Holiday Charity: A Math Activity About Poverty

Perspective

To help students gain an appreciation for giving, many schools sponsor canned food and toy drives as part of holiday activities. Indirect service projects like these address real human needs, but rarely afford students the opportunity to understand the humans with those needs.

In a 2007 survey [1], the Catholic Campaign for Human Development asked more than 1,000 people nationwide, "What is the most significant cause of poverty?" The second most common answer was "lack of initiative/laziness." Such responses reveal widespread stigmatization of people living in poverty and a gap in knowledge about the reality of need.

Ideally, service projects should involve direct contact with recipients. When this is not possible, the following math activity can help students understand "poor families" include working families, and poverty has little to do with laziness or lack of initiative.

Materials

• Copies of the Family of Four in our Community: The Financial Outlook [2] (PDF), including a completed sample sheet
• Access to the Cost of Living calculator at http://www.bestplaces.net/col/Default.aspx [3].

Suggested Procedures
Refer to your school's canned food or toy drive and then ask students to describe the people they envision as recipients. For example, what do we think we know about the people who will receive these goods? What images come to mind? Why?

A KWL chart can be useful.

• (K) Ask students to help list what they think they know about people who might receive the goods.
• (W) Ask students to help list what they want to know or understand about the people who might receive the goods.
• (L) At the end of the activity, students will reflect and list what they learned through the activity (see below).

Explain that students will complete a math handout about a family of four living in your community. The family includes two adults who work full-time (40 hours per week) for minimum wage (federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour; check to see if the wage in your city or state is higher). These adults support themselves and two children with this income.

Pass out copies of the handout [2] (PDF) to students. Review the listed expenses and explain the dollar amounts reflect the average cost for a family of four living in the United States.

• Housing A family will spend an average of $5,274 a year for even the most basic shelter.
• Utilities For electric, gas and water, a family can expect to spend $2,350 a year.
• Transportation It costs $4,852 to maintain a car and keep it full of gas each year.
• Food A family of four needs at least $4,815 a year for food.
• Health Care Medical costs run $793 a year on average. A major medical issue can spell financial ruin for many families.
• Child Care Families can spend an average of $2,030 a year on child care for two children. In a large metropolitan area, the cost can exceed $13,000 a year.

Explain that these numbers represent national averages, and the cost of living varies from community to community. Some places are more expensive to live; others are less expensive. Allow students to visit http://www.bestplaces.net/col/Default.aspx [3] to find the cost of living in your community, relative to the national average, or compile this information ahead of time.

Now that students know the minimum wage and cost of living in your area, provide time for them to complete the worksheet, individually or in small groups. In almost all cases, a negative balance will reveal itself.

As a class, brainstorm expenses not listed, e.g., holiday and birthday gifts, toiletries, school supplies, shoes, clothing, cleaning supplies or any kind of entertainment. How much do these things cost? Subtract the expenses from the balance.

As a closing exercise, discuss the following questions.

• What did we learn in this activity supporting or contradicting what we originally thought about the people who will receive goods from our school's drive?
• Does this change how we feel about people living in poverty or people in need? Why?
• What more can we learn and do?

This activity was inspired by a professional development activity included with Teaching Tolerance's article Rigor + Support= Success [4] and draws from research by PovertyUSA.org [5].