Symposium to End Poverty Sustainably STEPS

I didn't get to go this year thanks to the flu! But 13 of our club members rode down in Gary Englund's RV bus to Santa Barbara and took part in STEPS. As you know this has to do with poverty. Now I can speak to poverty because I know first hand what it's like to be poor. As an organization we pay a lot of attention to the extreme poverty that is evident in third world countries and we should. But poverty here in our country is on the increase -- even here in our own county. The number of homeless people continues to rise and these are not just the mentally ill and alcoholic. Many of these people are ordinary people like you and me who have fallen on hard times.

I live every day with the realization of how close I am personally to joining their ranks. Oddly enough there is little assistance for someone like me since government programs that do any kind of help, such as food stamps, are not available to someone in my bracket. I am one of those people who don't have enough income to truly live a poverty free life and but have too much according to the powers that be to get any help.

Why am I writing this to you? As Rotary members I feel we need to do more right here in our own back yard. Yes, I know we donate clothing and warm coats and some food items every year at Christmas time. It's not enough. Are we really looking at the causes of this situation? Are we talking to our government representatives? Are we saying anything to the business community about jobs? Are we doing anything to foster more jobs? Are we even discussing this? Or do we just want to sweep it under the rug.

I'd like to see us take STEPS to solving poverty in our own town, in our own county, in our own country. Think about it and let me know your thoughts.

Ruth Ann, a member of the Invisible Poor