Your Turn: Letters to the Editor

$5.15 ain’t what it used to be

Dear Editor:

As a student in the social work program at Longwood University I have recently been volunteering with the Virginia Organizing Project, where I will complete my field placement during the summer. The project I am working on is the campaign to increase Virginia’s minimum wage. Part of my project is to get people to sign a petition supporting an increase in the minimum wage. A question I have encountered often while petitioning has been: “Why should we care?”

Imagine that you are a minimum-wage worker in Virginia. You work full-time making $5.15 an hour with an annual income of just $9,893 after taxes. In Virginia nearly 150,000 families are at this income. It seems obvious that paying our minimum-wage workers enough to sustain their families is not just a good idea. It is the right thing to do.

It takes more than a good idea to make something happen. It takes connections with people who will stand behind that idea and put the effort into it to see it work. We as students have a unique opportunity as we prepare to return home for the summer. The number of signatures that my organization has set as our goal is big (to say the least). But I have to wonder: If VCU students going home for the summer took the petition with them, how many signatures could they secure in their homes across the state?

I believe that apathy, manifested in the “I don’t care” attitude so prevalent in our generation of young people, is a defense mechanism to cover up a sense of powerlessness. I would encourage you to own your power and use that power to benefit the lives of minimum-wage workers across our state. Be heard. Let us bring together our collective voices and say: Increase Virginia’s minimum wage!

With hope and ambition,
Helen Dempsey

SGA Help Desk

The Student Government Association is happy to announce the creation of the SGA Help Desk. The desk is located in the kiosk directly across the hall from the Career Services Center on the first floor of the University Student Commons. The Help Desk aids the SGA by providing more, much-needed visibility to students to recruit more student input. The desk also serves as an information center; students may pick up a number of brochures, pamphlets, documents, pens and magnets regarding leadership and organization opportunities. At least one SGA member is at the Help Desk from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Please stop by the Help Desk to see how you can participate in the SGA and while you are there, please be sure to stop by the Career Services Center to get useful help on writing resumes, compiling references, finding an internship and finding a job. Career Services does an excellent job at providing VCU students with the resources necessary for successfully finding a job, locating and applying to graduate school, and developing a concise strategy for advertising the student’s best abilities via resume.

– Robert J. Smith, III
Special Assistant for Communications,
Student Government Association