Decades after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. founded the Poor People’s Campaign, it’s back – launching a 42-week campaign against poverty and homelessness.
“While we live in the richest country in the world,” said the Rev. Susan Phillips, “poverty is the fourth leading cause of death.”
Phillips, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, is a co-chair of the Illinois campaign.
A coordinator, Bruce Parry, is a Vietnam War veteran who used to be homeless. “Between 2018 and 2020, there were 4,508,000 poor and low-income people in Illinois – more than one in three,” he said.
“Countless die due to extreme poverty that homelessness represents.”
Phillips said ending homelessness will save money, so conservatives should join liberals in supporting the campaign, which includes a statehouse rally March 2.