By Karen Blackledge
DANVILLE — Seventy-five people from social service agencies and other offices got the chance to walk in someone else’s shoes Thursday. They were assigned as members of families living in poverty.
One family was named the Quants, made up of a father, a daughter, a 1-year-old granddaughter and a son renting a home that needed repairs and driving a 5-year-old car. They were given income and budget figures of actual people in the area, said Gale Zalar, community action director of Central Susquehanna Opportunities Inc., which sponsored this first community forum poverty simulation at St. Cyril and Methodius Academy.
Until they opened the packets, participants had no idea what role they would be playing in a particular family.
“The idea is based on walking a mile in the shoes of these people to see what it’s like,” Zalar said.
The group had 10 minutes to look over the packet of information and then band together on matters such as who would be working, who would drop off the baby at day care and how they would afford groceries and pay bills.
Zalar held “luck of the draw” cards that complicated matters. “They will have to deal with things that happen like someone stealing their purse or winning money,” she said.
Joy McGinnis, CEO of the Berwick Area United Way, signed up so she and her board members have “a sense of what it’s like to be a needy person.” Among members of her group were Camille Kriner, of the state Health Department in Montour County, and Amy Sanders, of the Northumberland County Aging Office.
Danville Area Community Center Executive Director Jean Knouse signed up for the project because “whenever we believe we know everything about a subject, we find out we don’t know nearly as much as we need to know. I am here to find out what I think I know is accurate in dealing with people with low incomes.”
The center provides sponsorship memberships to help people whose budgets don’t stretch far enough to include memberships.
Knouse hasn’t seen an increase in sponsorship membership requests yet but expects to closer to summer.
In her group, portraying the Wiscott family, was Scott Engleman, of the Northumberland County Aging Office, who said the simulation will help keep him “grounded in reality. When you are dealing with a computer and paperwork, it reminds you you are working with people who have real problems.”
Zalar said the aim of the session was for agencies to work better together, to improve the lives of people living in poverty and to move them out of poverty.
