It began with a simple question: "How many people in this room have broken a leg?" Two of seventy-three seventh graders raised their hands. When I asked, "How could the rest of us, who have not broken a leg, understand what it feels like?" they came up with several responses. "We could ask a person who had broken their leg what it is like...We could use crutches for a day."

This interchange began a five-month long journey in which these young students would discover what it feels like to be poor - without being poor. The twenty activities encompassed this cross-curriculum unit, the Poverty Project.

I believe simulation, not lecture, is critical in bringing the reality of poverty to preteens and teenagers. Every activity introduced during the Poverty Project was geared towards student-based, hands on learning. Their journey began with the seventh graders role playing as a single parent with two children, ages seven and two. They budgeted for a desired life style for their family. They chose an apartment in the classified ads, chose a car they wanted to lease, chose public or private education for their children, evaluated and priced daycare for their toddler. One of the students even named her two children. The total of their expenses equaled the salary they needed to earn to support their desired lifestyle. Back to the classifieds to find four jobs that would support their budgeted expenses.

One morning they were handed a pink slip. Through no fault of their own, they had been laid off. They had no extended family to help, and no prospect of finding a job. After researching both the current minimum wage and the current welfare allotment for a family of three in Minnesota, they had to make a choice between going on welfare, or accepting a minimum wage job. They were asked if they felt any differently personally, not financially, when they were earning a minimum wage versus accepting welfare allotments. Back to the drawing board! The students had to scale back their desired budget.

They went from leasing a car to calling the bus company for the price of a monthly bus pass. They discovered that Food Stamps really help stretch options, so, using grocery store ads, bought food for their family for a month within the constraints of their allocation.

The worst was yet to come. One morning they received eviction notices. They had five minutes to get everything out of their lockers that they would need for the day - books, assignments, coats, lunches, gym bags. The only time they could set their belongings down was if they were seated - or their possessions would be confiscated. Reflecting on this experience, one girl wrote that she was so frustrated she could have screamed. Another student said she would look at homeless people so differently - she now understood how exhausting life would be.

Then the real work began. Working in small groups, the students chose a subtopic of poverty and produced a computerized slide show with an accompanying script. They uncovered that the average age of a homeless person in America is nine, and that a livable wage is $10.73, almost double the current minimum wage. They learned how to make phone calls to dig for information, even when adults were rude to them. They learned the difference between charity and social justice and how we, as Christians have not an option, but an obligation, to carry out both works.

The 7th graders at St. Odilia learned that they, thirteen year olds, have the power to make a difference in this world by staying informed and communicating their knowledge. They learned that their research is worthy of being published on the Internet and presented to 200 people at the culmination of the Poverty Project at our St. Odilia’s Hunger Banquet. The St. Paul Pioneer Press even covered this event!

The students and their parents received different colored tickets as they filed into the cafeteria one evening. Yellow tickets, representing the 15% of the world’s population that eats nutritiously, were seated at tables with fine china, candelabras, and a four course meal. A red ticket led the diners to bare cafeteria tables where they stood in line to receive soup, bread, and juice. This group, the world’s middle-income group, represented the 25% of the world’s population that earn between $611 and $7,619 per year. A brown ticket, handed out to 60% of those attending, duplicated the 60% of the world’s population who are chronically malnourished and earn less than $611 per year. It was another ‘real’ experience for these wonderful children who put their heart and soul into this project. Everyone of these young people has put a face on poverty, knows that being poor is not a disease, and that they are obligated as human beings to take a stand.

We concluded the Poverty Project with this prayer:

On the street I saw a small girl
cold and shivering in a thin dress,
with little hope of a decent meal.
I became angry and said to God:

"Why did you permit this?
Why don’t you do something about it?"

For a while God said nothing.
That night God replied quite suddenly:

"I certainly did something about it...
I made you. "

Linda Hanson, 7th Grade
St. Odilia Catholic School (Shoreview, MN)

Bright Ideas

Some recommended books are:

Swimmy by Leo Lionni, Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester and The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza.

In our Religion class we work on social service projects—collecting hats and mittens for the poor and writing pro-life essays. Treating all cultures equally and seeing their gifts is part of our Social Studies class along with learning how we can choose peaceful outcomes rather than turning to violence.

Through our Science class we learn how to respectfully value and care for all that God made. Our studies include information about recycling pollution, and our responsibility for the earth. In our Reading and Writing classes we learn the importance of good choices, ones that reflect Christian values. We discuss multicultural issues and social justice topics appropriate for our grade.

Sr. Connie Gleason , Grade 4
Saint Michael, West St. Paul

The fifth grade catechists and students have been working on a project with the main topic being God’s presence in our lives and how we can help others while going through our lessons each week. Using the sacraments and liturgical year as our quilt block designs, one student from each of the three classes colors the pre-designed quilt block each week, during the last 15 minutes of class time. The quilt block design coincides with the lesson for the week.

Through the course of the year each student will do two quilt blocks. The blocks will then be sewn together and tied to form three quilts. These very colorful quilts will keep someone warm on cold winter nights in a shelter or on the streets. The students have had a year to think about others needs and do something about it.

When we approach clothing retailers about requiring better wages for the workers who make our clothes, they often tell us pay must be kept low so U.S. consumers can have inexpensive products. Let’s evaluate the validity of this claim using some facts and simple math.

Consider a GAP t-shirt that sells for $20 in the United States. To manufacture the shirt, San-Francisco-based Gap, Inc. contracts with a maquiladora in El Salvador. (A maquiladora is a factory, usually foreign-owned, that assembles goods for export). The Salvadoran workers producing the shirt were paid $0.56 an hour. On average, a worker is able to sew approximately 4.7 shirts per hour.

Based on this information, calculate the following: