It's not easy being poor, and 'Poor 101' educates suburbs
You'd think being poor would come naturally, a skill you literally could pick up on the street. But just as the suburbs' nouveau riche must learn how to live among the upper crust, the growing numbers of suburban nouveau poor need an education about forging a life with the crumbs.
“You want me to teach you how to be poor? Finally, something I can do, says Darlene Marcusson, the smiling dynamo who has been dealing with poor suburbanites even before she made it her livelihood in 1997, when she founded Lazarus House in downtown St. Charles. Started as an emergency shelter and transitional living center, Lazarus House helps the poor in endless ways, from simply providing “eats and sheets to complex guidance on everything from jobs to health plans.
“People can't get back on their feet unless they have a real home, says Marcusson on Friday as she walks past men playing cards, moms with kids, a young man eating a snack and other residents who have found a temporary home at Lazarus House.
The University of Chicago's Brookings Institution this week released a study dubbed “Strained Suburbs, which shows the number of poor people skyrocketed in the suburbs. Bucolic St. Charles saw the number of poor residents jump 112.5 percent between 2000 and 2008.
“They continue to come down the ladder, rung by rung, Marcusson says. When suburbanites finally step off into poverty, they need a map, which Marcusson provides through her “Doing More With Less presentation throughout the suburbs.
“I talk about how to be poor. It's ‘Poor 101,' Marcusson says. “They never had to learn, and now some people are making very poor decisions.
She tells of one well-dressed rookie in the world of poverty who stormed out of a social service agency after he messed up the paperwork required for food stamps.
“He's going to get into his BMW and go to his $800,000 house _ and to his hungry family, Marcusson says, noting luxury can't trump necessity. “He can't eat his car. It's hard to learn these things.
She teaches folks simple truths, such as we don't need to pay $69 a month to get the high-definition TV signal that comes into our houses for free. And she helps the newest poor navigate the tedious path to cheap or even free health care, food, school supplies and clothing.
“Sit down and look at your budget, she tells them. “You have to be ruthless. Need and want are both four-letter words, and you have to decide which is which.
As more and more suburbanites learn how to be poor, the more fortunate suburbanites also are learning the poor aren't things to be judged and criticized.
“It think it's gotten better as it's gotten worse, Marcusson says, noting that people understand poverty isn't necessarily a self-inflicted wound caused by reckless spending and poor planning.
“They got Multiple Sclerosis? What were they thinking? she says mockingly, adopting a scolding tone. “Many times I've heard criticism about someone coming to the food pantry in a Cadillac. You don't know their story. Please be kind.
Marcusson used to worry that Lazarus House's affluent neighbors would never accept a homeless shelter. But she says it has been warmly adopted and supported by a generous community, even meriting the “small business of the year plaque on the wall.
A Christian who speaks of God freely but doesn't demand the same of people who come for help, Marcusson says she “argued with God for two days about the name Lazarus until “God said, ‘Duh. You've got the wrong Lazarus.'
While Lazarus is mostly associated with the Bible story of a dead man brought back to life through a miracle by Jesus, Marcusson's charity is named after a poor man who died because he wasn't allowed the crumbs from a rich man's banquet, but ended up in heaven while the rich man ended up in hell.
“Compassion for the rich is something the Lord had to teach me, but he did, Marcusson says, noting the outpouring of donations and support from the community.
When it comes to matters of riches and poverty in the land of cul-de-sacs, education is a two-way street.