Business and nonprofit partners in the battle against poverty in Indian River County gathered last Friday at a Community Leaders Luncheon at First Presbyterian Church, featuring community activist and author Bob Lupton. The luncheon was hosted by United Against Poverty, which as Vero Beach 32963 reported last week is the new identity of Harvest Food and Outreach. The group’s service facilities in Indian River County, Fort Pierce and Orlando will now be called UP Centers.
“I think we are starting to move the needle on poverty in Vero Beach,” said board member Don Drinkard, inviting attendees to tour its campus.
To reach its mission of inspiring and empowering people, the organization works with many partner organizations in the community, said executive director Annabel Robertson, before presenting its 2015 Advocates in Action Award to Treasure and Space Coast Radio. The media company has been actively involved in all the group’s activities since it was founded in 2003. Each year, it hosts a full-day Hunger Free Holidays Radiothon, and last year’s event raised enough to provide more than 119,000 meals.
Lupton, founder of Focused Community Strategies in Atlanta, is the author of five books including “Toxic Charity and his latest, Charity Detox: What Would Charity Look like If We Cared about the Result?”
“You may not be aware, but you have a model here that is unique in the country; that is actually changing the entire paradigm of the way we do service in our country,” said Lupton. Relating how the medical profession changed over the years as best practices evolved, he said something similar is happening with philanthropy.
“In this moment of history, what we considered good charity is being exposed as toxic charity,” he added, sharing strategies to progress from toxicity to transformative.
Lupton spoke about a program in Atlanta where well-meaning individuals would purchase toys at Christmas and deliver them to the homes of low-income families. While the children were understandably excited, organizers of the program eventually realized that parents were humiliated; exposed in their own homes as being unable to provide for their children. The program was changed so that parents could choose and purchase the toys away from the home and at a greatly reduced rate, thereby supporting their dignity.
Lupton also spoke about a pattern of dependency: Give once, appreciation; give twice, anticipation; give three times, expectation; give four times, entitlement; give five times, dependency. To curb that downward spiral he suggests one-way giving only in instances of true crisis. “When you address a chronic situation with crisis intervention, people are harmed,” said Lupton.
“We have to change our views of how we see our neighbors in need. For one thing, we can’t continue to see them as people in need. We have to see them as people with talents, people with abilities, people with the capacity to develop, people with resources to bring to the table. Everybody has something of value to bring to the table.”
United Against Poverty, founded in Indian River County in 2003 by Austin and Ginny Hunt, serves individuals living under the 200% federal poverty level through its Education and Employment Opportunity programs, Food Pantry and Cost Share Grocery program and Crisis Center.
