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Local Residents Find Life in Poverty has More Challenges Than You Might Think

John Smith/WAER News

  Some Onondaga County residents took the morning off from work to be thrust into poverty; based on real-life situations… so they can make a difference.

More than 120 people were cast into the lives of 15 families and jam packed their one week schedule of challenges into 15 minute increments.  These aren’t professional  actors here but people taking part in the simulation took on realistic roles.

 “Thank you for getting my medication,” said one participant.  Others added, “where do we buy the medicine I wonder,” “but remember the pawn shop closes at a certain time.”

Their time keeper is Rhonda O’Connor, the Director of Community Engagement at Visions for Change.  She says the lives participants are leading can be very complicated.

 “We have a family that maybe is multi-generational with grandma living with them. We have families that maybe the husband is incarcerated”

The role playing includes: how to keep their families afloat; seeking the social services they need; and dealing with kids who are often left hanging in the balance. Chelsea was assigned to role play a 10-year-old… she’s sitting at a table coloring. 

“My mom didn’t pay the electric bill and my dad can’t get a job cause he’s on probation and I was just in jail too so I was wandering the streets. I left school and I had nowhere to go, nobody was home so a cop picked me up.”

While some kids are displaced, others are welcomed into homes with more struggles.

“We actually just took in our nephew who’s going to college full time and we’re trying very hard to support him,” said one of the participants. “Unfortunately I lost my job. I’ve been looking for jobs but really haven’t been able to find anything so we actually have had to sell some things.”

And how do they feel about the simulated poverty experience?  Out of character, Jordan Eubanks and Paula Trief actually met for the first time today and reflected on the glimpse they got of the lives others lead.

 

Credit John Smith/WAER News
Simulation had people take on the roles of 15 different families in poverty.

  “I feel like it’s been a struggle,” said Eubanks.  Trief added, “I’m struck by how I’ve really pulled into little illegal behaviors just to get by.”

If you want to envision how many people are affected by poverty in our local area, O’Connor at Visions for Change offers this analogy.

“If you fill the Carrier Dome up that’s how many people are in poverty”

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.