From a place of abundance
Friends-I am sitting at our kitchen table in the house in Niles. Ross is at school and Fran is away at a retreat so I'm alone with the dogs and cat. Looking out of the window, I'm presented with a beautiful snowy day and I can watch the birds in their winter skirmish for food while my neighbor, Lou, works to shovel the path around his house.
I'm doing all of this from a nice warm house with a well stocked refrigerator and no fears that I'm going to lose all this tomorrow. This is a place of abundance that most of us inhabit. A lot of us have not had to worry about making ends meet or where we were going to get food. Unfortunately, this is not the case for a lot of people in DeKalb County. There is a number of people who struggle to get by financially every day. In our county there is a poverty rate of between 9 and 13% with a rate of food insecurity (people who don't know where their next meal is coming from) estimated at 12%. There is not a lot of data about working poor, but we know it is significant.
Recently, I've been meeting with a group of pastors and we are looking at the problem of poverty in DeKalb County. I don't know what we have discerned other than this is a big issue for us to tackle. That being said, there is a sense that it is a Christian responsibility to care for vulnerable people in poverty. Even more particularly, we are looking at the subject of generational poverty and the systems that contribute to people being stuck in situations of need.
Friends Table is one way Auburn Presbyterian directly impacts poverty in our county. Can you think of others? If you're interested in the issue of poverty in DeKalb County I would welcome your help in the group I'm involved with or generating other ideas our church could take on the issue of poverty.
Shalom, David
I'm doing all of this from a nice warm house with a well stocked refrigerator and no fears that I'm going to lose all this tomorrow. This is a place of abundance that most of us inhabit. A lot of us have not had to worry about making ends meet or where we were going to get food. Unfortunately, this is not the case for a lot of people in DeKalb County. There is a number of people who struggle to get by financially every day. In our county there is a poverty rate of between 9 and 13% with a rate of food insecurity (people who don't know where their next meal is coming from) estimated at 12%. There is not a lot of data about working poor, but we know it is significant.
Recently, I've been meeting with a group of pastors and we are looking at the problem of poverty in DeKalb County. I don't know what we have discerned other than this is a big issue for us to tackle. That being said, there is a sense that it is a Christian responsibility to care for vulnerable people in poverty. Even more particularly, we are looking at the subject of generational poverty and the systems that contribute to people being stuck in situations of need.
Friends Table is one way Auburn Presbyterian directly impacts poverty in our county. Can you think of others? If you're interested in the issue of poverty in DeKalb County I would welcome your help in the group I'm involved with or generating other ideas our church could take on the issue of poverty.
Shalom, David
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