We all know the story of the Good Samaritan. A man has been beaten, robbed and left for dead on the side of the road. As he lies in the dirt, slowly dying, he is passed by two men. Both avoid the man by walking on the other side of the road. Fortunately for the dying man on the road, a Samaritan who happened to by passing by stops, and helps the injured man. He takes him to a nearby inn, feeds him, and tries to heal his injuries. This parable is still used today, and there are countless news articles of tragedies averted by the quick actions of Good Samaritans.  Many…

Where did you wake up this morning? If you answered in your bed than you are living a life that countless unfortunate people in Rhode Island cannot enjoy. Even the simple comfort of a bed is out of reach for far too many. Please contact the staff at Mary House and learn how you can help provide basic necessities to people without any. Find Out How to Help Contact Us Now

This may just be a cutout, but the reality of children living in poverty is all to real. According to a brief by rikidscount, in 2007 there were roughly 40,000 children in Rhode Island living underneath the federal poverty line. Whats more 38% of these children are 5 years old and under. So please consider the blessings in your own life, and donate to your local food bank or social service organization.

This is a call to support a plan recently announced by the Interagency Council on Homelessness in Cranston. It calls for a 130 million dollar plan  to provide a long-term solution to effectively end homelessness in Rhode Island. What makes this plan different than most, is that instead of concentrating on temporary shelters the funds will instead go directly towards building housing. A radically different approach then the stopgap measures of a dirty cot for a night, but one that has had amazing amounts of success in other parts of the country. This plan however still awaits state funding. Something which many people argue will be unfeasible given Rhode Island’s…

On the Economic Progress Institute’s website, there is a significant amount of data on poverty in Rhode Island. Most of which is probably pretty unsurprising. According to their statistics page, the 2010 United States census data found that roughly 14% of Rhode Island’s population is living under the poverty line. Thats a little over 140,000 people living below the federal poverty line. That makes Rhode Island the state in New England with the worst poverty rate. To make matters worse, 43% of these 140,000 Rhode Islanders below the poverty line are considered to be living in poverty but in “deep poverty”. Translated into numbers that means a yearly income of 9,150 for a family…