The Washington Post recently highlighted issues facing the poor in Wisconsin and our Bread of Healing Clinic staff and volunteers can verify the details of the story, hundreds of times over, with our own patients.
Neighbors of ours live at the edges and living there increases the risk that they will fall over that edge. One car repair, one ER visit for a broken arm, one school field trip… any one of these can be too much for the family budget. Then suddenly the rent cannot be paid, or food cannot be purchased, or the light bill is looming, with the spiral only getting worse from there.
It's tough seeing our state portrayed like this as Wisconsin’s “reforms” make front-page national news. The newest upcoming rendition of “reforms” will aggravate this problem.
How can we overlook our neighbors in such need? There is no “welfare queen” and in fact, there never was. We must continue to shed light on the reality faced by real people, along with solutions that will raise people up rather than push them further down.