January is Poverty Awareness Month – What Is the Lord Calling You to Do?

In November of 2009, the U.S. Census released updated data through the American Community Survey (ACS) which provides updated population and demographic projections for most communities in the United States. The 3-year estimates showed that a large percentage of people in our nation, state and Diocese lived at or below the federal poverty line in 2008. In the U.S, this was 13.2% of the population and in Texas; the number was even higher at 16.3%

Since our agency is focused on the 25 counties that comprise the Diocese of Austin, I decided to find out what the number would be for our service area, so I created a spreadsheet using the 2008 American Communities Survey Data from the U.S. Census. It was an eye-opening, to say the least. Here is what I found.


SNAP SHOT OF CATHOLIC CHARITIES SERVICE AREA

Of all 25 counties of the Diocese of Austin:

• 24 of the 25 counties had double digit poverty rates of 10% or higher
• 18 or 72% of our counties have poverty rates that met or exceeded the national average and,
• the overall average for the Diocese is almost 15%.

Below is a chart that lists all 25 counties in our Diocese, with the corresponding population and percentages of individuals living below the poverty level.

(Note, for those that have an *, ACS survey data is not available, so I had to use 2000 Census data.)





SO WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LIVE AT OR BELOW THE FEDERAL POVERTY LEVEL?

In 2009, the federal poverty guidelines for individuals and families are listed below.





HOW DO THESE STATISTICS TRANSLATE?

Let’s say you are a single Mom with two young children getting paid:

• $12.00 an hour
• 40 hours/ week

That means you make:

• $480.00 per week
• or $24,960 per year gross income.

As you can see by the chart above, this young mother makes more than the Federal Poverty Level:

• $6,650 more than the Federal Poverty Level
• That is 136% above the Federal Poverty Level.

Wow. She should be doing great, right? Well, let’s see. She has to pay:

• 15% of her take home pay for payroll taxes and her own health insurance costs;
  She is left with $21,200 per year or about $1,760 per month.


• $800 for rent of a two bedroom apartment so she can live in a safe neighborhood and have access to good public schools;
  That leaves her with $960 left.


• $350 for her car loan payment;
  She is left with $660.


• $300/month for her child care;
  She is left with $360.

That leaves her with only $360!

She still has to purchase food, medicine, gas for the car, utilities, clothes and shoes for the children, etc. Whew! It’s a chore, right?

Every month, making hard choices; hoping the car doesn’t break down, hoping that gas, utility and rent doesn’t increase, hoping that no one has to go to the hospital or the emergency room. And remember, she lives above the federal poverty level. Yikes!

SERVING THE LEAST AMONG US

Saint Francis is one of our favorite Saints in the Catholic Church. What an example he is to us in our ministry to serve the poor and vulnerable. In fact, he was called “the little poor man of Assisi.” Francis was born in the year 1182 in the town of Assisi in Italy. His father's name was Bernadone and he was a very wealthy merchant of Assisi. Francis was brought up in luxury and gaiety. One day Francis was joking and laughing with his friends. A beggar came along crying for alms. Francis, who was soft-hearted, gave whatever he had in his pocket to the beggar. His companions probably mocked at him for his charitable act (it just wasn’t politically correct in those days…). The sight of the beggar set him thinking about poverty and misery, so he started to give more money to the poor and eventually formed a community of brothers that we know today as the Franciscans. Francis completely changed his life around and focused on serving those, who Jesus referred to, as “the least among us.” As a result of this change, he lost his family and his old friends, but gained God’s blessing and favor because he heard and responded to the Gospel call to reach out and serve others.

I often pray about my life, my calling and the ministry of Catholic Charities. Perhaps my life change or my spiritual awakening is not as drastic as that of St. Francis, but I like to think that I am following in his footsteps by trying my best to listen to God in my life. He asks me to stop, listen, and respond. So I take our mission at Catholic Charities very personally and very seriously. Our tag line reads: “Providing Help and Creating Hope.” What does that mean? To us, it means that every person is valued and loved and we provide what means we can to help someone right where they are in life and help them get in a better place. Sometimes it’s a bag of groceries. Sometimes it’s filing a petition so a wife can be reunited with her husband from another country. Sometimes it’s paying part of someone’s rent or utility bill. Sometimes, we don’t have the resources though, so its being kind, its sharing a hug an encouraging word and/or helping them access the services of another ministry, like St. Vincent de Paul or another community agency that has resources we lack.

Bishop Streib, from the Diocese of Memphis, is quoted as saying, “We know that we should give love to the persons who are poor because we are called by the Gospel to do just that.” This call comes from Jesus, who “helped people who were poor” and who “always lifted up individuals as he ministered to them,” the bishop added. “And that is our task also.”

The Bishop commented, “We look at the poor not in a way our society often does — as just one more person who has not pulled himself up by his own bootstraps — but instead as human beings who were created in God’s image the exact same way we were. We treat each poor person as unique; and when we do, we imitate Jesus.”

So, January is poverty awareness month. I ask you to really look, and really listen. What is God leading you to do today?