By Denia Goodman and Kyra Washington
On Sunday, the Iota Kappa chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and the Theta Epsilon chapter Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. partnered together to host a Poverty Obstacle Course.
Both Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. share colors within their perspective organizations: crimson and cream. Every November, they partner together to host Crimson and Cream week, which is a week full of events for the campus. This semester, they are hosting the Crimson Games: a Krimson Kollision from Nov. 17-23. “The events we hosted throughout the week were inspired by The Hunger Games,” said Andrew McKay, the Vice President of the Iota Kappa chapter. “Through each event, we tried to make that obvious and connect everything to the storyline the best we could.”
The Poverty Simulation was the first event that took place during the week. “The goal was to put everyone in the shoes of those who live in poverty,” said McKay.
When the event began, everyone was asked to separate themselves in groups of two and choose which District of the twelve they wanted to belong to. After, each District was allowed to enter the Poverty Simulation individually, and fight to reach the end alive.
The Poverty Simulation was a five scenario obstacle course, with each ending different depending on the choice each district made.
Before they began, they players were read their storyline, as well as a plastic bag with $250 worth of monopoly money, and watch, a flashlight, and a bag of potato chips. All they had to survive were the items they received in their plastic bag, which they would have to balance between everyday bills, groceries, and more.
To start off, each District was given the option to either pay their utility bill in full, which was $300, or to rob someone. Since each District only received $250, many made the decision to rob someone. However, upon being caught by the police and arrested, many had to wait out their time in jail instead of paying their bond, since they could not afford it.
Upon release, the District immediately had another problem: would they shop for groceries or trade their watch in exchange for a free meal provided by a food shelter. To save money, many choose the shelter. However, after making this decision, they were informed that they could only eat from the shelter if they could tell them what the current time was.
Trying to get some sort of meal, the District decided to eat the chips in their plastic bag. However, it caused food poisoning. From then, they were given the option to treat it at the hospital and get on a payment plan, or treat it independently. Since those who choose to treat it independently died, those who choose the payment plan were able to advance to the next round.
After being discharged from the hospital, District members headed home, where they discovered that the mortgage bill had arrived. From here, they had to decide between either paying the mortgage or living on the street.
By the time the Districts reached this point in the simulation, three of the twelve had died, spent all of their money, and were extremely discouraged since they were out of options.
For their final task, they were given the option between accepting or declining a job from the Capitol. “Since you do lack a college degree, at this time we can only offer you minimum wage. While we can offer a reasonable amount of hours, at this time we do not have any room for advancement,” said DeAndre Charles, a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. Realising that having a minimum wage job is better than none at all, all Districts that made it to the end of the stimulation did accept.
“Even if it was just for a minute, you quickly realize that when you don’t have something you absolutely need, sometimes you’re forced to make bad decisions in order to survive,” said Samantha Phillips, a member of Delta Sigma Theta. “Unfortunately, people in Illinois alone, as well as the U.S. are put in positions similar to these on a daily basis due to a variety of reasons.”
Poverty remains a huge problem in the United States, affecting children and adults everywhere. To help lower this number, members of Kappa Alpha Psi and Delta Sigma Theta encouraged everyone to donate canned goods up until Nov. 21st, when the goods would be donated to the Wraparound Center.
