The town with no zipcode

Seventy miles from Chicago is a patch of dirt called Pembroke. It is Illinois' most impoverished community, where 55% of the residents live beneath the poverty level and 40% survive without running water. The average income is $9700 a year.

There is no bank, no drug store, no real medical facility and very few paved roads. The mayor, Reverend Jon Dyson, says, "The people here live in those kind of conditions that the people from the great city of New Orleans have just got faced with. And what's really amazing is these people have survived here all this time with little or nothing - third-world conditions in some areas."

"Why doesn't someone do something?", you ask! Pembroke can't get the help needed to provide a water and sewage system simply because they don't have a zipcode!!

We don't like to think about the fact that so many Americans live in conditions comparable to third-world countries, do we? It's sort of OK for the people of Africa to go without running water. That's what we expect in "those places." But please don't show me anymore specials on the tent cities in Louisiana six months after Katrina. And whatever you do, don't tell me there are homeless in my town. I might have to come to grips with some difficult scriptural teaching.

I haven't been able to get this and the other images from a recent Ophra show off my mind. The terrible fact is that 37 million Americans live below the poverty level. Thirty-seven million is the entire population of Canada, my friends!! I don't know how many families are represented in this dire statistic, nor have I done a study to see how many of them live in my county; I'm sure there are some. I wonder if each church sponsored one family ..... hmmm!

So ~ what can we do?

How about praying? Good idea!! "Lord, send someone to help them. After all, I'm busy raising my family, paying for my cars and house(s) and boat and . . . . Let Ophra help them. She's got more money than she'll ever be able to use."

Let's take up a donation. Another worthy thought. Pray and give money. I can probably spare twenty bucks. That will make me feel even better ~ and forget the problem even more quickly. Whew! Now I'm off the hook.

grace in ACTION usa was begun to help with just such desperate needs. Our vision is to see wholistic, that is, fully integrated churches and/or groups of believers impacting their communities through economic development. Does that sound unspiritual to you? At The Happy Church in Jackson, Kentucky, they feed those who attend almost every time the church doors are open. And they're teaching them not only to hide God's word in their hearts, but how to read it for themselves. The prayer is that when these boys and girls become adults, they'll have a sound understanding of God's word, who they are in Christ, and what it takes to become a responsible, working adult. Then, God willing, years from now, Breathitt County will no longer have the designation of being one of the poorest counties in the nation.

When GiA began, we thought of using the name Bootstrap Boost. Because people who have lost everything or are trapped in the poverty cycle, can not pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. They need our help. But Pastor Mike wisely advised that we need to preserve their dignity while helping, so we came up with another name.

Maybe we'll find a way to help in Pembrooke, Illinois one day. I hope so.