More affected by poverty than you may think

In his latest weekly newspaper column, the Center for a Better South's Andy Brack explores poverty in South Carolina and finds it to be much more prevalent than most think. The same can be said for most Southern states.

"Imagine you had $1,612.50 per month - - just $58 per day - - to spend on your family of four for everything - - housing, child care, transportation, health care, food and clothing? Could you make it? Consider the following: ... If you spend the (SC) average on those four categories (rental housing, child care, transportation and health care) , you're left with a whopping $8.50 for food and clothing - - for the whole month!"

Most people in South Carolina don't realize there's poverty around them, says Bernie Wright, executive director of the Penn Center on St. Helena Island.

"'The establishment has to come to grips that there is a problem,'" Wright says. "'The guy who is leaving home at 5:30 in the morning and driving 70 miles to work at Hilton Head Island for $6.00 or $6.50 an hour isn't much better off than his father, who was picking tomatoes years ago.'"