The disaster of poverty won't go away.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Susan Ban For The Register-Guard

When the horror and despair of poverty catches our attention, when we are drawn to see and feel the suffering of others, we find within ourselves deep reserves of compassion and generosity. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has magnified the best (and worst) of human response to human suffering.

What happens, though, when the vivid imagery fades?

Our collective response as Americans swings with the political climate. In my lifetime, I have seen Robert Kennedy moved by the plight of Appalachian children, Lyndon Johnson leading a `war on poverty," Ronald Reagan exposing the corruption of federal affordable housing programs and Bill Clinton moving people off public welfare and to a still-poor, working `independence.'

During and following President Clinton's welfare reforms, we saw an increase in the number of families seeking emergency shelter in Eugene that were no longer eligible for public assistance because their household earnings were too high. In just two years, the percentage of families in emergency housing who were unable to obtain any additional public assistance because of work income more than doubled - to 25 percent from 12 percent.

When the government stopped providing support, we went looking for local, private resources to patch the gap. We adjusted our policies and redesigned our approach so that low-income households could find stable housing.

What will the aftermath of Katrina offer us as a nation? Will our attention to the plight of the poor, the homeless, the disabled and the frail be short-lived? Or will it endure?

Last week, President Bush said, `We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action." Undoubtedly there will be federal loan and grant programs, a redoubling of efforts to infuse the Gulf Coast with the infrastructure needed to put businesses back to work and families in homes, and attempts to make sure there is adequate food and water.

What happens then? As a corporate body - as a nation of Americans - will we assume then that the work is done, the effort has been made, and we are no longer accountable for the plight of the poor in our country?

To tie our collective response to poverty to public and political initiatives ensures the ultimate failure of such efforts. Government can help, yet it cannot solve problems as complex and enduring as poverty.

What is required is personal commitment. What is required is a dedicated local effort to respond to the disheartening and distressed realities in our own communities. What is required is that we, as neighbors and citizens, remove the blinders that prevent us from seeing the realities in our own community.

We must move beyond denial of the realities that surround us - real stories of struggling families, inadequate resources, desperation - and accept that life will continue to offer us opportunities to make a difference in the individual life of another who is less fortunate, less able to make ends meet.

In February 2005, a city of Eugene community survey was released. It listed `economic development, homelessness and poverty' as the top problems facing our community.

Obviously, we are concerned as a community. And we have a track record of volunteer-driven solutions: building housing with Habitat for Humanity, or serving breakfast to kids who are homeless and hungry in the interfaith shelter system. Anyone who has volunteered in these and other community efforts understands how these cooperative and positive efforts fuel optimism, confidence and hope.

Please, give generously of time and resources to the Katrina-restoration efforts. But also remember that poverty does not start with a national disaster, nor does it stop there. It is a continuous problem right in our community.

For our community to be healthy, we must acknowledge and respond to the poverty that exists in our midst - it will still be here, even when we have forgotten about Katrina.

Susan Ban is executive director of ShelterCare, a private, nonprofit human services agency in Lane County that has served very low-income families and individuals for 35 years.