The Link Between House Fires and "Hard Times"

[dajoki]

The Link Between House Fires and "Hard Times"
by Diane Nilan
Published January 20, 2010 @ 10:08AM PT
http://uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/the_link_between_house_fires_and_hard_times

A family having "hard times" (translation: homeless due to hardship) in Starkville, Mississippi was recently taken into the small apartment of India Williams, a 25-year-old mother of three who understood what "hard times" do to a family. Williams paid dearly for her kindness. On Monday, Dec. 28, in Starkville, a fire in that overcrowded apartment killed three women and six small children.

<<snip>>

The fire that took their lives, sadly, is part of a nationwide house fire epidemic. The Red Cross reports a 200% jump in house fires, attributed mainly to an increase in impoverished and desperately cold households turning to unsafe methods to stay warm following utility shut-offs. The nationwide cold spell has only made things worse.

I've noticed an interesting, and revealing, phenomenon when it comes to news stories about these tragedies. "Hard times" and variations are common terms. The Tulsa World ran a story with the headline "Tough Times" describing poverty among families in the OK state. http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100111_11_A1_Demetr329099 The Denver Post just ran a superb feature on Colorado childhood poverty focused on people "trying to get by." http://photos.denverpost.com/photoprojects/specialprojects/childhoodpoverty/home.html

"Hard times," "tough times," "trying to get by," are euphemisms for abject poverty and homelessness. I want to call it what it is so the clueless get a clue. Poverty's devastation is felt through all communities. It costs more to maintain poverty than it does to holistically address it.

So HEAR US is launching a campaign, "Up the Food Chain," to challenge mayors to recognize hard times as poverty. We've set up a Change.org petition asking mayors to go up the "food chain" to state and federal legislators urging development of comprehensive approaches to poverty. By targeting communities where poverty-related house fires occur, we hope to make some sense out of these tragedies. Let them hear you! http://www.change.org/hearus/actions/view/house_fire_deaths_sign_of_povertyhomelessness

Why mayors? Well, the U.S. Conference of Mayors is an influential body with ties, formal and informal, to statewide and nationwide administrations. Petitions get mayors' attention. Case in point: the successful campaign HEAR US and Change.org launched in Grand Junction, Colorado to force local authorities to provide daytime shelter for homeless families left out in the cold.

Seems to me it's time to put significant energy -- or at least a few keyboard clicks -- into reducing "hard times" before we all get to know first-hand what it means to experience hard times. Join our effort, share this campaign, and do what you can in your community to make lives of homeless children, families living in poverty and those having "hard times" just a little easier. We'll all be better for it.

[shireen]

1. i'm confused

the wording in the OP and original link refers to a petition targeting all mayors. But the link takes me to a petition targeted at Mayor Wiseman of Starkville.
I'll sign it. But why is that organization not linking to a petition that targets all mayors?

[dajoki]

2. I looked for a different link...

for all mayors also and couldn't find one so I just signed this one too. This is a very important issue and you would think they would try to target as many mayors as possible.

[Better Today]

3. I think the focus on the terms is ridiculous. I see a clear

difference in the terms, "homeless and abject poverty" and "hard times." In what I would call normal speech, homelessness and abject poverty tend to refer to those chronically in that condition (for whatever reason, not attempting to set blame or anything here, just that it is generally referring to a chronic issue), and "hard times" indicates persons who have not been chronically homeless or in abject poverty, but nonetheless find themselves in that position now. Just my opinion, but the fact that this terminology issue is so prominent in the article, lessens the useful message of how to get resolutions for these problems sooner.

Now let me proceed to change.org to how I can help and what we need here.

[bvar22]

4. As an active member of a Rural Volunteer Fire Departmant,

I will testify that this is true.
We have had an increase in fires whose root causes can be attributed to economic hard times.

[dajoki]

6. Yes, I see it all over...

the local news, its a major problem. BTW, thank you for what you do.

[Turbineguy]

5. It would be nice

if instead of random, these fires were scheduled. That way republicans could come and warm their hands.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

7. People often turn to alternative and less safe heating solutions.