Blog Action Day: Poverty
Casey called me last night with a statistic he heard on NPR. Families (of 4 or more) in America are considered the 'working poor' if they earn less than $41,000.00 annually.
I find this staggering, but perhaps not for the reasons one thinks. $41,000 is a LOT of money. 80% of the world lives on less than $10.00/day (source) yet here in America $41,000 for a family of four is the breaking point - the point where one earns too much to qualify for help, but not enough to really do more than (and sometimes not even as much as) make ends meet. Now I'm not naive. I know that there are HUGE differences in standards, economies, governments, scale, and SO many other factors that the $10.00/day statistic is NOT a comparison by any means - I just find it interesting.
Casey relayed the 'working poor' information to me in a moment of prayerful gratitude that, by God's grace, we are no longer part of that statistic.
*It makes me wonder (and I don't KNOW - these are ONLY my own thoughts) if life really IS so expensive? Or is our over-advertised, over-privileged, over-expected, over-processed American lifestyle inspiring us to feel 'poor' instead of blessed and abundant?
*Are we blessed and abundant - even when we struggle to make ends meet?
*How do we help each other when times are uncertain? How do we help others - those living on less than $10.00/day here and abroad?
*What inspires us to truly believe that we are a people and a country blessed with Freedom and abundance and choice?
Some of my favorite places to help:
Heifer International
World Vision
Angel Food Ministries
MUST Ministries
To read more "Blog Action Day" posts please click the logo above.
I'll keep you posted!
AmyDe
Casey called me last night with a statistic he heard on NPR. Families (of 4 or more) in America are considered the 'working poor' if they earn less than $41,000.00 annually.
I find this staggering, but perhaps not for the reasons one thinks. $41,000 is a LOT of money. 80% of the world lives on less than $10.00/day (source) yet here in America $41,000 for a family of four is the breaking point - the point where one earns too much to qualify for help, but not enough to really do more than (and sometimes not even as much as) make ends meet. Now I'm not naive. I know that there are HUGE differences in standards, economies, governments, scale, and SO many other factors that the $10.00/day statistic is NOT a comparison by any means - I just find it interesting.
Casey relayed the 'working poor' information to me in a moment of prayerful gratitude that, by God's grace, we are no longer part of that statistic.
*It makes me wonder (and I don't KNOW - these are ONLY my own thoughts) if life really IS so expensive? Or is our over-advertised, over-privileged, over-expected, over-processed American lifestyle inspiring us to feel 'poor' instead of blessed and abundant?
*Are we blessed and abundant - even when we struggle to make ends meet?
*How do we help each other when times are uncertain? How do we help others - those living on less than $10.00/day here and abroad?
*What inspires us to truly believe that we are a people and a country blessed with Freedom and abundance and choice?
Some of my favorite places to help:
Heifer International
World Vision
Angel Food Ministries
MUST Ministries
To read more "Blog Action Day" posts please click the logo above.
I'll keep you posted!
AmyDe
