The need to live in solidarity with the poor knows no season

The end of January marks the end of Poverty Awareness Month. During the past month, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and Catholics throughout the United States took up Pope Francis’ challenge to live in solidarity with the poor.

As Catholics, our obligation to the poor, the homeless and the hungry is not confined to a particular week or month. Instead, as Archbishop Lucas told Catholics in the Archdiocese of Omaha in his Christmas message, we must always seek out the poor among us and not be blind to their suffering. He also asked Catholics to reflect “on how the Lord might be showing His face to us, in people close to us and our families, among our neighbors but also among those we might not see so often: the poor, the lonely, the sick, the incarcerated, the immigrant.”

In northeast Nebraska, the poor are always in our midst. While certain areas of a city or a town may have higher rates, no one is immune. Unexpected medical bills, higher-than-planned heat bills, or loss of work hours can easily leave a family without enough money for food. This is especially true for those without a financial safety net.

Here are some statistics from northeast Nebraska and the state illustrating the number of people living in poverty.

• One in every 10 Nebraskans live in poverty. Of those, 14% are under age 5, 12.2% are under 18 and 7.8% are over 65. (University of Nebraska-Omaha Center for Public Research)
• Food insecurity among households in Nebraska is higher than the national average. (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
• Approximately 268,000 people in Nebraska do not have enough to eat each day, and one-third are children. (Feeding America)
• Almost 3,500 children attending a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Omaha are eligible for free and reduced lunch.
• In the Omaha metro, 97% of those considered low-income or very low-income said “they worry that food will run out before having money to buy more,” (Omaha Community Foundation, 2022).
• For every 10,000 people living in northeast Nebraska, 13 of them are homeless. On any given night across the state, 2,241 individuals will experience homelessness. More than half of those are adults and over 21% are families. Veterans and youth each make up 5% of the homeless. (National Alliance to End Homelessness)

In the Archdiocese of Omaha, Catholic Charities provides material assistance to the poor, the hungry and the homeless and, perhaps more importantly, a sense of hope and dignity. Catholic Charities also works to address the root cause of poverty, including unemployment, mental illness, domestic violence and family separation. The average income of those 325,000 individuals who receive services through Catholic Charities is $13,775, and 86% of those they serve are at or below the federal poverty threshold, below $30,000 for a family of four.

As Poverty Awareness Month draws to a close, let us commit to look out for our brothers and sisters in need and continue the Holy Father’s challenge to live in solidarity with the poor in our communities.

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