News Summary

SPRINGFIELD — The long line of impoverished people at Big Dave's pawn shop was second only to that of the line in front of the Department of Family Services. People desperately sought ways to get money to survive.

However, it was only a simulated scene out of a fictitious community called "Realville," part of a week-long training hosted by the Clark County Circles Campaign on Wednesday, Feb. 20, but the conditions were designed to mirror poverty-stricken neighborhoods across the country.

The session continues through Friday at the county's Department of Job and Family Services.

Community advocates from nine states were represented at Wednesday's poverty simulation, said Marlo Fox of Think Tank, Inc., a local group that works with the Circles Campaign's nationwide goal of bringing 1,000 families out of poverty.

The 35 participants were assigned to "families" who had to meet monthly bills with limited resources and roadblocks, such as unruly children, corrupt pawn shops and shady payday loan lenders in the way.

The scenarios were based on real situations that a family living below the poverty level might find themselves in, organizers said.

Becky Geels, a representative of Clark State Community College's Project Jericho, was robbed, illegally evicted and had to bail one of her two children out of jail in her role as a mother in a destitute family.

"I don't think I really had any idea just how much you would need to survive," Geels said. "Just for that month, it was absolute chaos."

Cast in the role of an unemployed mother, Meredith Lutz of the Troy-based Partners of Hope, agreed.

"It was almost impossible to think about long-term goals," Lutz said. "You can't think about anything but paying bills."

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0374 or boutten@coxohio.com.