Poverty in America: Facts
- Approximately 36.5 million Americans live below the poverty line.
- The "poverty line' for a family of four is an annual income of $20,650.
- A single mom making minimum wage who works full time makes $7.25 per hour, bringing her annual income to $15,080, before taxes. If she is supporting two or more children without help from dad, she lives below the poverty line.
Why it Matters to Me
In 1982, I was a college student and a volunteer at the Riverside Church Food Pantry. The church was around the corner from my dorm, and I would go over on afternoons after classes ended to help distribute food to the needy. Most days, we would get half-dozen or so people coming in with a letter from a social worker, telling us why the individual or family needed food. The busiest days were the days just before food stamps arrived, when families struggling on the small amount of government assistance they received each month had not stretched far enough and they were completely out of food.
One day, a church member brought in a bushel of apples that he'd picked in Upstate New York. Fresh produce of any kind was rare, and the bags we handed out were mainly nonperishables like canned soup, spaghetti, and rice. Volunteers were delighted to be able to offer up a few apples to the people, and some of the children seemed really thrilled to see them in their bags.
One man in ragged clothes appeared just as we were closing for the day. I took his letter, and wrote down his name. He told me he'd walked 100 blocks to get to us, and that he hadn't had anything to eat in about three days. He said he didn't want to beg for money, since he knew his check was coming. He was a Vietnam Veteran, a man who'd worn the uniform of his country proudly. He had come home to a less than warm welcome, with a drug addiction and no resources. He told me he'd tried to get clean for a while, and had just gotten an apartment and was in a program. His disability check had not arrived, and he kept waiting and hoping, until he couldn't take being hungry anymore. His caseworker sent him to us, but he didn't have subway fare, so he walked.
As he was telling me his story, he spied the apples in the corner, and sheepishly asked if he might have one. I handed him two, and he thanked me heartily. He devoured the two small apples in a couple of bites each, core, seeds, and all. He held the stems in his hands, and I could tell he was considering eating them, but looked up at me, and reconsidered. My guess is that the look of incredulity on my face was enough to make him think twice. The look was there because I was thinking to myself, "How could this happen? How could someone in the richest nation on earth, go without food for three days?"
I handed him his bag of groceries, and tossed in a few extra apples. We weren't supposed to give money to the clients, but I had a subway token in my pocket and I gave it to him. "So you don't have to walk all the way home," I said.
He looked at me with tears in his eyes. "God bless you, Miss," he said.
"No, Sir," I said, "God bless you. I have all the blessings I need."
Twenty-five years later, I still remember that man, the apples, and the blessing he gave me. Twenty-five years later, there are still men like him who sit on street corners, forgotten and alone. Twenty-five years later, poverty and despair still exist in our country.
