More than 11 million young children in America live in poverty, according to a new documentary entitled “The Line.”
The film is designed to bring awareness to the problem of poverty in America. Student Development held a showing on Thursday, Oct. 23.
The documentary was created by Sojourners, a Christian organization dedicated to social justice. Working with World Vision and several other charitable foundations, Sojourners hopes to cut American poverty in half.
The documentary emphasized the new problem of “working poor,” people who have jobs but cannot work their way above the poverty line.
A discussion followed the documentary, moderated by Steve Beers, vice president of student development.
A panel of experts contributed to the discussion, including Frank Huebert, director of discipleship, Trisha Posey, director of the Honors Scholars Program, and special guest Bill Parsons, director of Hunger and Thirst Ministries.
“It’s can be easy to be here at JBU, unaware of…anything that’s going on literally within 100 yards of campus,” said Huebert.
About 20 students came to see the film. Most of them expressed interest in learning more about the issue.
Many of the participants encouraged true understanding of people’s stories, rather than depending on stereotypes. The discussion also focused on personal action.
“It’s up to you,” said Parsons. “It’s up to each one of us.”