Wiping Up With the Poor

I learned last night about the action of a local nonprofit director. The organization, Senior Support Services, assists seniors (over the age of 55) living in poverty--in particular those who are homeless. Funding to Sr. Support Services from the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) was completely cut. According to Sr. Support Services' director Ted Pascoe's blog, the organization was cut because they had not successfully filed electronic records, which they believed they had filed, and which were successfully filed after they learned they were not properly registered.
Like many government entities, DRCOG had a 13% cut in funds. Naturally, rather than evaluate ways to make cuts at every level, the most vulnerable pay. I noticed a job opening today at Senior Support which pays more than the entire budget at Senior Support. What if "everyone" gave a little bit?
Rush Limbaugh was interviewed on Jay Leno last night. In the portion of the interview that I witnessed, Limbaugh finds nothing wrong with insurance executives who make billions upon billions of profits while others suffer. He offered no answer to Leno's question about the needy among us. He seems to summon no moral outrage that people are legitimately needy: the sick, the poor, the elderly, the children. The audacity of a person to have a need! They should have capitalized on the pain of others and then they wouldn't be in this bind!
In an effort to make up for huge budget shortfalls ($1.3 billion combined shortfall for the fiscal year 2009-10 and 2010-11 budgets), Colorado's governor painfully cut Aid to the Needy Disabled (AND) which is the money allotted by the state to indigent persons who are unable to work. This amount is only $200 per month and is repaid to the state when the persons receive Social Security Supplemental Disability (SSI/SSDI), a process that can take years. I remember as far back as 1991, AND was $219 a month, and at that time could house an individual in low-rent market housing. Now it can only house someone in available subsidized housing, but this still leaves money to pay for utilities, transportation, and essential items (such as toilet paper). Starting Jan. 1 it will be $0.
The governor said people receiving AND waste the money. How can that be said about a sick person who lives on $6.66 per day? With all due respect, does the governor really believe these are the people who are wasting public money?

I'm glad Ted Pascoe is camping out--his blog reveals that he struggles the same way someone camping does, in terms of trying to find an invisible spot where a person can get some rest. I'm glad that he opted not to take a needed floor or mat space from someone residing in a shelter, because they remain full. Otherwise why would 90 men a night line up for the privilege to sleep on top of each other in flu season, in a place like the Samaritan house overflow?
But that's another subject...
I'm grateful there are still plenty of people who do not blame the poor for this social mess we're in.