A Christmas Tradition: Niles United Methodist Church Serves Dinner for the Poor or Lonely

For better than 20 years Wesley United Methodist Church in Niles has been offering a free meal and good company to those in need on Christmas Day.

The holiday tradition will continue this year with the meal beginning at noon at the church.

“It’s a free meal, directed to not only poor folks but also anybody who is alone on Christmas and would like some company for a meal,” said the Rev. Edward Slate.

In recent years, the free meal draws a crowd of about 100 from the community, according to Slate.

It takes 10 church volunteers to make the holiday meal happen, not including Slate, who says he takes on the role of “maitre d’” for the day.

www.nilesstar.com/2010/12/22/no-such-thing-as-a-free-lunch/


"God bless us every one."

CNN Report: The Faces of Hunger, 14% of Households Are Food Insecure

Edison Church Plans: A Kalamazoo Christmas for the Homeless

On any given Sunday, 70 or so people attend service at Stockbridge Avenue United Methodist Church.

But on this particular Sunday, the tiny church will fill up with hundreds of people — including more than 300 volunteers — for a major Christmas event to help the homeless and people struggling financially.

“It’s going to make for a pretty crowded venue,” said the Rev. Ron Slager, the church pastor. “That adds a little excitement.”

From 3 to 7 p.m., the event — A Kalamazoo Christmas — will offer people a hot meal, warm clothes and Christmas presents for their children at the church located at 1009 E. Stockbridge Ave. in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood.

Little ones will also get the opportunity to pick out gifts to give to their family.
The event will be run by volunteers who will give away items collected from nine Methodist churches in the Kalamazoo area. The other churches also are providing volunteers.

“What God calls us to do is to love our neighborhoods,” Slager said. “We need to be more compassionate to those either unemployed or underdemployed. Basic needs aren’t being met.”


www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/12/edison_church_plans_a_kalamazo.html

what's it worth to ya? financial choices

In our working lives we exchange our time and energy for money. We then use our money to support our lifestyle, which includes covering the costs associated with maintaining our income. If our lifestyle costs adds up to more than our income, we can choose to take on debt—if we can find a lender, or we can change our lifestyle.

For most people, taking on debt (sometimes known as using credit) used to be the preferred method. Now it’s both harder to do and less attractive for long-term prosperity. This leaves us with lifestyle choices.

In the higher socio-economic levels, making lifestyle changes is easier: renting movies at home versus going to the movie theater; camping for vacation rather than flying to a beach resort; eating dinner at home instead of at a restaurant.

For people living with a poverty level income, the ability to make lifestyle changes that have an economic impact is more difficult. The decisions are more along the lines of buying groceries versus buying gas to get to work; buying shoes that fit for your youngest child versus a warm coat for your eldest.

How does your income affect your own financial decision making process? Do you think about each purchase or do you spend more or less freely without thought? As a VISTA, my $900 month pre-tax stipend affects my financial decision making more than my previous variable income levels ever have. Here’s an example:

This week my coworkers had a farewell lunch for our VISTA colleague Kevin, my predecessor, at a wonderful local restaurant. The restaurant is one of my favorites and it was even my suggestion to go there (just so you know in advance that there’s no resentment).

A day or two afterward, while thinking about my Christmas budget, how much gas would cost for the nine-hour drive to my hometown next week, and how much I could afford to spend on groceries in between now and then, I remembered a concept I learned from the book Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin.

My really basic interpretation of one of the book’s nine steps to financial independence is to evaluate expenditures by the satisfaction value they provide for the number of hours worked to attain them. (There’s more to this than dollars earned per hours worked. For the calculation process, check out the book from your library or buy a copy.)

At my current income, that fabulous lunch cost about three hours of work. (It was worth it.) Is it something I can do every day? Absolutely not. Every week? Certainly not. Every month? Maybe, but probably not. More like once every three months. However, the $1 menu at the hamburger place down the block, I can most likely afford every day, if I want to. Such is life. It will help me appreciate the times I do visit my favorite "luxury' places.

