Clergy, politicians find out how far food stamps go
Religious leaders and members of Congress were getting a firsthand
taste of what it's like to eat on $4.50 a day as part of the Food Stamp
Challenge in Washington. In the challenge, participants try to live for
a week on the average amount received by people who use food stamps,
known as the federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program
(SNAP).
"We do need to put ourselves sometimes in other people's
shoes so we can really feel what they have to go through every day,"
said Donna Christensen, a Democrat who represents the U.S. Virgin
Islands as a nonvoting delegate. The Food Stamp Challenge is part of
Fighting Poverty with Faith, an annual interfaith initiative endorsed by
50 national religious organizations.
This year is a particularly
critical one for the cause, faith leaders said, because Congress is
considering significant cuts to the more than $64 billion program.
On
October 27, religious and political leaders teamed up with current SNAP
recipients to shop at a Safeway grocery store near Capitol Hill.
One
of them was Peg Chemberlin, president of the National Council of
Churches and a former adviser to the White House's Office of Faith-based
and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Several decades ago, unable to
find a job after leaving a seminary program, Chemberlin signed up for
food stamps. But she said she had forgotten what it is like to shop on
such a tight budget. "No soda, no magazines, no coffee," said
Chemberlin. She tried not to look at the donuts, croissants and Doritos.
"Absolutely no specialty items," she said.
Chemberlin shopped
with Vernell Livingston, 72, a local resident whose only sources of
income are Social Security payments and SNAP.
At one point,
Chemberlin suggested some $6.99 beef patties to Livingston, who shook
her head and said, "No, no, no, no." She selected less-expensive ground
turkey instead, which she planned to eat with cheese on 99-cent wheat
bread for dinner.
At another point, Livingston put a $1.29 can of
Campbell's chicken noodle soup in her cart and then opted for a generic
chicken noodle soup for 89 cents.
Livingston's three small bags of groceries totaled $29.93, just under the average SNAP allotment of $31.50 per week.
Although
SNAP is called a "nutritional assistance" program, good nutrition may
be unattainable for many of those receiving benefits.
Chemberlin
said she wished Livingston could have bought more fruits and
vegetables, "because it's clear she's very oriented toward eating
healthily, but we had to choose between fruits and vegetables and
protein."
"The health risks are terrible, when you look at sugar,
sodium and fats in the foods you must buy on $4.50 a day," said Rep.
Barbara Lee (D., Calif.), who once received food stamps as a single
mother.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat nonvoting delegate from
Washington, D.C., said one in four families in the nation's capital are
on SNAP. Since the beginning of the recession, she noted, the number of
those on SNAP nationally rose from 27 million to 44 million, and nearly
half are children.
Eight members of Congress, all Democrats, agreed to take the Food Stamp Challenge. —RNS
