Blueprint to End Poverty

Last night my husband and I attended the Blueprint to End Poverty in Duluth meeting and dinner in the Great Hall of the Depot in downtown Duluth. I rode the bus downtown and my husband took his bike from work.

We had a great dinner and met quite a few new people. The dinner included wraps, tortellini salad and fruit salad.

I know quite a few people in Duluth. My husband and I think that maybe we don't need more friends, we just need to be friendlier with the friends we have. So it was hard to decide if we should sit by a person with a fresh face or someone that I kinda know. We sat down beside James Gittemeier. He was sitting at a table that had a "Transportation" sign on it.

James is a planner with the Duluth Superior Metropolitan Interstate Council and often attends the East Hillside Community Club meetings, which meet on the 1st Tuesday of the month at the Grant Rec Center.

James also coordinated "Ride Your Bike to Work Day" which my husband participated in.

After the meal, Stan Kaitfors, executive director of Community Action Duluth, spoke to us and we heard from some of the participants and fellows in the Blueprint to End Poverty program.

We heard from Jessica, who holds two jobs but can not afford the medical insurance that is offered by her employers. She hardly gets a chance to spend time with her family and functions on little sleep.

We also heard from Shannon, who had been homeless for one year. "It is so hard." she said. Her husband stays home and takes care of the kids. She said if he were to go to work, they would lose the benefits they now have.

Losing benefits while trying to get out of poverty is a huge problem that I don't think most people realize. There needs to be stepping stones for people to work out of poverty without losing the safefty net of medical insurance. It seems people want everyone to work and or get a second job...and many people do work, but sometimes, if they were to work another job or have another adult in the family work it counts against them.

If you look at bankruptcies among the middle and even the upper-classes the majority of these bankruptcies are caused by the inability to pay medical bills. (This is according to a Harvard study.) How can we as a society ask our poorest people to go without health insurance and risk their own physical health. They may get out of poverty for a while, but what will they do when they can't cover their medical bills?

Well, I haven't got the heart of the issue, but it is time for me to sign off. I will write more soon.