Circles Initiative seeks to end poverty

“Spotlight on Poverty: Step Up!”, an event examining both worldwide and local poverty, will feature two short documentary films discussing poverty eradication efforts in Bloomington and Leon, Nicaragua, 6 p.m. Thursday at Eigenmann Hall.
 
The event is part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday celebration and is sponsored by the South Central Community Action Program Circles Initiative, Eigenmann Hall and the Foreign Language Institute of Bloomington.

Funding support from the City of Bloomington Martin Luther King Jr. Commission was also provided.
 
“This is a big idea,” Circles coordinator Linda Patton said. “It’s more than just giving hungry people food, though that is very important. There are ways for everyone to get involved. We need everything from practical, concrete ideas to abstract to help fight poverty.”

The Circles Initiative is “an innovative campaign to eliminate poverty,” according to the website, and is “active in dozens of locations throughout the country.”  
The Initiative’s connection to Nicaragua was forged due in part to a video Patton’s son and IU alumnus Tucker Gragg did about a group similar to the Circles Initiative in Nicaragua. The group, “Un Techo Para Mi País,” or “A Roof for my Country,” works to fight poverty and build communities in both South and Central American countries.

Patton said a member of the Circles Initiative who was also a volunteer for Techo will be speaking at the event Thursday about her experience.

“We’re all in this together,” Patton said. “King’s call to service is that we all need to be involved. His example is community building and that we’re all in this together. It is empowering to people that live in poverty.”

Patton said though the event will take donations for both poverty-stricken families in Bloomington and Leon, its mission is also to make people aware of poverty and help them understand it.

“At the end of it, there will be both those concrete and abstract ideas,” Patton said. “The concrete will be bringing us donations to give to kids in Bloomington and shirts to send to Nicaragua to sell so they can build houses. People will want to know, what can I do to get involved, how can I get connected to some international opportunities to volunteer?”

Patton said the abstract ideas would involve thinking about poverty in a different way.

“The abstract things would be things like thinking about the community, bringing more people into the thought process about poverty,” Patton said. “It’s about understanding that there are things we all have, including people in poverty, to build on.”

Reservations for the event will be taken until the end of today. The Circles Initiative encourages attendees to bring a donation of a clean clothing item, school supplies or a monetary contribution that will be provided to low-income families in both Bloomington and Leon. Free pizza will be served at the event.