Cable and radio shout shows are in full “collapse-of-civilization” meltdown mode on which political party should take the fall when/if we hit the end of the year without a deal to ward off the sledgehammer of sequestration.
If a deal is not done, our country will reportedly fall over the edge, tumbling down a “fiscal cliff” that will arbitrarily cut and chop and slash domestic and military spending.
The “fiscal cliff’ is a handy, if overused, metaphor for a big public policy decision on the near horizon.
But for many of the clients of Care Ring – and for folks across Charlotte who live on the margins and struggle every day providing basic needs for themselves and their family – the “fiscal cliff” is nothing new.
It is a way of life.
For many of the people we serve, the “fiscal cliff” is an everyday challenge, a very human juggling act of determining which basic need will be met, and which necessities will be tossed over the cliff for a day or longer.
Pay for medicines or keep the lights on? Fix the car or cover the rent? There are literally thousands of our neighbors who find themselves facing their own “fiscal cliff” each night they go to bed and every morning they wake up.
While we are far from having solved this daily “fiscal cliff” for those less well-off, there are many agencies in our midst who work every day to help folks avoid falling off their own personal cliff into poverty and hopelessness.
Love INC is a local faith-based agency which reaches out to many of the hardest to serve, offering them love and support by meeting the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, elderly and disabled.
Charlotte Family Housing empowers homeless families to achieve long-term self-sufficiency through shelter and housing services.
Crisis Assistance Ministry provides assistance and advocacy for folks in financial crisis, moving them toward self-sufficiency by supporting them in their darkest hours.
Love INC, Charlotte Family Housing, and Crisis Assistance Ministry are but three of Charlotte’s wondrous jewels of compassion. The essential partner – the indispensable champion – linking these and other poverty-fighting agencies is the United Way of Central Carolinas.
We are blessed to have a broad array of non-profit, community hope-builders who embrace the opportunity to serve those with the least.
As you follow the fight over our federal fiscal cliff, be mindful of those in our community who face the anxiety and fear of falling off their own cliff into hopelessness every day.
And be thankful for United Way and the many poverty-fighting agencies in our community who are helping those on the margins back away from the cliff.
#CareRing #DonJonas #CharlotteFamilyHousing #CrisisAssistanceMinistry #LoveINC #UnitedWayofCentralCarolinas #UnitedWay