Poverty is a way of life for some working mothers
Living in poverty and barely making ends meet is a sad but true reality for a lot of single mothers. Many of them due bad choices and uncontrollable circumstances dropped out of high school, have no GED and little too no work experience. Daily, I am faced with the task of helping them to move forward with their lives.
One major problem for me is helping them find decent affordable housing within their budgets. Being a single mother with children, working a part-time job and making minimum wage describes the lives of many citizens in Columbus, Mississippi. It has left them in dire situations.
Many single mothers in Columbus and Lowndes County are homeless (living in an overcrowded house sleeping on the floor or in a place with no light, gas, or water) or on the verge of becoming homeless. They are working part-time minimum wage jobs, not earning enough money to be self-sufficient, living below the poverty lines. They are the working poor.
For example, a mother working at a fast-food restaurant earning $7.25 per hour and getting 25 hours per week, being paid bi-weekly will make $725 a month before taxes. Many mothers do not receive child support and have no transportation. Often they have to pay someone to take her back and forth to work.
The reason the eviction rate is so high in Columbus is because families are moving from place to place. They stay until they get evicted, buying time before they are put out on the streets. Each time a family moves, they are leaving unpaid rental fees, and utilities fees making it very difficult to be helped the next time due to fees and judgments on their credit reports.
The City of Columbus Office of Community Outreach seeks to fill the gap for the basic needs our community needs through donations and charitable contributions. We provide things like hygiene products, furniture, household items, some food items and financial assistance when we can. All of our services free to our clients.
We have a board on the wall in the office where we post job openings in the Golden Triangle area weekly, and we have a volunteer with college experience who will help all of our clients who would like be enrolled in college, work on their GED, improve their resume writing and get a second or better job. We have workshops, and had our first job fair in June of this year. The job fair will be an annual event because we encourage success and we are an avenue for hope and change.
As we enter the holiday season, please consider these families in your prayers, hearts and in your giving.
Just like I believe no child should ever go to bed hungry, it is equally as important to me that every child should have a safe place to live and a bed to sleep in. Where would we be without hope? So please give to your local agencies that help put families into safe environments. Remember, in the city of Columbus there are roughly 400 evictions a month and about 300 residents without utilities every month.
Thanks to all of the churches, business owners, civic organizations and individuals who help support our non-profit foundation, Building Bridges of Hope.
For more information and how you can help this holiday season please contact the Office of Community Outreach located at 1607 Main Street, phone number is 662-244-3525.
Buckhalter is director of Columbus’ Office of Community Outreach. Her email address is [email protected].
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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