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ROSWELL, Ga. — A 53-foot tractor-trailer turned traveling museum parked at Blessed Trinity High School on Aug. 5, giving visitors an immersive look at poverty in America and the people working to address it.
The People of Hope Museum, a nationwide initiative from Catholic Charities USA, made its two-day metro Atlanta stop Aug. 4-5, hosted by Catholic Charities Atlanta. Inside the retrofitted trailer, visitors watched touchscreen video stories from Catholic Charities staff and volunteers across the country, tried an interactive poverty simulation, and could record their own stories of hope and service in an on-site studio.
“It allows you to make some of the choices that they have to make every day,” Vanessa Russell, CEO of Catholic Charities Atlanta, said of the simulation, which asks visitors to weigh grocery trips, bills and other tradeoffs faced by families living on limited incomes.
The exhibit is part of a national storytelling campaign called “People of Hope: Faith-Filled Stories of Neighbors Helping Neighbors,” built around more than 40 professionally produced video accounts and supported by a $5 million grant from the Lilly Endowment. Since launching earlier this year, the museum has traveled to more than a dozen cities, including Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, Hartford and Cleveland, with stops planned through 2027 in more than 150 communities nationwide.
Among those on hand in Roswell was Bishop John Tran, an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, who told local reporters he benefited from Catholic Charities himself in 1975 after his family arrived in the United States from Vietnam.
“Too many of our brothers and sisters live in poverty, and it’s important for us to be able to care for them as best we can,” Tran said.
Catholic Charities Atlanta serves about 11,000 people a year across the metro area. Organizers said the museum’s goal is less about statistics and more about connection — helping visitors see poverty and service through individual stories rather than numbers alone.
Admission to the museum was free. The exhibit is recommended for visitors aged 14 and older, as some content addresses sensitive themes related to poverty and hardship.
The People of Hope Museum’s next stops are Knoxville, Tennessee, Aug. 7-8, followed by Chattanooga, Memphis, and cities across Oklahoma later this month.
