Press Gazette - Seeds of Hope

Green Bay Press Gazette

December 13th 2010

Editorial: Seeds of Hope call attention to local poverty

You don't see them panhandling on our sidewalks or sleeping on grates, but the homeless and poor live among us — and it's important we know their stories.

That's the crucial message driving the Seeds of Hope poverty awareness project, an area initiative dedicated to lifting the veil from — and eventually ending — poverty in our communities. Advocates are getting the word out through a stark museum exhibit and a series of winter events, all of which offer important insight into this often-invisible segment of the place we call home.

Collectively called "Our Hidden Community," the Seeds of Hope coalition events are designed to not only tell people about poverty, but also to help them envision what it's like to be homeless, hungry or on the brink of financial ruin. A primary component of that effort is a Neville Public Museum of Brown County exhibit, "Our Hidden Community: Images of Hope," which features stories of local people struggling to make ends meet — including photographs they took that depict the day-to-day struggles.

"I think what we're really trying to do is grow understanding and awareness," Bree Decker, transitional housing coordinator at The Salvation Army of Brown County, told the Green Bay Press-Gazette editorial board, "because everybody that's involved in this project — the artists — are from Brown County. And we're really trying to wrap our hands around the (fact) that we're having homelessness or poverty in Green Bay and the surrounding area. So I think it's a real eye-opener."

The exhibit runs at the Neville through Feb. 28 and is designed to also be a traveling exhibit, said Eileen Littig, producer for NEWIST/CESA 7, which produced the documentary "The Hidden Homeless." The traveling exhibit will feature educational components designed for schools, businesses or any organization that wants to feature it.

Seeds of Hope events slated for next month include a Jan. 22 "A place at the table" lunch that will serve the kinds of inexpensive, nutritionally deficient foods relied upon by many who live in poverty. On Feb. 5, community members can take part in a 2½-hour poverty simulation that forces them to cope with scenarios such as job loss, unexpected bills and home foreclosure.

Such events offer attendees only a brief glimpse of what people in poverty experience, yet participants say they have a powerful, lasting effect. The Seeds of Hope project isn't looking for money, but rather the time and expertise of community members dedicated to solving the multifaceted problem of poverty in our area. This is an effort to which we can all lend a hand.

The exhibit and related events, which are open to the public, present a stark picture that many of us would rather ignore. Awareness is step one, but within that — as the project's name suggests — is hope.