Voice for Children tracks COVID impact

Children’s Fund asks for your help

The Children’s Christmas Fund is asking for your help.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the lives of every Nebraskan, but the devastation has not been felt equally by all. Voices for Children, early estimates suggest that child poverty across Nebraska will increase by 53 percent.

Statistics reported through Voices for Children documents the challenges experienced by some of our lower wage workers who are unable to reduce their risk for exposure to the virus and are less prepared for a sudden loss of income. These workers are more likely to be employed in lowwage industries without options for remote work, access to paid sick leave, and health and safety protections in the workplace.

Of those workers reporting loss of income in the workplace, 41 percent of these homes have children in their households. Voices for Children report that in Custer County 19.7 percent (or 494 children under the age of 18) of children live in food insecure households.

Voices for Children also calculates what they call the Family Bottom Line – the minimum an individual needs to earn to keep his or her family above the poverty level. For Custer County the bottom line hourly wage for two adults (with two children) where each is working a fulltime job is $10.02. The Family Bottom Line where the household of two children is headed by a single adult is $16.58.

This does not take into account health issues, nor extenuating circumstances. It’s important to note that these figures were developed in the mid-1990s to establish the amount of income necessary to meet basic needs without the help of public programs and informal assistance.

The Children’s Christmas Fund works to help these families not only at Christmas, but also throughout the year. For example, when the pandemic hit, and schools moved to digital learning, The fund stepped in and provided the Food Pantry with additional resources to help feed our families in need.

We are asking for your help. The Fund is a 501c3. The volunteers are just that - volunteers - there are no salaries to pay. Shopping is completed locally so your giving stays within Custer County. The fund helped support 190 families with over 400 children in 2019 at Christmas with a food for the holidays and gifts for the children, and senior citizens who are alone.

Important! If you know of a family that could use our assistance this year please fill out an application form available from the front office of the Custer County Chief, through the “Children’s Christmas Fund” Facebook page, or by emailing a request to custercountychildrensfund@gmail. com.

Note: The fund continues to accept letters for Christmas baskets at this time and will process through the middle of next week.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

Mission Statement: Voices for Children in Nebraska is the independent voice building pathways to opportunity for all children and families through research, policy, and community engagement. The organization states that informed research drives their direction. For additional information log on at https://voicesforchildren.com