Many people will never know what it’s like to not know where you’re going to sleep tonight, if there will be enough food available, or if you can pay the next bill that comes in.
But that’s the reality for thousands of people in the Northwoods. Most Northwoods counties range from 10 to 14% of the population experiencing poverty.
Dick Bruesehoff wants people to experience what that can be like through a poverty simulation.
“Basically, what you can expect in about a half an hour is to feel frustrated, powerless, helpless and overwhelmed, which is often the feeling that those who are living in poverty have,” he said.
Bruesehoff is the chair of the Caritas-Minocqua Committee. Caritas, along with Lac du Flambeau Economic Support, and Ascension Lutheran, are hosting a poverty simulation on October 11th in Minocqua.
The roughly 2.5-hour event is part simulation, part discussion.
Bruesehoff participated in one in 2019. He called it transformative.
“What it did was to sensitize a whole bunch of us, nearly 100 people gathered that afternoon, sensitized us to the frustrations, the shame, all kinds of emotions that are associated with not having enough, that is, with living in poverty,” he said.
People will be assigned roles and put into different scenarios that shed light on what it is like to live in poverty.
“I certainly hope that people will come away with a greater sense of understanding of how debilitating poverty can be, how important it is to be a part of a larger community that has as one of its spoken or unspoken promises that we will not let anybody live in poverty without trying to be of some assistance to them,” said Bruesehoff.
Bruesehoff also hopes it will inspire people to get involved in Caritas or find some way to help people.
Caritas-Minocqua is a group of local congregations that pool resources to help people in emergency financial need.
“It does not make any sense if somebody has emergency, immediate financial needs, to send them from church to church trying to get enough money together to satisfy those needs. So they said, ‘Let's do this together’ and Caritas was born out of that conversation,” said Bruesehoff.
People that need assistance can go to St. Matthias Church at 403 E. Chicago Avenue in Minocqua on Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Those that wish to take part in the poverty simulation do need to register sooner than later.
The poverty simulation is Friday, October 11th at Ascension Lutheran Church, 7937 US 51, Minocqua, WI.
Check-In is at 12:30pm.
Simulation starts at 1:00pm-2:00pm
Round table discussion at 2:00pm-2:30pm
Planning for the future 2:30pm-3:00pm
People can direct questions to Dick Bruesehoff at d.bruesehoff@gmail.com.
