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Think You Can Live off of $1,000? Educational Game Tests You
Could you do it? Could your family live off of $1,000 income for thirty days? How much is rent? Would you have money left over to buy food, pay for a field trip for your son, attend a family funeral out of town or get your car fixed? Urban Ministries of Durham has a great new educational game called SPENT that you can play on their web site www.playspent.org. You are given $1,000 to live off of for 30 days.
As a social worker I pride myself in understanding what it takes to stay within a limited budget and make ends meet. I certainly talk with families every day that are making these choices. So, I played the game and I did make it for 30 days on $1,000 with $100 left over but my rent was due again the next day and I was not going to be able to pay it. It was very hard for me to make the choices that I had to make like not paying my car insurance and just hoping everything would be OK. Thankfully for me this was just a “game” but so many of our fellow brothers and sisters in Richmond struggle every day over how to spend their money and they try very hard to make the right choices for their family. It is very hard to continually tell your kids you can not go on a field trip or play a sport because you do not have the money. It is hard to have to choose between spending time with loved ones at a funeral or working because you know you need the money to survive.
I would encourage all of you to take 10 minutes and play this game. When you are finished stop and think about the blessings that you may have that others do not and thank God for those blessings. Consider ways to get involved whether it is by tutoring a child at Woodville, volunteering at our weekly Emmaus feeding program or taking social action with RISC.
