Poverty is…

• Not being able to go to McDonald’s

• Getting a basket from the Santa Fund

• Feeling ashamed when my dad can’t get a job

• Not buying books at the book fair

• Not getting to go to birthday parties

• Hearing my mom and dad fight over money

• Not ever getting a pet because it costs too much

• Wishing you had a nice house

• Not being able to go camping

• Not getting a hot dog on hot dog day

• Not getting pizza on pizza day

• Not being able to have your friends sleep over

• Pretending that you forgot your lunch

• Being afraid to tell your mom that you need gym shoes

• Not having breakfast sometimes

• Not being able to play hockey

• Sometimes really hard because my mom gets scared and she cries

• Not being able to go to Cubs or play soccer

• Not being able to take swimming lessons

• Not being able to afford a holiday

• Not having pretty barrettes for your hair

• Not having your own private backyard

• Being teased for the way you are dressed

• Not getting to go on school trips.

Responses from Grade 4 & 5 students in North Bay, Ontario, quoted in Our Neighbours’ Voices: Will We Listen?, The Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition, 1998, James Lorimer & Co. Ltd. Toronto, p. 107.