We had breakfast catered by Dairy Queen which consisted of toast, biscuits, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, and orange juice. It was delicious and appreciated by all.
We had our Poverty Conference Workshop, and all of the employees from Tatum Primary and Tatum Elementary took part in a very interesting and fun exercise. We were each placed in different families in various units and settings- Some had fathers and mothers, some had fathers without wives and vice versa, some had little kids, grown kids, some had babies, grandparents, etc. Each family's situation was different as far as work, home, bills, and making money was concerned. Some had good jobs, some didn't. Some had homes to live in, and some didn't. Some had to worry about child care, food stamps, trying to find a job, trying to get an education, or just paying the bills period and being able to afford groceries. Each family started off with basically whatever their situation was (no money), and they had to go from there and live out one month of trying to make ends meet.
I was in a family where I was a divorced father who taking care of a 20-year old daughter, a 9 year-old son, and a small baby grand-daughter. My family did pretty well after one month; I had a job making almost $400 a week, I was able to make my mortgage payments, utility payments, child care payments, food and clothing, gas, and still have money leftover to create a checking account. Of course, it helped that 1. the daughter worked a part-time job and helped out; 2. We hocked some jewelry we didn't need (ha ha); 3. I turned to be the "best employee" at my job and received a bonus. All in all, it was a fun activity and it showed and taught us that not only do adults go through life's struggles, but kids do, too, and kids often times suffer from the lack of a decent meal, a decent place to live, or a life of comfort.
Afterwards, we took a lunch break, and then we returned to work and worked in our classrooms.
No comments:
Post a Comment