GR poverty level rises to 15.72 percent

Date: October 29, 2009

GR Poverty Level Rises To 15.72 Percent
Anya Zentmeyer

Hundreds of figures dot the downtown skyline of Grand Rapids — shapes that huddle under bridges, in abandoned buildings and on the roadside. On their cardboard signs is scrawled “Will work for food” in an uncertain black marker.

In Grand Rapids, 15.72 percent of people are living below the poverty line, and most of them are homeless.

Marge Palmerlee, executive director of Dégagé Ministries in downtown Grand Rapids, said she has seen a sharp increase in the amount of people coming through her doors each day.

Palmerlee said the organization serves between 400 and 500 people each day.

“All of our programs are seeing an increase partly due to job loss and foreclosure,” she said.

However, it is not only on the downtown streets that the disparaging gap between the wealthy and the poor is ever present. Through Grand Valley State University’s own gates there has been an increase in students who fall below the poverty line.

“Just in the last year I’ve seen probably at least a 20 percent increase in the amount of people we’ve seen in shelters and the amount of people that need help on campus,” said Melissa Wehner, GVSU senior and president of student service and advocacy group Hunger and Homelessness.

The student food pantry, which is in the Women’s Center on GVSU’s Allendale Campus, has served more than 150 students this year.

Wehner said it is definitely an increase from previous years.

Both Wehner and Palmerlee attribute this abrupt upturn of “hunger and h o m e l e s s n e s s ” to the extreme amount of lost jobs and foreclosures.

Wehner said people who have been laid off are increasingly becoming victims of hunger and homelessness.

“It seemed to start off as people who somehow or someway had taken a wrong turn in their life — gotten into drugs, or alcohol Or something like that and have fallen from there,” Wehner said. “Now it has definitely taken a different turn. They have degrees, they have work experience — a lot more people who have just not been able to find jobs and can’t support their families. It’s really bad because it could happen to anybody.” Palmerlee said people who do not know how to properly finance, fall in to debt, or lack accountability are also likely candidates of poverty.

“The system has become a crutch with no incentive to get off of welfare,” Palmerlee said. “The system isn’t set up to help the people who are trying to help themselves.” Despite the issues some of those below the poverty line may have with selfmotivation, Wehner said there are fundamental issues with the system that make getting assistance difficult.

“First of all, you don’t have transportation and you have to find money to get transportation to the office,” she said. “Then you have to spend days and days and days filling out paperwork when you can’t find a baby sitter for your kids and you just don’t have it. So there are a lot of problems in terms of the requirements that it takes to get those services.

I would say that that’s a huge issue because there are so many people who can’t get what they need.” Even with overwhelming amounts of poverty on the streets and within GVSU, Wehner said there are still more ways to get involved and make an impact on the lives of those she helps.

“To hear their stories and hear what they’ve been through — it just completely changes your perspective,” Wehner said.

“It’s a challenge to look at someone who doesn’t have a home and who doesn’t have a dime in their pocket when we’re just struggling with college student debt, and they’re wondering where they’re going to sleep that night. You don’t take anything for granted again. You understand and have so much empathy for these people.” Wehner said she thinks her group, Hunger and Homelessness, diverges from the norm of service and advocacy groups and addresses the heart of the problem.

“I am just really proud that we have been able to focus not only on helping them in terms of their needs but in terms of their wants and their personal life,” Wehner said. “I think that’s a good thing that we’re moving toward.”

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