Goose Creek District Scouting for Food Update November 2, 2007

The Scouting for Food bag distribution and food collection days are almost upon us, and I want to thank you for all of your efforts to date.  I have a few items to share with you.  First, I have depleted my supply of Scouting for Food bags, except for the ones that units have already requested this week.  If you run out of bags this weekend, please consider using plastic grocery store bags with your pack's or troop's bag note. 

Please check the Scouting for Food web site to reconfirm your unit's assigned territory.  We've made some changes to the territories this year, and if your unit decides to go outside it's assigned area, please first check to see that the neigborhood is unassigned. Here are links to the area maps:
Sterling/Potomac Falls
Ashburn
Dulles South
Leesburg
Western Loudoun

Please do your best to keep the Scouts safe while participating in Scouting for Food.  Scouts should be supervised at all times while distributing bags or collecting food.

If you want any of the Scouting for Food yard signs, I still have a dozen or so.  They are $5 apiece, and to purchase any, please contact me.

The purpose of Scouting for Food is to help our less fortunate neighbors here in Loudoun County.  I checked in with Karen Velez, Program Coordinator for the Holiday Coalition, and she told me that there are already 1,200 families accepted for their Thanksgiving distribution.  Last year, the program served 900 families during the Thanksgiving distribution.  The increase demonstrates that the need for basic human services continues to grow rapidly in Loudoun County, and hopefully the packs and troops will be able to do their part to help meet those needs.  Last week Loudoun County hosted a Poverty Symposium, and Bob Chirles, Director of Family Services, made a presentation on poverty in Loudoun County that I think is worth sharing.  I've included the text of his remarks at the end of this update.  His remarks reinforce why the Scouts should "do our best" to help our neighbors in need, not only during Scouting for Food, but throughout the year.   Feel free to share Mr. Chirles' presentation with others.

If you want to discuss any aspect of Scouting for Food, please give me a call on 703-405-6341, or send me e-mail at brian.shiflett@verizon.net.  Thanks again for volunteering your time to lead the Scouting for Food drive, and best wishes to those who are distributing bags tomorrow.

Yours in Scouting,

Brian Shiflett
Scouting for Food Coordinator, Goose Creek District
Scoutmaster, Troop 998

Loudoun County Poverty Forum
October 24, 2007
 
As I was preparing  my thoughts for today, I noticed a bumper sticker as I was driving on Route 7 (Poverty is Owning a Horse) that made me think of the world of contrast that is Loudoun County today and the chasm that exists between the poor and the rest of the community.
 
Loudoun’s economic story speaks to the world of high incomes, expensive housing, great schools, growth in job opportunities, low unemployment (1.9%), and a poverty rate of less than 3%, which may suggest that we have little to be concerned about, that faith based organizations and human services agencies should have less to be concerned about, or even that there is no need for today’s forum.
 
That would be true if we believe that Molly Orshanski’s 1963 model of the poverty threshold reflects anything close to the reality of our community 44 years later.  In the search for some standard by which to determine poverty, Ms Orshanski, a federal economist, noticed that the US Dept of Agriculture estimated that low income families typically spent 1/3 of their budget on food.  She then multiplied the USDA’s estimate for a family of 4 ($1033 per year) by 3 to get $3100 pre-tax minimum annual income a family needed to get by.
 
While it’s reported that she never intended this to become the cut-off level for a definition of poverty, the federal government gave it official status in 1969 and it was adjusted for inflation over the years to supposedly represent the same purchasing power as 1963 dollars
 
Recall, also, that 10 years ago we “ended welfare as we know it” but we didn’t end poverty as we know it.
 
While we can be proud that our poverty rate is less than 3%, it’s clear that the formula used to arrive at that 1963 threshold does not reflect true economic viability in our in 2007.
 
And let’s not overlook the fact that 3% of 260,000 still represents 8000 of our neighbors and whose number will climb as the county grows, even if the 3% remains constant.
 
What does that 3% and the surrounding neighborhood mean (by that I mean up to what it actually takes to live here)?
 
It means people are hungry, suffer from debilitating physical and/or mental illness, are elderly, frail and alone and frightened, homebound, are unemployed, rely on the limited services of Medicaid for healthcare, use Food Stamps to feed their family and don’t have access to dental care.
Many are working but lack health insurance or access to adequate medical care, can’t pay their heating bills, are living on couches, doubled up with friends or family, are at risk of losing their housing, don’t have indoor toilets, and some sleep in their vehicles in our parking lots.
 
They live on the fringe of the economy with a lack of established credit, frequently use payday lenders and check cashing stores, and buy run down cars at exorbitant interest rates.
 
