Faith-Based Groups Learn How To Assist Needy
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Jennifer [email protected]
Approximately 50 people attended a poverty seminar at McClain Hall on the Grace College Campus in Winona Lake.
The seminar was an effort of the faith-based subcommittee of the Kosciusko County Community Foundation's Helping Overcome Poverty's Effects initiative to help local faith communities find ways to fight poverty in their communities.[[In-content Ad]]Seminar facilitators focused on helping those in attendance learn how to meet the needs of those who are in poverty.
Participants took part in role-playing scenarios in which attendees were given a problem associated with poverty and asked to think of a solution. People broke up into groups and were asked what they would do if they were a female with two daughters and their husband lost work.
Those who attended the seminar had an opportunity to receive information from booths set up representing service organizations in the community.
Bruce Wrightsman, assistant pastor at South Whitley United Methodist Church, discussed specific actions churches can take to help those in need in their community who are facing poverty.
"People with the greatest faith are the poor because they don't rely on a pocket book or IRA," Wrightsman said.
He said people who have a full-time job and work 40 hours a week sometimes still do not have the funds to pay their bills.
He defined poverty as the extent to which an individual does without resources.
He covered resources those in poverty need, including a financial resource, being able to purchase the goods and services of that class and sustain it.
"In poverty, money is to be used and spent as soon as you get it," Wrightsman said.
He said another resource of poverty is an emotional resource to be able to choose and control emotional responses without engaging in self-destructive behavior.
He said another important resource is a mental resource where people of poverty need the mental abilities to acquired skills such as reading, writing and computing to deal with daily life. Other resources included the spiritual and physical, relationships and role models.
At the end of the seminar, people had the opportunity it fill out a volunteer sheet to assist those who are in poverty.
Approximately 50 people attended a poverty seminar at McClain Hall on the Grace College Campus in Winona Lake.
The seminar was an effort of the faith-based subcommittee of the Kosciusko County Community Foundation's Helping Overcome Poverty's Effects initiative to help local faith communities find ways to fight poverty in their communities.[[In-content Ad]]Seminar facilitators focused on helping those in attendance learn how to meet the needs of those who are in poverty.
Participants took part in role-playing scenarios in which attendees were given a problem associated with poverty and asked to think of a solution. People broke up into groups and were asked what they would do if they were a female with two daughters and their husband lost work.
Those who attended the seminar had an opportunity to receive information from booths set up representing service organizations in the community.
Bruce Wrightsman, assistant pastor at South Whitley United Methodist Church, discussed specific actions churches can take to help those in need in their community who are facing poverty.
"People with the greatest faith are the poor because they don't rely on a pocket book or IRA," Wrightsman said.
He said people who have a full-time job and work 40 hours a week sometimes still do not have the funds to pay their bills.
He defined poverty as the extent to which an individual does without resources.
He covered resources those in poverty need, including a financial resource, being able to purchase the goods and services of that class and sustain it.
"In poverty, money is to be used and spent as soon as you get it," Wrightsman said.
He said another resource of poverty is an emotional resource to be able to choose and control emotional responses without engaging in self-destructive behavior.
He said another important resource is a mental resource where people of poverty need the mental abilities to acquired skills such as reading, writing and computing to deal with daily life. Other resources included the spiritual and physical, relationships and role models.
At the end of the seminar, people had the opportunity it fill out a volunteer sheet to assist those who are in poverty.
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