Poverty has many faces, and members of the Green View Family and Community Support Services wants to show people just how thin a line many residents walk on a day-to-day basis.
An upcoming Community Action Poverty Simulation will put residents in the shoes of the profiles of real people coping with a financial crisis, ranging from a single parent struggling to find the essentials for their children and seniors on fixed incomes to those engaged in a street lifestyle.
From things as simple as making a budget to making the choice to pay rent and bills, or eat until your next pay period.
FCSS Manager Lisa Hannaford says the event gives people a better understanding of the everyday pitfalls faced by people who may have never known another way of life.
“Some people say, ‘why can’t they just pull themselves up by their bootstraps?’ Well, some people just don’t have boots,” she says. “Valleyview and area is a very ‘have and have not’ sort of town. There are a lot of people who have never experienced poverty, and then there are quite a few who live it day-to-day.”
Hannaford says the discussion will also focus on what stems from chronic, or situational poverty, including homelessness, mental health issues, addiction, and crime. She adds they have the capacity for around 85 people in the simulation, which is slated to take place on January 15th, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Memorial Hall in Valleyview.