NEW! Click photo to view additional photos
	Photo by Skip Lawrence During the Community Action Poverty Simulation on Friday, students from Frederick Community College and Washington College in Chestertown took on the roles of people living in poverty to see what help is available and how to get it. Melissa Pappas, left, is disappointed as she pawns her TV, camera and ring for a lot less than she expected at “Big Dave’s Pawn Shop.” The pawnbroker is being played by Keith Grunow.

The United Way of Frederick County and FCC intended the event to inspire participants to address the causes and effects of poverty.

"What we're trying to do is to look at social problems," said Jeanni Winston-Muir, the college's director of student engagement.

United Way and FCC were trying out the $1,500 CAPS kit from the Missouri Association for Community Action. The association developed the simulation models and sells them to groups as an instructional tool.

United Way of Frederick County bought the kit and collaborated with FCC for this first simulation to help with the cost, said Rick Weldon, United Way president and chief executive officer.

"Our plan is to do this four (more) times," Weldon said. Business leaders, academics, service providers and faith-based groups will all participate.

For this first CAPS tryout in Frederick County, participants and observers came from FCC, Washington College in Chestertown and some local high schools.

"This is the age group that could make a difference," said Susie Miller, United Way CAPS manager.

Students from all academic fields were encouraged to participate, Winston-Muir said. It corresponds to FCC's participation in the National Honor Society's two-year theme, "The Paradox of Affluence: Choices, Challenges and Consequences."

Friday, about 80 students and six faculty from FCC and 20 students and two faculty from Washington College played roles in the lives of the poor. Packets assigned the parts of single mothers; elderly, disabled, unemployed and ill people; husbands, wives and cohabitating couples with children; social workers, bankers, grocers, teachers, lenders, law enforcement and utility administrators.

The simulation depicts a month in the life of the person or family, dealing with loss of income or housing, health, transportation and child care matters, and agency requirements for assistance.

At the end of the "month," actually about an hour, most of the participants who had pretended to live in poverty expressed frustration with the system and agencies that exist to help the poor.

Some participants resorted to crime as a means to support the family. Engaged in theft and drug dealing, they discovered suspicion and ill will of "neighbors" in the simulation.

Liz Michels, 20, of Frederick had played the role of a 57-year-old man with debilitating health issues.

"I can see now why it so frustrating," Michels said. "It has been a big eye-opener."

But feeling frustration and resorting to desperate choices are not the goals of the simulation, Weldon said. If all the simulation did was to inspire participants to fund more social services, the need to fund the services would just keep growing.

Instead, he asked participants to think about the ways to lead people out of poverty.

"We need to raise awareness about how poverty is an underlying cause of other problems," he said.

The students who took part are the generation who could succeed in decreasing poverty "instead of (funding) tens of millions of dollars for backstop services," Weldon said.