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I'm getting ready to participate in the San Francisco Food Bank, Hunger Challenge (September 11th -17th.) I did my first challenge 4 years ago as one of the founding bloggers, and a few things have changed since then...
- The amount has gone up from $4 to $4.72/day/person (this is average for those in California - it's less in other states). Likley to be reduced by Republicans in January.
- The amount of people on food stamps has increased to 44 million nationwide - 21 million are children. The number of new recipients increases 15% each year.
- Nationwide one out of every seven Americans relies on food stamps. And locally one out of every five children, adults and seniors living in Marin and San Francisco counties struggle with hunger every day.
The challenge is to shop, cook and eat on a food stamp budget and make yourself and others aware of what millions of Americans face every day. By participating in the challenge and sharing with friends and family about your experience (through blogs, facebook, twitter and actual conversations) the awareness and issues are brought to light. It also brings attention to food manufacturing and distributing companies who donate extra food during these times. Call it goodwill or PR - it doesn't matter as the Food Bank depends on these donations of both food and money, to serve the growing community in need.
Eating healthy on this food stamp budget can be done, but it is not easy. It takes lots of planning, time and energy. Which makes one week possible for me and my family. However imagining this for everyday of everyweek is overwhelming. Especially when you realize many people receiving food stamps are facing other challenges besides meals - juggling multiple jobs, searching for a job, foreclosure, no access to a kitchen (or shelter), health and dietary issues, lack of transportation, etc...
There's lots of ways to help the cause...
- Sign up and take the challenge yourself
- Share your thoughts on the issue of hunger and our broken food system with friends, family and social media
- Donate your time and/or your money to help support your local food bank. They provide pantry items and even fresh produce donations to supplement the low food stamp budget.
- Follow the challenge bloggers, read about their experiences and learn more about the issue. I'll be posting my grocery list, recipes and thoughts on my blog starting Sunday.
Thank you,
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