Lindsay the Intern: Week Four Musings

(During week 4, our Intern finds herself employed and reflects on some assumptions she held about what it means to be employed, and what she learned about the sad reality for many).

For the last month, I have been tirelessly trying to get a job. I have scaled strip malls and scavenged Internet sites in search of a source of income to support my frivolous spending. FINALLY, I found work.

After my first day on the job, I headed over to ShelterCare for the weekly Development meeting. While we waited for the last few members to join us in the meeting room, my focus drifted off to meet my surroundings. The posters and pictures seemed to pop off the white walls, leaving me to ponder each one. Suddenly, a framed statistic tugged my mind to the present. Did you know that 40 percent of people living in shelters are employed? 4o percent! I was stunned by this news. You can have a job and be homeless? Forgive me if I have oversimplified things here, but if a job means money, and money means necessities, and a major necessity is shelter... why is my math not adding up?

I suppose that despite the fact that I am well  into my 4th year of college, I have never held a job that could afford me my lifestyle, let alone my necessities (Hooray for student loans!). It just floors me that well-intentioned people, who have taken the initiative to get a job, have to struggle to live. 

From my Family and Human Services classes, I have learned that poverty perpetuates itself. If your parents are struggling to survive off minimum wage, you are less likely to have the free time, emotional support, and financial support to thrive in a school setting. This means college may not be an option, and without a college degree, well... the good paying jobs just seem to slip away. 

I understand that many jobs require specific qualifications that one cannot gain any other way but college. However, those employers that are not diving into the graduate pool need to make sure they are supporting their employees. How functional is an employee if he or she had to spend half the night finding a place to sleep and the other half worrying about a slew of other pertinent issues surrounding basic survival. Shall we add kids into that equation? Sadly this is the reality for many individuals tossing and turning in rented beds. 

I want to have some powerful lesson or helping hint to change this situation, but this is a bigger task than those previously discussed. How do we as individuals rectify this unjustifiable issue? Compassion aside, it comes down to numbers. Many employers cannot afford to meet liveable wage requests for all employees. I hate not having all the answers.

With all of that said, I think I will take the time to plug a ShelterCare program. The Homelessness Prevention Program is helping to keep those families with children, who teeter on the border of homelessness, off the streets. How, you might ask? Well, donations, for one. It costs more money ($6,000!) to pull a family off the streets into a stable situation than it does to keep them out of poverty. Many families are just able to make ends meet, living paycheck-to-paycheck. One miscalculation or unexpected expense and life is no longer affordable. However, just $950 can prevent a family from reaching the red zone. It may not be a solution, but it certainly is a start.