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Poverty Simulation Gives Kelowna Residents a ‘Month’ of Tough Choices

Buying a bus pass to go to work or saving up to pay a bill, most people might not think this is a choice, but for some people living in the Okanagan it is one they’ve had to consider.

Thanks to a United Way Poverty Simulation set up at UBC Okanagan on Tuesday, almost 100 people got to see what it’s like to live in poverty.

<who> Photo Credit: KelownaNow. </who> Almost 100 people from Kelowna gathered at UBCO to take part in the poverty simulation. Marianne Dahl, marketing and events manager for the United Way Central and South Okanagan (CSO), said their poverty simulation, called ‘Living on the Edge’, provides participants awareness on the issue of poverty.

Put on by the United Way Alberta Capital Region, the simulation involved 20 volunteers and 80 participants.

UBCO and the UBCO student union sponsored the simulation, and about 15 to 20 students took part. Students from Sprott Shaw College, members of different community agencies and executive staff, and even politicians took part as well.

Each participant received a fake name and a role, whether a single person, part of a couple, or a family, and got to spend a fake month on a low-income.

Volunteers played roles as police officers, case workers, bankers and teachers.

<who> Photo Credit: KelownaNow. </who> Participants had to go around to different booths to earn money, like the pawn shop, and quick cash centre. Every 15 minutes represented a week, and after the hour-long simulation, participants were debriefed, describing their experience.

“It’s very effective and very frustrating and very eye-opening in terms of what it’s like to be in that position,” said Dahl, adding that participants seem to get a lot out of the experience.

Overall, she said she hopes it can have an effect on statistics in the region.

“This starts the conversation and it will hopefully move people to take action,” said Dahl, who suggests that people who can donate to a cause, an agency, whether it be money or time, and advocate for people who need help.

“If we all do it collectively, hopefully we’ll put a dent in it someday,” she said.

In British Columbia, one in five children live in poverty. In the South Okanagan, the rate is even higher.

That means that 5,800 children are living in poverty in the city of Kelowna.

Rod Schultz, assistant warehouse manager at Costco Wholesale, said he wanted to take part in the simulation after being involved in the United Way.

His role in the simulation was as a husband supporting a wife, mother-in-law, and daughter.

“It was a pretty humbling experience. Some of the things we had to overcome was having enough income to pay all the bills, secondly was the time factor. We were finding that we were reacting to things versus being proactive on bill paying,” said Schultz. “You were so worried about getting from one function to another just to pay the bills.”

“Money does give you freedom to make more choices. What this helps is just getting the community together to help people see the reality of what persons in poverty really go through.”

Ron Cannan, former MP for Kelowna-Lake Country, took part in the simulation as well.

Overall, he said the experience was important, because it makes people realize how difficult being in that situation is, whether it be because of mental illness, disabilities, lack of education or other circumstances.

Kelly Taverner, with the Student Union, helped put on the event.

“I think this kind of activity is really important, especially for a community like Kelowna that has such horrible homelessness and low-income housing crisis,” said Taverner. “It really allows people to open their eyes and see the problems that are going on.

“It’s just as much their problem as someone else’s problem,” continued Taverner, who explained that $8 billion in provincial funds goes to cover costs of health care, policing, and crime, because of people stuck in poverty. While only $3 billion would be needed to put services in place which help those people in need help themselves, essentially.

Taverner said the event was a great lead-up to the Five Days For The Homeless Campaign, a nationwide effort to raise awareness for homelessness and poverty. Students on campus will be spending all next week “homeless" — sleeping outside and raising money for Hope Outreach.

Five Days For The Homeless will be held March 6th to the 11th. Students will be hosting pancake sales and other fundraisers all week, including a drive-through breakfast in the Rona parking lot on Thursday.



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