As my VISTA year progresses, I may seem to walk around with dollar signs in my eyes. It’s not that I am money-hungry. It’s that I’ll be calculating the satisfaction value I’ll receive, in highly personal terms, of each expenditure I make. I'll decide yes or no based on my state of well-being, the amount of cash in my pocket, and the amount of energy I have at the time.

The good news is that a smile is always free, but has infinite value, and is easily exchanged. Over the year, I might be tired or hungry and not feel like smiling, but I’ll appreciate it when you do, and will probably smile back. If I don't, don't worry, it's not personal.

Final Days as a VISTA: My Reflection

When I began as an AmeriCorps VISTA in 2008, I had little exposure to the true realities of what poverty was. Being raised in a middle class family where all my basic needs were taken care of, I never had to worry about finding food, shelter or clothing. The years of 2008 and 2009 provided me a jolt of experience that shook the foundations of my core and gave me an new outlook on life.

In this time period, I not only learned about poverty through the experiences of others, but I also had several life crises of my own. For the first time in my life, I struggled to support myself through periods of unemployment and then learned what exactly a minimal spending budget was when I joined the AmeriCorps. To support myself, I also applied for and used Electronic Benefits to pay for my food.

In addition, I saw my first serious relationship of over 4 years come to an end, and watched a friend struggle through a health crisis because they didn't have medical insurance. I also became a Big Brother volunteer for an African American boy who lived on the Eastside Neighborhood in Kalamazoo and began a wonderful friendship.

You could say that while working at the Poverty Reduction Initiative, my experiences built me into the adult that I am today. Through all of my hard times, I had the support of friends, family and coworkers who went all the way to make sure I was comfortable, happy and able to pick myself up again.

Not all of us are so fortunate to have these kind of supports in our lives. Though what I went through during these years felt very hard, it pales in comparison to those who don't have shelter, food, clothing, transportation, or medical insurance. It compares little to those who struggle with mental and physical disabilities, mental health crises or those who simply cannot afford their prescriptions.

I hope that while working at the PRI that I was able to lay the foundation for years to come. The organization looks little like it did when I arrived in 2008; we have innovated so many new programs and initiatives that will have a real impact on the lives of residents in our communities.

The is one of the few organizations in Kalamazoo that truly innovates new strategies to actually reduce poverty. Through projects such as Project Connect and the Kalamazoo Bank On Initiative, the PRI will continue to provide support to families struggling to meet their basic needs. Through the Poverty Simulations Workshops, more Michigan residents will be aware of the realities of what it is like to endure the plight of poverty. Through the Voices for Action work, the PRI will continue to tell the story of those in poverty and what can be done to better serve them.

It's been a pleasure working with everyone and I am thankful for all the beneficial experiences I have had while working here. If you would like to stay in touch, you can reach me at lignellk@gmail.com.

Thank you for all of the support you have given me.

Warmest,

Kevin Lignell

Two Stories About Michigan's Homeless

'Tis the season. Two stories about the homeless in Michigan caught my attention yesterday in the midst of one of the strongest winter storms we have had in a long time.

According to Michigan Radio,

"More Michigan families are seeking out homeless shelters and warming centers this winter. And the need will likely continue to increase as temperatures fall below zero...

The Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness says last year there were 100,001 homeless people in the state. That's up from 90,286 in 2008."

www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1737072&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+michiganradio+%28Michigan+Radio%3A+Michigan+News%29&utm_content=Twitter

And West Michigan's TV Channel 8 reports:

With the temperatures and windchills hovering between bitter cold and unbearable, the Grand Rapids police added an extra patrol to help get homeless people off the street and into shelter at Mel Trotter Ministries.

There's a dramatic increase in the number of homeless people, GRPD Lt. Theresa Budzelik told 24 Hour News 8.

"One of the things that I'm seeing that I have never seen in my 25 years is more homeless couples," she said. "We try to do this anytime the temps or windchills reach zero or below."

www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/grand_rapids/Patrols-find-take-homeles-to-shelter

Homelessness in Southwest Michigan, a persistent problem which we need to persist at trying to solve.

