Poverty awareness

Richard A. Sokerka

Poverty. It’s a word that many of us living in the United States of America — the land of plenty — never think about. Maybe it is because we can’t relate to it because we don’t live it. Or maybe we think it just doesn’t exist in the good, old USA.

Well, think again. According to the 2014 U.S. Census Bureau Report, there are 47 million people living in poverty in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). The number of people in poverty in the United States is larger than the populations of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colora­do, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, and Nebraska. Now picture that in your mind.

There is no denying we have a major problem in our nation. To put that number of those in poverty in perspective, know that the 2014 poverty rate was 2.3 percentage points higher than in 2007, the year before the 2008 recession and that this is the fourth consecutive year that the number of people in poverty has remained unchanged from the previous year’s poverty estimate. And in the 47 million living in poverty are 15.5 million children, about 1 in every 5 children across the nation.

To shed light on the millions who live in poverty in our own neighborhoods,, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has designated January as Poverty Awareness Month.

During this Year of Mercy, will we hear the cry of the poor and walk with them in solidarity?