The Poverty Program is privately funded and run solely by volunteers to educate, publicize social and moral issues and events that impact poverty here at home and in the world. Supported initially by members of the Belleville Congregational Church, in 2007 monthly educational and awareness programs were done on Poverty Overview, American Poverty, Education and Poverty, Third World Debt, Child Soldiers, Arms Trade, Genocide, Health Issues and Poverty, Peace Day event, Millenium Goals and ended with a Volunteer Fair. All the presentations were hosted by religious organizations in the area: First Religious Society Unitarian, Amesbury Monthly Meeting (Quaker), Salvation Army, and Congregation Ahavas Achim. Representatives from UNICEF, Homeless Coalition, Salvation Army, General Charitable, along with many individuals from Newburyport have chaired the informative presentations. Since 2007, the Poverty Program has become mainly a poverty awareness website with occasional presentations and sponsoring of awareness events. The website underwent a complete overhaul with statistic update in 2011 and redesign by Line by Line Web Design, who generously donated their time.
Out of the Poverty Program, a model program, Pennies for Poverty: 2 Cents 4 Change, Inc., a 501(c) 3 founded in 2008, was developed that can be implemented anywhere in the world with the purpose of ending poverty town by town. Pennies for Poverty: 2 Cents 4 Change, Inc. is run by volunteers on less than $2000 annual budget with the purpose of ending poverty in Newburyport by 2025. The main programs are: raise of awareness of poverty in the community; increase donations to food pantries and soup kitchens by asking everyone in town to donate 2 items monthly to any food pantry or soup kitchen; increase volunteerism by asking everyone to volunteer 2 hours anywhere and compiling and publishing an volunteer opportunities newsletter; raise funds by asking everyone to donate 2 cents a day or $7.30 annually to the 2 Cent grant fund which is given out in grants for new ideas to end poverty or fund necessary under funded programs; encourage and host free events to increase and strengthen community; and to publish a directory of area services to make the process of finding help easier on the consumer. The combined potential value of everyone in the community donating 2 cents a day, 2 cans a month, volunteer 2 hours a month and attend free events is over a million dollars annual. If you would like to start a Pennies-type program in your town, please see How to Start a Pennies-Type Program and for more information, contact awareness@2cents4change.com.
The Poverty Program and Pennies for Poverty: 2 Cents 4 Change, Inc. were developed and founded by Catherine Yesair Gould.
Having looked at hundreds of pictures, we choose this one photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images. We are grateful that we have been allowed the use of the baby in the bucket to represent poverty. The image of the hungry child in the bucket on the dirty street is the only image on the website because it is a perfect visual representation of poverty and why we all must do what we can to end world poverty: from the little, malnourished child to the cries of the child that can almost be heard but we don't listen to; to the child sitting in that most unsuitable bucket in order to contain the child; to the bucket representing all the unsuitable, halfway measures that are indeed not enough; to the broken bucket representing all the broken promises made to the poor; to the bucket being set away and separate as we in the west would like to avoid facing the poverty of the world. The picture is so representative of the needs created by poverty but it is also representative of the current solutions: the leaky bucket.