Cameron Johnson

United Way Project Coordinator

United Way of Mower County recently announced that our 2015 Campaign goal is set at $1.2 million — an increase from past years. We’ve also shared some numbers that make the case for that jump. Like Mower County is currently ranked the 72nd poorest out of 87 Minnesota counties,. and the median household income is $13,000 less than the state average. But what does it all mean? And what does it look like?

With our county’s unemployment rate being better than the state average, it means that the individuals who are living in poverty and struggling to make ends meet are actually employed. They are hard-working people who are forced to choose between providing their families with the most basic needs, things like food, childcare, transportation, and healthcare.

And what does it look like? Well, we recently had a conversation with one of the schools in Austin that helped us paint a picture of the working poor in our community. A teacher noticed a young boy coming to school day after day in the same pair of pants and men’s sized shoes — four sizes too big for him. She watched him interact with other children and learned he was kind to everyone and always had a smile on his face. The teacher got to know the boy more and learned his responsibilities include watching his younger siblings and putting them to bed while both of his parents are at work. He spoke to the teacher about his prized possession — a gaming system — his father had to sell for gas money. His story captured the teacher’s heart and our hearts as well.