Last month—October 8 in Madison to be precise—it was a 15-city bus tour by Washington-based Jim Wallis on “Overcoming Poverty” which so impressed me. This month, it was a virtual poverty tour by the Catholic Campaign For Human Development, which made an impact. (See www.povertyusa.org, if you want to check the facts of this story, “Budgeting for Poverty.”)

The federal government says a family of four making $18,392 a year is living in poverty. But how far does $18,392 go in America today? How do you budget? What do you leave out? You make the hard choices.

Rent. The median, fair-market annual rent for a 2BR apartment within a major metropolitan area is $8,256.

$18,392
  - 8,256
    $10,136 yr.

Utilities. To keep a family of four warm and secure, the average expense for utilities and public services runs $1,944 a year.

$10, 136
    -1,944
     $   8,192 yr.

Transportation. Just for two people to ride the bus daily to and from work in a major metropolitan area, the annual combined transportation cost would be about $1,500. Additional trips—to the store, the doctor’s office, wherever—would raise the total significantly.

$8,192
  -1,500
      $ 6,692 yr.

Food. Families making less than $19,000 on average spend $3,821 a year on food. But even with public assistance, such as food stamps, a family at the poverty line will spend $1,301 annually on food away from home.

$6,692
  -1,301
      $ 5,391 yr.

Healthcare. The average annual cost for family health insurance coverage is $4,000. Even if an employer contributes part of the costs, a family would still pay on average $1,347 for coverage. The cost of not having health insurance, however, could be devastating.

$5,391
  -1,347
      $ 4,044 yr.

Childcare. The average annual cost in a metropolitan-area childcare center for two children under the age of five is $13,235. Even with child care subsidies, working families making less than $15,000 a year spend one-quarter of their income on child care; for a family of four below the poverty line, that’s about $4,200 a year.

$4,044
  -4,200
      $  -156 yr.

So now you’re $156 over budget, and you still don’t have everything you need. What do you leave out? Toiletries, School Supplies, Shoes, Clothes, Holiday Gifts, Education, Life Insurance, Furnishings, Recreation, Cleaning Supplies, Entertainment, Birthdays.

These are the decisions made every day in the state of poverty. Made by m ore than a thousand low-income families at Middleton Outreach Ministry. Counseling such desperate families trying to budget for poverty can be depressing. But we remain optimistic, convinced that one person does make a difference. To help convince you of the same, read Loren Eiseley’s tale of a “Star Thrower.” My favorite version of this popular folk story is the poem version entitled, “The Difference.”

The Difference by Randy Poole

Amidst the morning mist of the swift returning tide

I set out on my daily run, the sunlight shining bright.

Lost within my private world apart from cares and woes

I ran along the moistened shore, the sand between my toes.

In the distance, I saw a boy, as busy as can be.

He was running, stooping, picking up, and tossing in the sea.

Just what he threw, I couldn’t tell, I looked as I drew near.

It seemed to be a rock or shell—as I approached him I could hear,

“Back you go, where you belong. You’re safe now, hurry home.

Your family’s waiting for you little starfish, rush along!”

It seemed the evening tide had washed the starfish on the shore,

And the swift receding water left a thousand there, or more.

And this self-appointed savior, was trying one-by-one

To toss them back into the sea, against the racing sun.

I saw his plight was hopeless, that most of them would die.

I called out from my private world, “Hey kid, why even try?”

“Must be at least a thousand here, strewn along the beach,

And even if you had the time, most you will never reach.

You really think it makes a difference, to waste your time this way?”

And then I paused and waited, just to hear what he would say.

He stooped and took another, and looked me in the eye.

“It makes a difference to this one sir, this starfish will not die!”

With that, he tossed the little life back where there was hope.

He stooped to save another. I could tell this was no joke.

Those few words that he spoke to me cut like a surgeon’s knife.

Where I saw only numbers, he saw only life.

He didn’t see the multitude of starfish on the sand.

He only saw the little life he held there in his hands.

He didn’t stop to argue, to prove that he was right.

He just kept tossing starfish in the sea with all his might.

So I, too stooped, and I picked up, and I tossed into the sea,

And I thought, oh, what a difference that this one soul made in me.

I am one who dares and cares to make a difference with a few. You are another one. One by one by one, we can financially mentor these families and break the cycle of poverty. Contact MOM at 836-7338 or dietrich@mompop.org.

© 2004 Middleton Outreach Ministry

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