WHAT IS POVERTY?
Poverty has different meanings depending on who you talk to or with. It is my belief that most of us at sometime in our lives have lived in poverty. At the time, we would not admit that we could not meet our monthly obligations without help. In hindsight, we can clearly see that we once did live in poverty.
Is this a pride factor or just denial? I, for one, am not sure. For me personally, it may well have been both. I was a single parent living at home with my parents, going to college full time, working 30 hours a week, did not have a housing expense and could barely make ends meet . Even after finishing my degree and working in a professional field and living on our own, the money still ran out before the next paycheck. To advance professionally, I went back to school and again went deep into dept. Today most people would say that we have it easy because I have a good profession and am well paid, but they have no idea of the hardships that we faced to get where we (as a family) are today.
I read an article in the Rapid City Journal a couple of weeks ago written about a single parent that admits she lives in poverty right now. In the article she says that poverty is a choice that individuals make and that it is the consequence of the actions and decisions the individual has made. She also says that the only way out of poverty is education and good choices. From the article, I gathered that it is her belief that it is never too late to learn and work your way out of poverty. I would agree!
Why is it that when most of us think about poverty, we think of the single parents and even young families with two parents as the group most likely to live in poverty? Do we not think of the homeless because they are “out of sight, out of mind”? Do we not think of the elderly because they have Medicare to cover their health care cost? What about the enlisted men/women in the military? Most of them by federal income guidelines live in poverty.
We all see the working poor (people living in poverty) everyday. It might even be as close as the nearest mirror.
According to the Encarta World dictionary the definition of poverty is: state of being poor: the state of not having enough money to take care of basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing.
Federal poverty guidelines for poverty by family size are:
A single person living on an annual income of $10,210 is living in poverty.
A family of 2 living on an annual income of $13,690 is living in poverty.
A family of 3 living on an annual income of $17,170 is living in poverty.
A family of 4 living on an annual income of $20, 650 is living in poverty.
A family of 5 living on an annual income of $24,130 is living in poverty.
A family of 6 living on an annual income of $27,610 is living in poverty.
A family of 7 living on an annual income of $31,090 is living in poverty.
A family of 8 living on an annual income of $34,570 is living in poverty.
The reason that I wrote this post was to ask how others define poverty. Once (I) we each define what (I) we think poverty is………….what are the things that (I) we can personally do to help change poverty in our community??
Here are the questions for February. 
