Several From EG Attend State House Prayer Vigil Against Poverty

An interfaith vigil at the State House Wednesday attracted a number of people from East Greenwich or with EG connections — several of whom said they were there to urge the newly reconvened legislature to protect the neediest Rhode Islanders.

The Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition held the vigil on the second day of the new legislative session as part of its “Fighting Poverty with Faith” initiative, urging elected officials to make the alleviation of poverty a “top public policy priority,” said coalition co-chair Maxine Richman of Barrington.

“I’ve been coming to this interfaith vigil ever since they had the first one," said Carolyn Mark of East Greenwich. Mark is president of the Rhode Island Chapter of the National Organization of Women. “I think it’s a really powerful event and as someone who advocates on a lot of social justice issues during the legislative session, I find it to be just very centering.”

EG resident Elizabeth Burke Bryant, head of R.I. Kids Count, an children’s policy and advocacy organization, attended the vigil because of the coalition’s emphasis on helping the needy.

“Rhode Island Kids Count thinks this is a great vehicle for working across faiths on issues to alleviate and reduce poverty,” she said. “It’s a very important voice to be heard in the State House.”

For vigil organizers like Richman, the coalition’s focus on poverty comes naturally to a group that’s otherwise pretty diverse.

“All of our sacred texts, no matter what our religion is, tell us we have to take care of the needy. That was a powerful way, with that message, of bringing us all together,” Richmond said. She is a board member of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs.

Don Anderson, former pastor at First Baptist Church of EG, now the head of the R.I. Council of Churches, gave the keynote speech at the vigil.

“We began this role before the bottom fell out of the economy,” said Anderson of the poverty work after the vigil. “When all of that happened, it’s made this work all the more serious. The advocacy work here at the State House is really important because there is a tremendous amount of pressure on representatives and senators here, and on the governor as he presents a budget.”

In particular, he said, with nearly 20 percent of children in the state living in poverty and 14 percent of Rhode Islanders overall in poverty, state programs for those populations can’t be cut.

“We’ve cut everything that’s left to cut. There’s nothing left to cut,” Anderson said. “There’s consolidations that have been made to get some economies of scale. There might be some tweaking in those areas, but there’s no where near $125 million [next year’s estimated budget deficit]. We have to look at a reasonable, well-thought-out revenue enhancement plan that would do the least amount of damage to those who are the most needy.”

Carolyn Mark agreed. “I too wish upon our legislators the collective courage to do the right thing by Rhode Islanders.”