America Now - Friends and Neighbors

Last night I was watching Dateline, and Ann Curry did an entire segment on how hard the Great Recession has hit some Americans. It was called "America Now-Friends and Neighbors." For nine months she followed a community in southeastern Ohio.

The segment follows an owner of a food pantry and her struggle to keep the pantry up and running, especially as people visiting fod pantries has jumped 30%. Desperate for help, as people wait in line they write notes to the President on empty plates, a symbol for their hunger, asking him to help them out. Eventually over 1200 plates were sent straight to the White House.

It also follows several families in the area. One man has worked for 10 companies that went under and cannot find a job, an extended family of 14 people all have to live in a house together, and another family lives in a camper without running water.

None of them can find jobs. And all of them are barely getting by, just trying to feed their children, as they go hungry.

And the saddest part is these stories are just a dime a dozen.

Did you know that 40 million Americans are now living in poverty? And that means 1 in 5 children are living in poverty?

I sure didn't, and that blew me away.

These are conditions we expect in poorer, less fortunate countries, but not in the wealthiest country in the world...

... not in America.

Poverty is right in our backyard now. Literally. The University of Virginia Health System went to Wise, Virginia for a free health clinic last weekend. It's called a Remote Access Medical clinic, and thousands of people waited in line and even camped in tents in the parking lot to receive free medical care. Wise county has unemployment rates and poverty levels well above the national average. Most of the people in Wise do not have health insurance, and last year 6,000 people were treated and over $2 million of aid was given. You can read more about it here.

The stereotypes that people say about people in poverty and on welfare simply are not true. These people aren't just living off of welfare checks, being lazy, and having 25 kids so they can continue to live on the government's dime. They are working hard every day, trying to find jobs that simply aren't there. Most of them are trained in manufacturing and construction, live in low income areas where they couldn't afford to go to college, and all of their labor jobs have been outsourced to other countries.

I would REALLY encourage you to check out Ann Curry's segment America Now - Friends and Neighbors. The site has the Dateline episode posted there, as well as the full text from the show if you just want to skim through it. There are also personal pictures taken by Curry and ways you can help.

If you go to just one of the several articles/websites I post on this blog, this Dateline episode should be it.

And that's my two cents.