Since I've started college, the class I'm taking made me choose an agency here in Cleveland that addresses a world wide problem. So I chose The Caring Place as my agency because strictly addresses poverty in the community and I have a very strong passion towards people in poverty and those in need. Poverty in our community is so prevalent yet so overlooked that sometimes we don’t even know it’s there. Hunger, homelessness, and lack of affordable housing all tie in to the poverty present in our community.

The prevalence rate of poverty, just in Bradley County, is 19.9% and the percentage all throughout Tennessee is 17.8% and the national average is 14.5%. When you realize that our poverty rate just in Bradley County is higher than the national percentage, then you know that’s a problem, especially in America where food gets thrown out and wasted everyday instead of going into hungry mouths. 12 million children struggle to have enough to eat every day, and I think that is the most heartbreaking thing to think about. To think that even in America with so many wealthy people in our community and there are still families with children who are struggling with starvation.

There’s way more negative impacts than positive impacts of poverty. Some negative impacts of poverty might include death by starvation or homelessness; over 21,000 people die every day from hunger-related causes just in the United States. Another negative impact of poverty is our economy failing, when there are more people who are homeless and can’t afford things than people who can, then our economy is producing more than what people can buy thus making the economy to potentially fail.

The Caring Place strives to eliminate and help this problem by providing food, bags of groceries, clothing, bedding, appliances, social services and so much more all for free. On average The Caring Place serves over 988 households a month, assisted over 13,938 children, have given away 106,110 pounds of food away to those in need, and over 261 homeless households have been served just within our small community. Absolutely amazing. With monthly allowances, The Caring Place permits the local community of those in need to come to The Caring Place to get a certain amount of these items a month. The Caring Place does so much more than give away free things to the local community, but they make an effort to minister and connect with all the clients that visit The Caring Place to make them welcome and loved and I think that’s what’s really important.

I highly recommend volunteering at this organization when you have the chance. This agency really will open your eyes to the present needs in other people’s lives and it makes you grateful for the things that you have. I’ve met people who sleep on mattresses they’ve found in the garbage and they are as happy as can be while we complain about not having the latest trends and Chick-fil-a being closed for a month when food is abundant. It makes you want to put others before yourself.