They cut our grass, work at our fast food counters, look after our children, care for our elderly, build our homes, empty the bedpans, clean our buildings and wash our cars.  Many live paycheck to paycheck.
 
They stock our shelves, check out our groceries, have recently lost jobs and lost their employer provided health insurance, need assistance with an elderly parent or with a child who is uncontrollable, disruptive, delinquent or abused.  They may have been abused and threatened themselves by their spouse or partner or are exploited financially by relatives or caretakers.
 
Poverty is owning a horse!
 
People from all over Loudoun County, from every community.  They are generally a silent constituency, who tend to remain invisible to the larger community, embarrassed and humiliated to be facing economic or personal hardship, often too proud to ask for help.
 
If you’re looking for people in rags as proof that the poor are among us, you will be disappointed.  You won’t see them at Board of Supervisors’ or Town Council meetings.  They don’t write letters to the editor or send e-mails to their congressman or contact major news outlets about their situation. 
 
But their needs are no less important than the vocal activists who demand attention for their causes.
 
Consider that Loudoun is situated among some of the wealthiest counties in the nation.  While a family of four with an income of $20,000 ($1660 monthly) may not be considered living in poverty, neither can that family afford the $1200 rent for a 2 bedroom apartment.
 
Someone earning minimum wage for an annual salary of $11,000 cannot make it in Loudoun.  Even with 2 full time minimum wage jobs, most housing is out of reach.  
 
While the No. Virginia Area Median Income is $94,000, 12,600 Loudoun households, including teachers, policemen, public employees, retail, construction and transportation workers earn 50% of the AMI ($47,000)
 
The meteoric climb in Loudoun home prices may have suffered a recent slowdown but a 2006 housing study indicated a shortage of 12,500 housing units affordable to those workers, and the number is climbing.
 
A study released by Montgomery County a few years ago concluded that a family of 4 in the Washington region needs an income of about $50,000 to pay for basic expenses.  For Loudoun County and the region today, it’s estimated at more than $64,000.
 
A family of 4 that earns more than $25,000 does not qualify for Food Stamps, yet more than 1600 families remain on our Food Stamp rolls.
 
A family of 4 that earns $36,800 and does not have health insurance cannot enroll their children in the Child Health Insurance Program yet more than 5000 Loudoun families use Medicaid for their health care needs.
 
That same family cannot earn more than $35,000 in order to receive daycare assistance and is expected to pay 10% of their income toward that daycare.  Yet 400 children are on the daycare waiting list for lack of funds.
 
There are 700+ families who receive help with Housing Choice rent vouchers yet there are another 900 who were on the waiting list when it was closed.
 
Our point in time count of homeless people reported 211 people who were homeless on a given night last winter and 44 people on average in shelters each night last year.  Another 43 used the emergency cold weather shelter from November thru March.
 
We have some of the finest healthcare institutions in the world in our area yet last year almost 200 people relied on the dentists who volunteered their time to provide basic dental care, a program which is in jeopardy right now.  Another 62 people needed the additional level of care provided at the Northern Virginia Regional Dental Program. 
 
We are home to some of the best known, most competitive businesses in the world, yet about 10% of our community (26,000) are without health insurance and increasingly seek care from the Community Health Center and the Free Clinic.
 
Few dispute the value of the investment in early childhood education and we are fortunate that there are 100 children in our Head Start Program, yet another 60 are on the waiting list.
 
We have numerous high end, gourmet food markets in our community, (has anyone not been to Wegman’s) yet there were more than 10,000 requests for food from our 2 major food banks last year.
 
1200 families participated in the Community Holiday Coalition Thanksgiving and Christmas program and the number grows each year.
 
How many single parents, mostly women, are working two jobs or sometimes depend on public assistance because they have not received the child support that was promised?   A recent op ed column mentioned the federal/state child support system where there are 16 million cases and 11 million of those are in arrears.  That’s a lot of money not provided to kids for shoes, school supplies, haircuts and daycare and a lot of heartache.
 
Yes, the poverty rate for Loudoun is relatively low but it’s the contrast and the enormous chasm between what it takes to live here and be productive and what life is like for those who live in and around that 3% poverty rate that makes this day so important and our goal such a formidable challenge.
 
We cannot talk about poverty without reference to housing costs, hunger, employment, early childhood education, transportation, health care, child care, child support, living wage, a self-sufficiency standard, race, personal responsibility and, yes, even immigration. 
 
The economy has been good for many of us, but not for all, and today our hope is that, as a community, we will commit ourselves to cutting that 3% in half, if not eliminating it altogether.
 
Poverty is owning a horse?  I don’t think so.
 
 
Robert Chirles, Director
Department of Family Services