By Jackson Swearer
Last week, I attended an event hosted by the United Way. Attendees heard about the United Way’s upcoming annual fundraising campaign as well as programming to support ALICE families.
ALICE is an acronym that stands for asset-limited, income-constrained, employed – a group commonly referred to as the working poor.
These individuals are doing their best, but struggling to make ends meet.
The United Way raises funds and provides oversight for more than 20 local programs that help ALICE families in various ways. They also operate their own programs, which provide crucial services to the community.
At the end of the event, United Way staff walked attendees through an exercise to see the difficulty of balancing a monthly budget for an ALICE family.
Almost one in three Hutch residents fall in this category. Many readers will have personal experience with those challenges.
If you have not, however, I would encourage you to participate in something like that exercise. It can be very eye-opening.
This wasn’t my first time through something like this, and each time I am confronted by the reality that it feels impossible to “win” the “game” within the rules.
This time, I was assigned the task of balancing the budget for a single parent with two kids. In the scenario I had a good job paying me close to $25 an hour.
I tried my best to be frugal, but I still ran out of money before the end of the month. I needed to stop by the United Way’s Reno Connections booth.
Reno Connections is a program by the United Way in collaboration with other local partners. They do not provide direct financial assistance, but instead they walk alongside people and help them access services and resources to make ends meet.
This isn’t a “game” for many of our neighbors – being ALICE is their reality. Programs like Reno Connections are a lifeline.
I would love to change the systems that make that true, but in the meantime, I am looking for ways to support the people in my community who are struggling.
If you are blessed with the means to do so, I hope you will find your own way to lift up those in need. If you can give financially, please support groups like the United Way, donate directly to local nonprofits or give to your church. If you can give your time and talents, you will find many organizations in need of volunteers.
If nothing else, get to know your neighbors. A hand with a small chore or even just a kind word can make all the difference.