A Shenandoah Valley chapter of the Poor People’s Campaign launched in Waynesboro on Friday evening with an estimated 100 individuals attending the event, which began with singing and fellowship.

The Poor People’s Campaign is a nonpartisan, moral movement started by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. The campaign focuses largely on poverty by addressing the social and economic factors that contribute to it, how poverty impacts those suffering from it and how others can help.

Decades after its founding, the Poor People’s Campaign reportedly has almost 50 state chapters throughout the United States. Beneath the state campaign umbrella are localities, cities and counties which have their own sub-chapters. For the first time, following in the footsteps of other locations such as Roanoke, Tidewater, Hampton and Virginia Beach, the Valley will have a Poor People’s Campaign chapter.

“The main mantra of the Poor People’s Campaign is, we all want to move forward together and not one step back,” said AJ Young, a coordinator for the Shenandoah Valley chapter of the Poor People’s Campaign.

AJ Young and his wife, Adrienne Young, have been involved with the Poor People’s Campaign for nearly eight months.

Homelessness in the city of Waynesboro is an ongoing issue faced in the community, Young said. This situation can be caused due to a number of factors, including poverty, unemployment, class, race, wealth disparity, and other situations which are all highlighted in the Poor People’s Campaign.

Locally, organizations such as Waynesboro Area Refuge Ministry seek to help through providing cold weather shelters and other resources for those in need. The Salvation Army also aims to assist those who need help. Young said the Poor People’s Campaign actively engages with other organizations geared toward helping those less fortuante, knowing there is strength in numbers and collaboration.

“Waynesboro has encampments,” Young said. “We have veterans who are living outside in encampments in the city. Down along the Greenway, behind grocery stores, behind service stations. These are the unseen faces that are being affected by poverty.”

The long-term goal of the Shenandoah Valley chapter is to establish a day shelter for homeless individuals, Young said.

“Waynesboro is a city that has a homeless problem, but there is no day shelter for folks to go to who are homeless,” he said. “The closest shelter to Waynesboro would be the Valley Mission, and even at the Valley Mission, folks can go in at night to stay, but they can’t be there during the day. So one of the things that we would like to be able to see in the campaign, in connection with other groups in the area, is to be able to develop a day shelter that works for those who don’t have a home in Waynesboro. Where they can go and get job training. They can understand what their voter registration status is. We can help them develop skills so that they can be self-sufficient on their own.”

The more immediate goal of the campaign is to start providing pop-up pantries around homeless encampments in Waynesboro that will provide clothing, food, and other needs that individuals are facing.

“We want to try to make an impact on their lives for the better,” Young said. “You can’t really move in the community until people see that you really care.”

Young hopes to begin working within these encampments with pop-up pantries as early as February.

Some individuals in attendance shared their own stories of how poverty, homelessness, denial of insurance, and other struggles have impacted them, further highlighting the importance of the action of the Poor People’s Campaign and its partner agencies.

Cierra Bell is a single mother to two young children. Although she works hard, she struggles to make ends meet much of the time with the high costs of rent, care insurance, daycare, food and other bills adding up.

“I don’t get any assistance,” Bell said. “I pay for everything out of pocket, including my rent. They help me with daycare, but that’s about it. I’ve got two little kids that are constantly, constantly growing, so there’s food and everything else. It’s one of those things where you’ve got to pick food or medicine. It sucks, but 90% of the time, we go without medicine.”

Bell, like some others, finds that her income is just high enough that she does not qualify for assistance, but she also does not earn enough to make ends meet with the basic costs of living while supporting two children.

“Apart we can’t do anything, but together we can do a whole lot,” Young said.