First, I’ll bet few in Lee County are aware that, in a typical year, the Lee County economy generates nearly a BILLION dollars in wages among the roughly 25,000 or so local employees. That seems like a pretty hefty number for a County of this geographical size, and it’s a testament to our productivity, in a normal year. Unfortunately, the local economy in 2008 dropped to about $971M in total wages, down $15M from our record 2007 numbers.
Data from the final calendar quarter for 2009 still hasn’t been released, but it looks as if the tallies for the full year will reflect a whopping $120M drop in total wages. That’s a 12.4% decrease, which is very difficult to absorb, especially in a single calendar year. Interestingly, government wages still comprise nearly 12% of our total wages, which also seems high given we are not a state or federal employment hub of any kind.
From the same ESC reports, I see the County lost a projected 2500 jobs in 2009, nearly 10% of the total labor force here. That’s just awful.
The above numbers bear out statistically what we already knew intuitively from the poverty and crime indicators all across Lee County. The Bread of Life Ministries (BOLM) and Christian United Outreach Center (CUOC) food pantry headcounts are significantly elevated over 2007 and 2008. Daily lunch headcounts at the Breadbasket are similarly running higher. This winter we had to open a new emergency facility to house homeless overflow from the Sanford Outreach Mission, which is the only such shelter in a 25-mile radius. Despite the (2008) crime statistics being recently reported, the citizens of this community can easily see the incidence of criminal activity - especially violent crime - has been higher since at least last August.
On one occasion this winter, we had a local family of 13 drive up to BOLM in the middle of the night, pleading for assistance because they had suddenly lost their home for non-payment of utilities. They were out of options and there was little that Social Services or the Sanford Housing Authority could do for them. It broke my heart to see a young mom and her three daughters, aged 1-3 years, all bundled up with nowhere to go but to a cold van. Her younger brother in this unusual family constellation, was a dialysis patient and also at significant health risk. Were it not for several Christian organizations in the local community — BOLM, First Baptist Church, and Lifeline Ministries, among others — this family would have been left exposed to very cold weather and would have been vulnerable to street thugs wherever they might have parked. Thank God for several of our local Christian organizations! Because of them, this family was able to get back on their feet for at least the near term.
As I reflect on the many 2009-2010 scenarios we’ve encountered, similar to the one above, it occurs to me we have to do something different here in Lee County. Now, I’m not advocating more government spending. In fact, I think I can make the case that it was inappropriate government spending that got us into this mess in the first place. (That will be the topic of future blogs.) What’s not needed is another government program or regulation. Nor do we need a government bureaucrat wasting more of our taxpayers’ hard earned dollars by throwing money at generational poverty. What’s needed is for our community – particularly our local private enterprises and faith-based organizations - to unite in addressing our growing poverty, homelessness, food shortages, and clothing needs. We need to provide temporary, immediate relief, then we need to help educate and train these families to become self-sufficient.
There are hints of that starting to happen around Sanford, and our City and County governments need to promote and encourage them wherever they occur.
I want to know more about how the citizens of Lee County feel about this topic. What other unified efforts are already in the works to help address our growing socio-economic troubles? What more needs to be done to organize, resource, and direct services across the County so we are caring for our brothers and sisters as Christ advocated in Matthew 25: 37-46? I look forward to your responses.
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