This year’s common read, “$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America,” is about a collection of profiles of people and families struggling with poverty in America.

The 20th anniversary of the Commitment to Community event began with President Miller thanking everyone who helped put this event together and also for the speakers coming out to motivate students with their book.

During her speech she reminded students of the importance of Commitment to Community: “We see our community as one,” she said.

Alisha Bowen, a Hamline sophomore majoring in Sociology and Music, who “saw poverty on a first-hand basis,” introduced authors Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer.

The event was hosted Thursday at the Hamline United Methodist Church Sept. 29. The church was packed with Hamline faculty and many Hamline students, including first-years.

When asked about her thoughts on the book, Chantel Powell, a first-year student, said, “The book was really eye-opening and interesting because these people who are struggling with poverty could very well be your neighbors.”

After the introduction, Edin stated she had been interested in this topic since the 1990s and spent most of her twenties traveling around the nation interviewing families for research on their income budgets.

Shaefer is an expert on income surveys. Together they discovered about half a million households in America are living on only two dollars a day, sometimes less.

However, what really sparked Edin’s interest to write the novel was a 19-year-old woman named Ashley. Edin had come to visit Ashley for an interview and noticed she had a newborn baby but no furniture in the household, no food and no formula. After the interview, Edin gave Ashley $50 as compensation for adding to her research.

The next day Edin went to do a follow-up conversation and noticed, “She had bought baby formula, food and a pantsuit she’d purchase from a Goodwill store and was on her way to search for employment.”

It surprised Edin just how much $50 in cash could do for someone.

Edin also spoke of Jessica Compton’s family, one of the families mentioned in their book, whose only source of income was from donating plasma twice a week. Many people, aside from Compton’s family, rely on the income of donating plasma. Today 65 percent of the world’s plasma is collected in the United States.   

“Jessica had a hard time getting her iron levels up after donating so much,” said Edin.

Shaefer also brought to light the issues with welfare and how many families were discouraged and turned away by the welfare system workers.

“When people fall into deep poverty they no longer consider welfare,” Shaefer said.

Americans are still affected by the consequences of the legislation that Bill Clinton signed nearly two decades ago. It imposes work requirements on people and limits how long they can receive help. As a result, about three million children are living in households that have less than $2.00 a day or are living off of virtually no money.

During a Q&A, an audience member asked, “How did you balance race equality within the book?”

Edin answered, “Race underlines everything in America. Higher rates of poverty were found in African-American, Latina and single mothers.”

Despite the issues of poverty many people, of all races, face in America, Edin ended her speech with an inspiring statement: “If they haven’t given up we can’t either.”