Supporting your family and yourself with little or no money. A lot of you are probably just sitting down to dinner, but for many Americans, that's not possible. Our Nicole Pence looked into living in poverty today, and she joins us now to share her experience.

More than 30-million Americans live everyday with little or no money. Thursday, I joined in a simulation to see what it's like to live in "survival mode."

Denny Okuly had a job Thursday afternoon. He acted as the policeman in a simulation game to show what it's really like to live in poverty. But, this man doesn't have to play a role to learn about poverty... He lives it everyday.

Denny Ray Okuly/Lives in Poverty: "I’ve lived in a tent for the last eight months. And, me and my wife. We don't know where are next dollar is coming from. People think we chose to live this way and we don't."

It's that stereotype the Huntington County Leadership Academy and Purdue Extension Office wants to erase.

Karen Hinshaw/Simulation Organizer: "They have a lot of difficult choices and a lot of times they can just be in survival mode and pay one bill at a time."

Each participant, was given a real-life scenario, complete with how much we took in each month, off-set by how many bills we had to pay. I was Kevin Kaminski, a 25-year-old man with my GED. I made less than five-hundred dollars a month after taxes. My expenses were almost three times that amount. I helped support my girlfriend and her young son.

Can you tell our caseworker how much money you make an hour? 6.25.

Four 15-minute weeks kept us on our feet, struggling to pay our bills.

“How do I pay you back?"

Valerie Geer/Participated: “I felt very frustrated. I can see how people feel a little victimized or easy to blame other people. A lot of circumstances against you.”

Denny Ray Okuly/Lives in Poverty: "This was about normal. It's about time somebody did something to show people, they realize what we go through."

All the families, including mine, were evicted for late payments. It really was an eye opening experience.

Any statistics on poverty levels in Indiana? The US government doesn't classify it "living in poverty" until a household of at least two people make less than 15-thousand dollars a year. Not much. The most recent numbers, show somewhere between eleven and fifteen percent here in Indiana.