The Price of Poverty

Sometimes I am a sucker for those news headlines that Yahoo! features. This one from The Washington Post caught my attention last week. Five years ago, before I moved to an urban area, I wouldn't have been able to identify with the situations the article describes. Now I can.

While there are a myriad of factors that contribute to a child or teen being considered "at-risk," it is not unusual for chronic poverty to be part of the mix. That is true in the zip code 85006, where the heart of Aim Right's outreach occurs. To get some perspective, here are a few facts:

• The 2007 Census Bureau poverty level for a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children) = $21,027
• The 2007 Census Bureau poverty level for a family of 6 (2 adults, 4 children) = $27,705
• In 2007, residents living below the poverty level in 85006 comprised 41.8% of the population.
• In 2007, residents living at 50% below the poverty level in 85006 comprised 20.3% of the population.

Bear with me while I do some math, but that last figure means that 1 in 5 residents likely subsisted on an income level in the $10,500-13,800 range in 2007. Per month, that computes to a range of $875-$1,150.

How do you begin to provide for a family when those numbers are your reality? You apply for government assistance, you move frequently when you find a more palatable living space for your already stretched dollars, you wake up and go to sleep with a sense of hopelessness and uncertainty.

Something has bumfuzzled me lately, and it is this: When I have asked various children if they are excited about the end of school and the beginning of summer, I've been surprised at their lack of enthusiastic response. In my childhood experience, I couldn't wait for summer to come, because that meant going to camp, riding my bike, swimming, playing with cousins and friends, going on family vacations to cool places like Yellowstone National Park, Niagara Falls, and of course, Branson, Missouri, the mecca of family entertainment in the Midwest.

Most of my memories are wrapped up in what I got to see and do and experience. If I would subtract all of that and add in a dysfunctional family, scorching summer temperatures, and a house that's not much cooler than the outdoors, I think I would've dreaded the beginning of summer break, too.

So how does one insert hope into these depressing situations? As the Psalmist puts it, "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living." Do I believe that the goodness of the Lord can appear, even in a stagnant cycle of poverty? And perhaps, a better question -- What am I called to do in light of the poverty I see? Is God wanting to use me as a tangible revelation of His goodness to someone who is in need?

The price of poverty. Has it cost me anything? It did Him.

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Although He was rich, for your sakes He became poor, so that you, through His poverty, might become rich."

Slip-n-Slide 101

There are a few essentials to building a slip-n-slide.

1. You need water (from a hose works best).
2. You need dish soap (go for the big dude you bought at Sam's Club).
3. You need someone to manage the hose and the soap. Here is Peanut Butter doing a superb job, although he got a little distracted and turned the hose on himself. It's all about lookin' good while you're workin,' I guess.

You pour that water and soap all over a large tarp, and then you go down Pierce and Garfield and McKinley and Roosevelt (think streets, not Presidents) and invite smiling faces who look like they want to get wet.
Then, the slippin' and slidin' begins!
Of course, there was ONE of these being passed around. As you can see, it caused a bit of contention at times. "Give me that! It's MY turn!!!"

And what boy could resist pointing that thing towards the first dry girl he sees?

I'll end this post with a helpful hint if you're brave enough to try this at home. You really need to regulate the dish soap to water ratio, or you may have children who look like this:

At least we'll be sending him home smelling like Palmolive!

Oh, the Questions They Ask

It was probably about 100ish degrees yesterday evening when I set out to do my weekly visitation route for Kids Klub. The first few visits went rather quickly since no one was in a particularly talkative mood. However, when I arrived at house #5, four girls were sitting outside underneath a covered swing. Two I knew, two I did not.

They were in a talking mood.

"How old are you?" (My reply to this one was: "Well, how old do you think I am?" )

"Are you married?"

"Do you have kids?"

And the more serious, like:

"Have you ever been in a fight?" (Uh...no...but, yes, if you count the times my brother and I got into it)

"Well, if you didn't get in fights, were you a loner?"

"Were you a nerd?"

And on it went, until questions like these began to surface:

"Why do you drink the blood?" (referring to the Lord's Supper)

"Is it true that the stuff that gets hot on the road is from the devil?" (Huh??? Asphalt?)

"Is it true that when it rains, God is crying?" (Rain? What is that? This is Phoenix!)

