting effects on children,” she said. “It can be overwhelming for the children to stand by and watch the stress, constant worrying and anger of the situation. You pile all of that stress up, and it becomes toxic.”
At Kennedy, 165 students — 74 percent — qualify for a free lunch and about 50 students receive backpacks of food to take home for the weekend. “I’ve seen children hoard food from their lunch because they’re not sure what they might have that night,” Lopez Anderson said, teary-eyed. “I have kids who, when it gets cold, are relieved because their water and heat can’t be turned off.”
Lopez Anderson said poverty could strike anybody at any given time. It struck her family as a child. “It took my parents a lot to go get food commodities,” she said. “That’s not something they did without a lot of thought and only as a last resort would they do that. There are a lot of families out there who are proud, and they don’t want to be viewed as bad or lazy adults.”
The school has started a “Communities in School” program, and a staff member provides case management for about 70 students and their families, connecting them to community resources and services they need, which includes mentoring and tutoring support. The goal is to make sure students don’t fall behind in schoolwork and graduate from high school.
“It’s exciting to be able to hear kids be able to dream — not just giving up,” Lopez Anderson said.
Lopez Anderson is encouraging her staff and others to participate in the upcoming Poverty Simulation workshop. “I just think it’s important information and a community dialogue that we need to be involved in.”
The Health Department, United Way of Douglas County, Communities in Schools of Mid-America, Independence Inc. and ECKAN are hosting the workshop, which is free and open to anyone. Erika Dvorske, president and CEO of United Way of Douglas County, said the workshop would benefit anyone — volunteers, business leaders, philanthropists, decision-makers and those living in poverty.
“Poverty is complex, and it affects all of us,” Dvorske said. “It’s not going to be one agency or one program that’s going to fix all of these problems. We really have to work together.”
To participate in the free workshop, visit VolunteerDouglasCounty.org and click on poverty simulation, email volunteer@unitedwaydgco.org or call 785-843-6626. Youth, ages 15 and younger, should be accompanied by an adult. Participants need to sign up by June 2. A minimum of 44 people are needed to hold the workshop.