The Garden City Telegram
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Simulation gives taste of life under the poverty line
Published 2/5/2010 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
The Aber family did not realize until the third week that they had failed to buy groceries for the month.
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Laurie Sisk/Telegram Holcomb wrestling coach Ryan Kromer portrays a drug dealer as Charles O. Stones ESL teacher Maria Santos portrays a student at “Realville School” Thursday night during a poverty simulation in the courtyard at Garden City High School.
The middle-class suburban family with two young sons, a pregnant teenage daughter, a working mother and an unemployed father, could barely make ends meet on the mother's income as a hospital receptionist: about $1,300 a month after taxes and with a family budget of $1,500 for bills, house payments, groceries and other costs.
The father's $350 per month in unemployment benefits had just run dry, the family members learned Thursday night at a poverty simulation hosted by several area agencies at Garden City High School, and the unemployed computer programmer had yet to find new work. The family members contemplated pawning off the mother's wedding ring, stereo and other valuables, just to pay the bills each week.
"So we'll be wiped out?" asked Patience DeRoo, an ESL teacher at Charles O. Stones Intermediate Center, posing as the Aber family's daughter.
It wasn't exactly the experience the Abers' mother, Judy Whitehill, thought it would be.
"It was surprising how much time it took to do all the things just to keep your family afloat," the Garden City Community College instructor said. "I couldn't make it to work one week and missed out on a whole week's pay -- that was a disaster!"
Local educators and leaders got a taste of what it is like to live on an extremely limited income as they took part in four, 15-minute sessions, each representing a week in the life of a cash-strapped family facing various real-life situations, such as a recently-unemployed breadwinner or an uninsured family facing a medical emergency.
About 15 percent of Finney County residents live at or below federal poverty levels, about 3 percent higher than the state average, according to the latest information from the U.S. Census Bureau. However, when it comes to being self-sufficient -- making ends meet without the help of outside agencies or cash benefits -- Finney County is undoubtedly one of the poorer counties in the state, according to Kansas State researchers.
According to a 2004 K-State study of counties and self-sufficiency standards, anywhere from 43 to 47 percent of Finney County's residents are severely cash-strapped and unable to make ends meet to feed, shelter and clothe their families on their own.
Several individuals Thursday night who were grouped into families and armed with transportation tickets and paper money to take part in every-day activities, including getting kids to school and making it to work -- on time -- found themselves unable to pay their utility bills or mortgages on time or afford day-care costs for their children.
By the start of the third week, heads of households were sprinting to the simulated "Quick Cash" booth, in need of transportation tickets and loans in order to make it to work, take their kids to school and purchase groceries for the month.
The simulation is not a game, said Deb Jarmer, a career and technical education coordinator for USD 457. Rather, it's an opportunity for several of the educators and community leaders to join about 38 million Americans who live with incomes either at or below the poverty level and make every-day hard-line decisions that affect their families, such as skipping work or school because of limited transportation or ignoring a health ailment because of medical costs.
It's also about exposing them to the "culture of poverty," Jarmer said, which allows educators to understand why families or individuals make the decisions they do, why students may come unprepared to the classroom, or why they or their parents do not have the ability to plan ahead.
"In education, we're asking some students of a low-income background to engage and interact in a middle-class world of planning and organizing," she said. "Sometimes, we'll find the hardest thing for a student to do is to ask for help when they need it."
And problems in the home oftentimes permeate the classroom, said Christine Neeb, a Bernadine Sitts Intermediate Center teacher participating in the simulation.
The fifth- and sixth-grade teacher said encountering students who can't concentrate because they haven't eaten breakfast or because they are sleeping on the floor in their homes severely affects learning.
"At first you think they're troublemakers because they won't make eye contact, won't really talk or pay attention in class," Neeb said. "But then you dig deeper, and you find the root of the problem -- and a student can't learn on an empty stomach."
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