NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Circles of Hope Reno County Executive Director Jason Probst has been in the position not quite two months, but he already is confident that more people in the community can be helped, if the community just knew how.
"Maybe you're in generational poverty," Probst said. "My family, I can go back and see multiple generations who didn't graduate from high school and who didn't have advanced degrees. My brother and I were the first people to graduate high school or graduate from college in our families. When you're in a family environment like that, you don't have people who can help you understand how to fill out a FAFSA form, you don't have people in your family who can help you understand how to get a bank loan. You're not getting those tools from the people immediately around you. One thing Circles does is kind of pull people together from different areas of a community and builds a community that's intentional in helping people navigate life a little easier."
Treating poverty as if it is a moral failure does not work, according to Probst.
"We can wish and want and try to force and compel people to follow the rules that we have set, but underneath all that, we have people who are in survival mode, who don't know how to do anything other than survive," Probst said. "If we reach out with compassion and education and provide the tools and the friendship and the love and the compassion that we need to offer to people, we can help them navigate through and get to a better place in life. That's better for all of us in the end. It's better for our community. It's better for everyone."
There is going to be an event for people who are interested in coming alongside and assisting Circle Leaders in their journey.
"We're actively recruiting for the Ally part of this right now," Probst said. "These are the people that don't necessarily have a lived experience in poverty, or maybe they did, but they have managed to move out of that. We ask them to make a substantial commitment of time and friendship to people and meet with their Circle Leader at least monthly, be available to them. We let the teams work them out. The Circle Leader kind of guides their journey. The Ally is there, not to instruct, not to tell somebody how they should live, but to be there to support and to offer guidance and counsel that the Circle Leader needs to navigate this new journey."
If you'd like to help, contact Probst at [email protected] or call him at (620) 664-4772.
There is also a graduation of the latest Circle Leader class on July 6 at 5:30 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church. There will be an open house as part of that event to learn more about Circles of Hope.
CLICK HERE to download the Hutch Post mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily Hutch Post email news update.