NDSU faculty and staff volunteers are being sought for the first NDSU poverty simulation of the academic year, scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 2, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great room.

During the simulation, participants role-play the lives of low-income families. Roles range from single parents trying to care for their children to senior citizens trying to maintain their self-sufficiency on Social Security. The task of each family is to provide food, shelter and other basic necessities during the simulation, while interacting with various community resources staffed by volunteers.

The aim of the project is for participants to understand how stressful life is with a shortage of money and to become motivated to help end poverty in the United States.

“We need between 18-20 volunteers to act as various community resources that participants will interact with during the simulation,” explained Hailey Goplen, assistant director for civic engagement. “Those volunteers will take on roles as bankers, mortgage or rent collectors, pawnbrokers, social service caseworkers, healthcare doctors and others.”

Goplen said volunteers will have a one-hour training session immediately prior to the simulation, beginning at 3 p.m. 

“The last hour of the simulation is a debrief for participants and the volunteers’ participation and reflection will be extremely valuable,” Goplen said, noting dinner will be provided for volunteers.

To volunteer, contact Goplen at hailey.goplen@ndsu.edu by Friday, Oct. 21. Additional information will be released closer to the date of the simulation. 

Registration for participants is set to begin Oct. 17. The project is limited to 80 participants.

Simulations also are planned for February and April 2017.

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