"So how do you know what to believe?"

"What do Jehovah's Witnesses believe?"

As I attempted to answer their questions, I quickly began to see that my occasional lapses into Christian-ese were baffling them. In a writing class I took in college, I remember the professor stressing that good writers move the reader from what he knows to what he doesn't know. In my opinion, it's also a great principle that can be applied to sharing your faith. What does the seeker or listener already know and understand? If I'm only recently acquainted with the person, that means I need to ask some questions and spend time getting to know the person. That then provides a platform to launch into what they don't know about....and if it's Jesus that is the topic of discussion -- how exciting is that?!??

I hope they're still in a talking mood the next time I visit.

- Amy

Transformational Giving

On Wednesday, Darrell, myself, and two of Aim Right's board members attended The Power of Transformational Giving: Radical Fundraising in Radical Times, an all-day seminar offered by the Mission Increase Foundation. There were around 150 persons in attendance, from representatives of larger non-profits such as Food for the Hungry and Child Evangelism Fellowship to smaller, lesser known organizations such as ours.

You could say that each non-profit entity represented in that seminar hall are in a competition for Christian dollars--the 2.9 to 3.1 percent of Christian Average Joe's income that he gives away each year (which, by the way, has not changed in 50 years, percentage-wise!). Interestingly, though, according to research by George Barna, Christians have shifted to whom they are giving. If you analyzed Christian Average Joe's giving data three years ago, you would've found that 84% of his donations were to his church and 16% to non-profits. Today, those numbers have fluctuated, and Christian Average Joe now gives 76% to his church and 24% to non-profits. Simple analysis tells you that this is good news for non-profits, bad news for churches.

Or is it?

What if you begin with the reasoning that competition for resources is absent from Scripture? Competing for resources implies that there is a scarcity of resources, that God probably doesn't have quite enough in His treasury to supply yet another church or non-profit. Therefore, the ones with the best development director or the most innovative marketing department or the widest name recognition will probably make it, but as for the others...well, they'd better hope there's enough left over after God gives the goods to His favorites. It's a subtle "survival-of-the-fittest" mentality.

More thoughts on this subject later, but in the meantime, check out Eric Foley's blog. He presented the above material--and much, much more-- at the seminar on Wednesday, although I have taken some liberty in how I have expressed it here.

- Amy

Old Story, Same Purpose

This story was published in The Kalona News in April of 2006. I think it's worth uncovering and highlighting -- especially since most of you out there probably don't subscribe to that small-town paper!

A Cardboard Jericho

I snuck into the kindergarten classroom at Kids Klub tonight, and this is what I found:

Troy building Jericho

They had already heard the story once, but it was time to act it out -- with the cardboard boxes!

First, they went

around and around...

Then, on day #7,
the walls came tumbling down!

Finally, it was time for

Q & A with Troy

Troy definitely wins the creative teaching prize for the evening!

30 Hours of Famine

The rules were this:

1. Raise at least $30 for World Vision.

2. Start fasting at 8 a.m. on Friday.

3. Drink ONLY juice or water. That means YOU MAY NOT EAT FOOD!!

4. Be at the church at 4 p.m. on Friday.

Fourteen teens valiantly endured throughout the 30 hours and came away with a heightened awareness of those who go hungry on a regular basis, as well as a greater appreciation for the comforts they experience here.

On Friday evening, Wilbur Hochstetler shared some insights with the group. Wilbur has experienced living in primitive conditions in Asian countries, where 3 meals a day of sticky rice and fish quickly became less than appealing. He challenged the teens to guard against spiritual famine and not settle for "snack foods," but to intentionally feed themselves with the meat of the Word. One young man participating in the Famine later commented: "How pathetic we are when we rely on food [physical food] when we should be relying on spiritual food."

A few highlights from the weekend:

Juice Breaks!

Keith challenges the group

Small group devotions

Food collection game

[mad dashes around Phoenix to collect non-perishables for our food pantry]

Work project -- painting a block wall on the property

Work project -- tearing out a chain link fence

Team games -- "Endurance"

[identifying with those who have to carry their water]

And...breaking the fast at 2 p.m. on Saturday!!

Youth raised over $450 for World Vision -- enough to feed 15 children for one month.