Jackson, Michigan Elementary Student Raising 486,400 Pennies to Help the Needy

When a story about Kylen Rowland collecting pennies ran in the Citizen Patriot a month ago, the fourth-grader at Frost Elementary School never dreamed her efforts would get such a boost.

She has been given 20,665 pennies since then. One person anonymously left a jug filled with 4,950 pennies outside the sanctuary doors at First Baptist Church, where her mother, the Rev. Gretchen Sanewsky, is pastor.

Kylen is now at 72 percent of her goal of raising 486,400 pennies, the number of poor children in Michigan. She got the idea after seeing reports of all the sad children who were losing their homes because of the economy.

www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2010/12/jackson_fourth_grader_getting.html

Mike Luckovich Editorial Cartoon - from Go Comics

Does change still count? Cents, charity, community

How will you fund your charitable and gift giving this holiday season? From your checking account, a separate savings account, a change jar?

If you're like many people, you have a container filled with loose change from your cash transactions. Depending on the size of your container, from a coffee can to a wine jug, you could have the metallic equivalent of some “greenback” Andrew Jacksons ($20) or the elusive Benjamin Franklins ($100). That could certainly buy some warm clothing or a good meal for some people who need it.

As an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer living on a poverty level income, my spare change is mostly pennies. I've used all my silver-colored coins for parking meters and library fines. At first glance the pennies look impressive, they feel solid and heavy, but they don't actually add up to much. Only a few businesses still believe in the capital power of those little copper coins. You can't use them in parking meters. They are bulky and take time to count. Some banks won't even exchange them for bills; they'll only take coins for deposit if you have an account with them.

In December 2009 CNN Money reported on a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) study finding that 17 million Americans don’t have bank accounts. That’s “nearly 20% of all U.S. households earning $30,000 or less per year” who save their pennies at home. Even if each household had a dollar’s worth of pennies in the cookie jar, that’s $17,000,000 not working in our bank-based economy. It’s not gaining interest, not being used to fund businesses, home loans, car loans, educational loans, non-profits. Spare change adds up.

Initiatives like BankOn Kalamazoo County are designed to bring some of that loose change back into the mainstream economy. BankOn gives qualified people with low-incomes and/or poor-credit access to a more prosperous future, helping them establish or re-build their credit scores, through financial literacy training and low-fee or no-fee bank accounts. (For BankOn financial literacy classes, check out the Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services schedule.)

As for me, I’m not sure where I will donate my accumulation of coins this year. It will be for the common good of the community. It’s a personal choice, of course, as are all financial decisions. I’m thankful I have some change I can share.

Tax Refund Anticipation Loans: High Interest & Fees for the Working Poor

Tax season won't be underway until January, but there was a big line Thursday in front of one H&R Block branch (in Wyoming, Michigan).

The company has been pushing its line of credit called the Emerald Loan, (an income tax refund anticipation loan or RAL). Typically, the market for these products are low-income earners who often get tax refunds that can be used to pay off the loan, consumer groups say.

But there is some concern customers may be purchasing expensive tax preparation services they can't afford, or digging themselves deeper into debt.

www.woodtv.com/dpp/your_money/Loans-from-tax-prep-chains-Demand-up

The Better Business Bureau:

"... cautions consumers to consider the complete costs of a RAL and how these loans can wipe out a significant portion of a tax refund.

“RALs are short-term loans with exorbitantly high interest rates and hidden administration fees, so consumers are actually paying someone else to have access to their own money.

However, if the refund is less than anticipated or the RAL is not paid off in time, the fees can take a significant chunk out of the refund.”

A RAL is similar to a payday loan, with interest rates averaging between

50 and 500 percent.

They sometimes are offered by fly-by-night tax preparers. Consumers still can obtain income tax refunds, free of charge if they are willing to wait two weeks...

The fastest and most secure way for consumers to receive a tax refund directly is to file tax returns online and allow direct deposit of

the refund to their bank account. This can take as few as eight to 15 days."

ct.bbb.org/article/income-tax-refund-anticipation-loans-15231