I have lived in wauconda since 2008. No true poverty here, though 20-30 mins away, in parts of Mchenry County, as well as Waukeegan area in lake County, and large parts of Chicago in cook county, you have a lot of people living hand to mouth.
I was never desperatly poor, at the worst there was 6 of us living in a trailer. We never went hungry, never lived on the streets. But I had friends or knew brothers of friends who were homeless, broke, hungry, and desperate.
A friends brother who was a heroin addict and who had just gotten out of the pen was staying in my spare room for a while because he had no place to go. I owed his brother big time and gave him the spare room for 6 months so he could try to sort his shit out.
Some would say its because they were drunks or junkies and that they deserved to be starving and uncomfortable because they were not reliable workers, but I would argue that they they were broken as people and need help to get back on their feet again.
My woman lived in a car for a stretch back when she was around 19 or 20. She didn't go hungry, but she was anything but comfortable or secure.
Anyhow, I give charity to the poor, but we as a society need to do a better job systematically helping the poor.
And yes, I am cynical as hell. A politicians main job is to get reelected, that is enough to push me into a rage.