When you have to choose between dinner and electricity

These students were participating in a poverty simulation cosponsored by the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton and the Student Volunteers Council (SVC). The simulation, which featured speakers Scott Fairman, a worker for Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness, and Robert Williams, a volunteer for the Crisis Ministry, capped off the SVC's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (HHAW).

Each participant in the simulation received a limited number of resources for one "month," represented by four 15-minute "weeks." Participants had to allot time throughout these "weeks" to seek out different service agencies, while still caring for their "families" and coping with issues such as finding meals or transportation for their children.

At the end, participants discussed their experiences in a debriefing session. The debriefing is important because it helps participants understand their experience rather than simply acting it out and being done with it, SVC member Caaminee Pandit '11 explained.

Pandit, Mina Kojima '11 and Anu Pattabiraman '10 worked with the Crisis Ministry and SVC director David Brown to coordinate the simulation. Marcia MacKillop, assistant director of the Crisis Ministry, facilitated the simulation. The Crisis Ministry supports low-income people in Mercer County and aims to help prevent hunger and homelessness by providing food and financial assistance, according to the SVC's 2008 Capsule pamphlet.

The exercise is "an insightful way to see into why people can't break the system of poverty," Pandit explained. According to the 2000 United States Census, 35.9 million people live below the poverty line in the United States, including 12.9 million children.

During the day, people who had experienced homelessness first-hand spoke to participants about their experiences. This discussion offered awareness, Pandit said, but awareness alone is not enough. "[The experience] provides a sense of understanding that furthers the desire to do more," she explained.

In the simulation exercise, students played the roles of bankers, utility bill collectors and the like to provide this understanding by depicting the struggles of poverty, explained Kara Rea, an AmeriCorps intern at the Crisis Ministry.

The situations she encountered in the simulation were far from new to her. Rea works in a financial program that assists clients who are in the process of being evicted, having issues with utilities or dealing with mortgage foreclosures or other financial crises. In such situations, the issue of finding food augments their daily struggles, she noted.

Rea said she was most interested in the dynamics of the experience and the ways the simulated society related to those who lived in simulated poverty. She explained that, for her, the debriefing was the most important part of the simulation. "When we talk about what happened, hopefully a new perspective can be gained," she said. "A lot of times we blame people who are in poverty."

We often view the impoverished as having gotten themselves into the situation or as somehow deserving the troubles they meet, Rea noted.

SVC Executive Board facilitator Joyce Lee '09 explained that the simulation attempted to alter these views by providing a sense of the constant struggles associated with hunger and homelessness. "[The simulation] drives home the point that people who live in poverty are always barely keeping their heads above water," Lee said.

Lee, who has participated in the simulation in each of the past three years, said her experiences taught her that what are minor difficulties to some are truly intricate problems that can be catastrophic to the homeless. These problems include the simple obligation of picking a child up from school or helping a family member, and they may hinder a person from securing financial assistance or food for the week, she added. The issue of hunger in particular is widespread among those living in poverty: In 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that 36.2 million people lived in households classified as "food-insecure."

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Last year, Lee was a utility-bill collector in the simulation. If she didn't receive payment, she simply shut off the person's utilities. "A lot of people have to make that choice," Lee said, "between paying the utility bill or getting food."

This year, Lee was a banker. She noted that a major issue in impoverished communities is the lack of access to financial resources and that, for immigrants, language barriers add to financial troubles. The act of taking out a loan, she explained, is an enormous ordeal for those living in poverty.

The simulation, though, is open to some criticism. Some saw the simulation as trivializing poverty. "My friend participated and told me that, while it [the simulation] made her feel bad, she felt like it was more of a game than a means to understand hunger," Claire Cole '12 explained.

Lee, however, explained that the debriefing allows participants to truly understand why they are unable to break out of poverty.

"We have a tendency to look at the situation of poverty through academic lenses and overlook the desperation," she said.

The simulation was only one of the hunger-related events during HHAW, a local arm of a larger national event that included a number of panels and fairs. HHAW came to a close on the night of Saturday, Nov. 22, when students were encouraged to bring either $2 or an item of clothing to donate in exchange for a wristband to get into seven of the 10 eating clubs. Cottage Club, Ivy Club and Tiger Inn did not participate.

The wristbands on students' arms were a symbol of awareness, which had been building all week, SVC Executive Board member Farrell Harding '10 explained.

"My favorite panel was on Monday: America's Permanent Emergency," Harding said. "I really liked that panel because Homefront's Lewa Somorin spoke. She's been homeless and dedicated her life to the cause. It's very touching." Homefront, based in nearby Lawrenceville, strives to end homelessness in Mercer County by building community resources and providing shelter, according to its website.

HHAW was aimed to provide the foundation of awareness on which to build action, Harding explained. "The goal is, in the end, awareness," she said. "Even if we just educate a few more people, the week has been a success."