By Tricia Pursell
SELINSGROVE — As the state with the third largest rural population in the nation, Pennsylvania faces challenges of geographic isolation and lack of population density.
For counties like Union and Snyder, this means added problems for the working poor to receive the help they need.
“In this area, a big issue is the transportation thing,” said Harry L. Adrian Jr., executive director of the Union-Snyder Community Action Agency. There is little, if any, public transportation, he said, and the little there is is offered at high cost.
The action agency conducted its second annual Poverty Simulation on Thursday at St. Pius X Catholic Church, Selinsgrove. The event is aimed at breaking down stereotypes about low-income families trying to survive from month to month and at beginning a dialogue on what can be improved.
The quality of life for the working poor affects everyone in every community, said Barry Denk, director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. “When we raise them up, we will raise up the community at large.”
How someone escapes poverty in rural areas is different than in urban areas, Denk said, but the more the two can find common ground, the more impact the state will have in obtaining the resources needed to help the working poor, those whose income is less than 200 percent of the poverty level. In Snyder and Union counties, that is about 30 percent of the population.
The poverty rate in Union County spiked more than 3 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to state reports. The average income, adjusted for inflation, for Union County from 1970 to 2007 was $33,000, while in Snyder, that figure was $23,000. Both counties are beneath the state average of $42,500, Denk said.
Audrey Metzler, director of ministry development at Community Mennonite Fellowship in Milton, said she attended the simulation to gain more of an understanding about the poor living in the Milton community and how her church could reach out to meet their practical and spiritual needs.
“I want to get a better handle on folks that we work with and issues that they have,” said Cynthia Zerbe, administrator for the Union-Snyder Transportation Alliance, based in Lewisburg. Transportation is a problem, she said, and it often comes down to funding. “It’s frustrating not to be able to offer services that people need.”
A group of Selinsgrove Area High School students also attended Thursday’s event as a field trip through their sociology class.
“I just want to learn different things about how people handle different situations when they’re in jeopardy,” said senior Carrie Williams.
“I never really knew how people felt or the situations they’re put in,” said Emily Lenig, a junior. “I want to experience how people get through those situations.”
“It’s easy to do the stereotypical judgments,” Adrian said. But issues of poverty are not as cut and dry as many would believe.
The energy it takes to be involved in and get help from various social services does not comply with the stereotype that people at the poverty level have all the time in the world, he said. It is a vicious cycle for people who find themselves dealing with unemployment, desertion by the breadwinner of the family or disability or who are senior citizens receiving Social Security.
Central Susquehanna Opportunities also held a poverty simulation in Shamokin on Thursday.
The simulation is part of a statewide effort of the Community Action Agency of Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Foundation and statewide sponsors.
