We have a strong desire for our staff and volunteers at Care & Share to understand our mission.  Our Mission Statement is:  To care for others and share our faith and resources locally and globally through Mennonite Central Committee in the name of Christ.

We recently had two opportunities for our team to become better aware of the needs in our local communities.  The first was a Poverty Simulation which seven staff members attended, the purpose of increasing awareness of the challenges that can face families and individuals struggling to get by.  The second was an education event we held at C&S for our staff and volunteers to learn about the prison ministry that Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) supports in the Philadelphia prison complex.  63 volunteers and staff attended. Two of our staff shared their observations on these events with the employee group at a recent staff meeting.  We share excerpts of their reporting here.

Poverty Simulation

 –Madison Niness, Administrative Assistant

September 26, 2024 I participated in a Keystone Opportunity Center (run), Souderton Telford Rotary (sponsored) event called a Poverty Simulation. When we got to the Franconia Heritage, we were assigned a character and a family that we would be working within.  The banquet hall was transformed into a mini town with stores, work places, a school and other community locations represented by people sitting behind tables. Houses were delineated by groups of chairs.  The objective of the simulation was to survive one month, or 4 ‘weeks’ represented by 15 minute intervals, ‘living’ within the circumstances we were assigned. 

There was little to no direction given before we began. By looking around the room, you could see that there were places to go for aid like “social services” and “community aid” but nowhere in the instructions were we told where these services were located or what you needed to bring with you in order to get assistance. My family and I were faced with difficult decisions in the simulation such as: 

  • Should I go to community college to try to improve my situation
  • Should I report to my part-time job so that my family can have additional income to buy food, clothing, make rent, and pay for utilities. 

I felt frustrated during most of the simulation, like there wasn’t enough direction and the people in charge kept changing or adding rules that I didn’t know about. After the ‘month’ ended, we regrouped and had a discussion about our experiences. I was not alone in finding the experience confusing, frustrating, chaotic and overwhelming. But it was supposed to be! The reason Keystone wanted people to experience this simulation was to get a taste of what it feels like to live below the poverty line. While there are tools out there that are designed to help, they’re not always easily accessible, and even when they’re accessible they’re not always the first thing on the mind of a person who’s just trying to keep their family together, fed, and safe. The purpose of the simulation is to raise awareness of these issues and to provide context that hopefully will breed empathy for the many people in our own community who are living like this. Keystone’s goal is to make this experience accessible for more people in the community. I am grateful to the Souderton-Telford Rotary club for allowing me to participate in such an eye-opening experience.  

Prison Kit Packing and Presentation

–Bill Weigle, Furniture Manager
October 9, 2024  I want to start by saying I was positively blown away by the sheer turnout of both associates and volunteers alike (63 participants)! For those that do not know, when you are incarcerated in the United States, you are oftentimes stripped of the personal possessions you enter in with and are forced to purchase hygiene necessities, clothes, etc. (think of the daily essentials that help us feel like dignified citizens). For some marginalized folks living on the fringes of society, they and their families may not have the means to afford an extra pair of socks or toothpaste.

We hosted Crossroads Community Center representative Jay Johnson, who supports the organization’s mission to demonstrate the gospel in word and deed to the people of the Philadelphia Fairhill Community. Jay was a tremendous speaker that through his use of imagery, hammered home the psychological and physical trauma our justice system can subject those who are incarcerated. He articulated to us that we are products of our surroundings; that those in the poorest sections of Philadelphia are often the cultural byproduct of an impoverished community rattled by violence and over-policing, lacking economic and educational investment. Many young men grow up assuming they will be dead or in jail by their early 20s.  Crossroads seeks to provide an alternative to the violence and incarceration that the surroundings foster.  At the same time, by providing MCC prison kits to those who are in jail, we are providing a package of care, and an opportunity to recapture a bit of their human dignity.  The recipient realizes that someone cares for him despite his circumstances.

With many folks in this day and age struggling with social isolation and financial insecurity/ scarcity, the message that resonated greatly with me during this prison packing exercise is that these kits represent a stranger’s compassion, and that compassion can plant the seed of hope and redemption in a time of great need.  

During our prison kit event, team members packed 145 kits for distribution in the Philadelphia jails by MCC.  We were glad to see the strong turnout and the learning as well as the serving that occurred.  Thanks to all who helped make the evening a success.

These events created a focus that our work here at Care & Share is not just another job, but an opportunity to be part of work that is charitable and mission based.

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