A role-playing, interactive, poverty simulation set for 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday is meant to build empathy for local struggling families, organizers said.
The event will unfold at The Commons, at 300 Washington St. in downtown Columbus.
Mark Stewart, president of United Way of Bartholomew County, the organization planning the event, mentioned that such an activity is important since fully one-third of families in the county struggle to make ends meet in some way.
Some of that is triggered by a lack of health insurance coverage, or affordable child care or issues related to underemployment.
Stewart has attended simulations in the past in Bloomington and Indianapolis.
“You hear participants express their frustration,” Stewart said. “You can even feel it in the room.”
Local individuals role play as struggling community members. They are divided into pretend families and then are given a current situation their family is facing. Situations are based on real-life circumstances that local residents have confronted, often while dealing with economic challenges. Each family deals with a month’s worth of circumstances condensed into the three hours.
One scenario might be as simple as a car breakdown when a family already is slightly behind in its bills. Or a parent being called in to work at a time when they have no child care arranged.
The event is limited to 75 volunteers, and organizers hope people will sign up beforehand.
Some of the makeshift families include single parents balancing child care with work demands or senior citizens trying to maintain their independence.
Stewart mentioned that empathy and compassion are needed toward such families in order to provide resources to help.
“We have discovered that most (struggling) people are making the best decisions they can with the resources that they have,” Stewart said.
Kelly Daugherty is executive director of the local nonprofit Love Chapel Ministries that helps people with a wide range of needs from groceries to paying utility bills. And he is happy to hear of the upcoming event.
“Anything that brings awareness for those who struggle is needed,” Daugherty said, adding that such an exercise is especially important now since the outreach currently is seeing record numbers of people at its meal sites, food pantry and Brighter Days emergency housing. “That tells me that the number of people in need is increasing.”
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What: A poverty simulation in which local individuals role play struggling community members. They are divided into pretend families and then are given a current situation their family is facing. Each situation based at least partly on real-life circumstances that local residents have confronted, often while economically limited or strapped. The event is limited to 75 volunteers, and organizers hope people will sign up beforehand.
When: 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 2.
Where: The Commons, 300 Washington St. in downtown Columbus.
How to sign up: Cheri Stone at 812-375-2203 or cstone@uwbarthco.org
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