World Day for Overcoming Poverty in Appalachia

Celebrating the October 17, World Day for Overcoming Poverty, has become a tradition in rural Dickenson County, Virginia. Some residents have attended the event since the first celebration in 1995.  The day is a time for people to come together to remind each other of the struggle, often heroic, that people in chronic poverty encounter every day.  It's a time to reflect on how we can join with them to eradicate that situation.

This year's commemoration at the Clinchco Senior center gathered 35 participants for an evening beginning with a potluck supper.  During the meal, people filled out a a short “poverty quiz” and a slide presentation at the beginning of the program explained the answers which many found quite revealing. Linda Dixon and Sister Jackie Hanrahan treated us to some wonderful singing and we heard testimonies from three local residents and a Wiconsin visitor, Karen Hart.  She is a probation officer and told the story of an ex-offender she dealt with.  He turned his life around and is volunteering to help others on probation complete their time successfully.

Sherri Stapleton, a teaching assistant at the Kids Central Head Start program explained  how the program really concentrates on the children who need it the most. To include the international aspect of the day, Peggy Mariner read a testimony from a woman in Tanzania while Sister Bernie Kenny spoke on the message of this year's theme, “Leave No One Behind”.

The comments about the evening were very positive and now the challenge for us is to live out the theme in our own lives as well as in a common effort with others.