The Salvation Army of Lawton’s Bridges Out of Poverty Program graduated 6 people Thursday, November 30th.
Major Raymond Pruitt, The Salvation Army’s Lawton Corps Officer says Bridges Out Of Poverty is a unique program that helps individuals break the cycle of poverty by teaching them various skills.
“Self-sufficiency, budgeting, basic household economics. We introduce people to banking. We have partnered with the Fort Sill Federal Credit Union, and they have kindly come alongside us to teach classes on banking and to offer some excellent banking tools that are complementary to the student.”
Pruitt says the goal of Bridges Out Of Poverty is to give someone independence and put them in control.
“The goal of Bridges Out Of Poverty is we take someone who is currently on the system and they find themselves constantly going to one agency or the other to receive assistance, to put a bandaid on the problem and then to get to a position where that’s no longer a requirement.”
Pruitt says Bridges Out of Poverty helps break generational cycles.
“We don’t like to think of generational poverty as Americans but it's very real. We see it every day. We see people who -- that their entire life -- all they’ve known is their grandparents, their parents, or whomever took care of them depended on the social services system, and bridges is meant to put a stop to that.”
The Salvation Army of Lawton started conducting Bridges Out Of Poverty in 2014 and they’ve conducted 2 sessions a year since then.
For more information you can call the Salvation Army at 580-355-1802 or visit online at Lawton, Oklahoma (salvationarmy.org)
