Welcome to America, land of opportunity - opportunity for 90% of the population. We're nearing a 10% unemployment rate throughout the country. That's one in 10 people; one in ten of your friends CANNOT FIND a job. Unemployment is not an issue of laziness, this is an issue of finding a job that can support a family.
So you say McDonalds is hiring. Lets do some math:
Minimum wage in Ohio is $7.30 an hour. We'll assume that this McDonalds is hiring full time. So $7.30 at 40 hours a week is $292 BEFORE taxes. A whole year's earnings, assuming this person works 48 40-hour weeks, before taxes, is approximately $14,016 for the year. Taking out taxes, that leaves them with considerably less than even that. The average income in Akron, Ohio is $43,000 a year.
Costs of living include rent/mortgage, utilities, and food. A small apartment can be rented for approximately $300 a month, so over 12 months, that comes to $3,600. Water, trash, and electricity amount to about $100 a month, costing $1200 yearly. Food costs about $50 to $100 a week - $200-$400 a month. Food costs can total in excess of $4,000 over the year. We're at almost $9000 for the year. Add in necessities like gas or bus fare and we're nearing our allotted allowance of less than $14,000 a year. Health insurance costs a lot of money. Vehicle insurance is expensive too. And what if the car breaks down? That could be an expensive fix. Can't really squeeze a new set of tires in there or a new catalytic converter.
Now, add in a child. Childcare costs include doctor visits, clothes, school supplies, babysitters, and their own food. So you say that charities can help these children. Here's the catch, they aren't relying on their own income anymore. They are not using their own income for their children. They are no longer living on their measly less than $14000 a year income.
To the point of homelessness. Mortgages are not inexpensive and are subject to change on interest rates. Its very easy anymore for anyone to become homeless. If a two-income household making a combined $80,000 a year loses one of those incomes because a job was sent overseas, that mortgage may not get paid. And adding a McDonalds job is not going to even the defecit. Imagine the other main breadwinner losing hours to less qualified individuals working for less money and there is a recipe for a repo - another hardworking family ends up on the streets.
Families with older children of different sexes are often split up. Some are even rejected from homeless shelters. Fortunately, there are specialized shelters that take on those families to keep them together. The summit county Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) is one of those places and they have branches all over the US. In Summit County's Barberton location, Lakeview UMC is a home to this rotating homeless shelter in partnership with several other Akron churches. Here's how it works: for a week, Lakeview becomes the host to two or three homeless families, then members from Lakeview and St. Augustine make dinner and stay the night as hosts. In the morning, someone drives a bus to the Day Center at the corner on Miller Ave. in downtown Akron for the adults and drops the kids off at school. The IHN offers short-term housing to the invisible homeless, families that don’t qualify for shelter - parents with teenagers of the opposite sex and two parent families with children trying to stay together.
Also, for those who are in need in Barberton, here is some helpful information:
If someone is in need of health care and does not have insurance or qualify for public healthcare programs, there is a free health clinic called the Barberton Community Health Clininc. The clinic is run by Walt Ritzman and Donna Keim and staffed by volunteers, including doctors and nurses. Its located at 113 Ninth St in Barberton.
Barberton Area Community Ministries( better known as BACM) runs The Soup Kitchen on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Soup Kitchen serves the area's less fortunate by serving over 104,000 hot meals since 1985. Should you need a meal,The Soup Kitchen is currently located in the hall of the Presbyterian Church next to the Barberton Public Library.
On Wednesdays, Lakeview United Methodist Church hosts the Springtime of Hope, a program to distribute hot meals to the homeless. In addition to the hot meal, they are sent off with a packed lunch for the next day. Lakeview is located across the lake from the Presbyterian Church, next to the new YMCA.
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It's a good thing here, educating on the homeless shelters and other resources in the Barberton area. Hopefully some people you know up there will start volunteering.
ReplyDeleteBut, I also want to disagree with your figures in the first part of your post. My mother raised 2 kids on an income of about 9,000 a year. She spent maybe $20 a week on food for all 3 of us, and was very thrifty in other ways. All our clothes were hand-me-downs from other kids. We never had a babysitter because of money problems, so we were left home alone instead. As soon as we were 10 or so, my brother and I started picking up odd jobs to pay for our own expenses.
And, I mean, growing up wasn't la-de-da but it most certainly was not a result of our means. You get by, it's not hard.