“While helping people escape addiction, find work, or go back to school should remain a part of any anti-poverty effort we undertake, recognizing “the inherent worth and dignity” of each and every person liberates us from the judgmental obstacles inhibiting the unconditional assistance that actually addresses the lack of resources that define poverty. Food, clothing, shelter, healthcare; these are things EVERY man, woman, and child have a right to because each and every one has WORTH and DIGNITY. No person’s value as a human being is contingent upon their decisions, past, present or future. None of us are ultimately defined by our worst mistakes. Nobody deserves malnourishment or to suffer shelterless through a bitter winter beneath a thin blanket for ANY REASON.”
