Existing on food stamps: Reporter Sarah Barr joins Chris Van Hollen in learning how to live on the bare minimum

The Sentinel

by Sarah Barr
Oct. 24, 2007

Earlier this week, I spilled half of a glass of milk.

It wasn't a lot, but I was disappointed, knowing that I couldn't just pour another glass to make up for what I had lost. I am currently on day five of the food stamp challenge, which asks participants to live for one week on the nation's average food stamp benefit of $21 - that's $3 per day, $1 per meal. I have carefully allotted my milk for the week and more just wasn't an option if I planned to have any for Saturday.

That is the crux of the challenge: to provide a small glimpse into the choices that people who use food stamps must make each day. And while I haven't been noticeably hungry yet, the tough choices people make are increasingly obvious.

The challenge got rolling last summer in Pennsylvania when the Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger asked local residents to commit to living on the amount of the average food stamp benefit. The Coalition credits a local food bank with the initial idea, but the most important point is that word spread quickly after a Philadelphia reporter wrote about his experience, said Ellen Vollinger, legal director for the Food Research and Action Center, a D.C.-based non-profit that has tracked the evolution of the challenge.

Various community groups then picked up on the idea after it was highlighted by FRAC and other organizations. When a group of Oregon hunger leaders challenged their governor, Democrat Ted Kulongoski, to participate, his acceptance drew national attention. Soon a bipartisan group of governors and congressional representatives from across the county was joining in.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who represents a large part of Montgomery County and a slice of Prince George's County, is among the newest crop of national leaders taking the challenge.

"It quickly focuses your mind and your stomach on just how little $21 a week pays," said Van Hollen on the third day of his challenge experience. The congressmen did his shopping in a Wheaton Giant and had so far spent only $16 - with green peas, lentils, beans, pre-sliced turkey, two tomatoes, an onion and bananas making up the bulk of his list - in order to give himself some wiggle room as the week draws to a close.

Van Hollen is completing the food stamp challenge in conjunction with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which included the challenge in their year of action to draw attention to hunger and poverty in the U.S.

"The reason you do it is to raise awareness about the inadequacy of the food stamp benefit," said Hadar Susskind, Washington director of the Council, an umbrella organization for 13 national and 125 local Jewish organizations.

The challenge coincides with congressional consideration of the Farm Bill, which includes the food stamp program, the minimum benefits of which have not been raised since the mid-1970s. The House of Representatives recently passed their version of the bill with language that is a little better, according to Susskind, and debate is now focused in the Senate.

"I just wanted to get a real-world sense of what it means to survive on the average food stamp allocation, just to get a sense of what people go through," said Van Hollen. Among the immediate lessons he reports are the limitations in food variety, the inability to shop in bulk and the difficulties of maintaining a nutritious diet.

From my end, the lessons have been similar. I'm sick of peanut butter, craving fresh vegetables and was frustrated by my options within the grocery store as I had to buy more than I needed of certain items, forcing me to neglect others. I don't need a full box of pasta for the week or a whole bag of rice, and that money could have gone to other items like vegetables.

Granted the challenge occurs in a vacuum, and if I were to live on this budget for more than seven days I would probably have a stock of certain items that I did not need to buy every week. However, the challenges of timing - and of the very adequacy of benefit - are quite real for actual food stamp recipients, said Vollinger.

Food banks around the country provide anecdotal reports that their client load increases at the end of each food stamp period, according to Vollinger. "That would suggest that while it's true that the program was designed to be a supplement, people don't have enough resources," she said. Furthermore, far more people are eligible for benefits than those that receive them.

In August, in Montgomery County, 24,720 individuals received food stamp benefits and statewide there were 332,353 recipients, according to the Maryland Department of Human Resources. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicate, however, that a scant majority -- 53 percent -- of those eligible in Maryland received benefits in 2004.

Other issues of timing have also illustrated the difficulties the current food stamp benefits present. I was originally assigned to begin my challenge the same day as Van Hollen. However, I started the day after because I was taking an important standardized test the previous morning and didn't want to deal with it yet. I had that choice - something the average food stamp recipient doesn't have.

I'm pretty confident I'll make it through the next three days. I still have, after all, half a dozen eggs, three apples, one yam, half a box of pasta, one quart of milk, six pieces of bread, six slices of cheese, half a bag of rice, four packs of instant noodles and half a jar of peanut butter.

Like I said, I haven't been extremely hungry, and while I know the diet isn't nutritious it's enough to keep me going. One more confession though.

Saturday is my last day, and I plan to quit as soon as I scarf down an early dinner so that I can go out with my older brother for his birthday. I'm willing to bet drinks and dinner (take two) are in order. The conclusion of my week spent on a food stamp diet will be a celebration.

Hardly a realistic end.

Comments

[Carl Strohmeyer]

Not only is the amount allotted to may unreasonable, what is worse is that many (such as myself who should qualify do NOT based on accounting methods that word turn an accounting instructor blue!

This line: “Food banks around the country provide anecdotal reports that their client load increases at the end of each food stamp period, according to Vollinger.”That would suggest that while it's true that the program was designed to be a supplement, people don't have enough resources," she said. Furthermore, far more people are eligible for benefits than those that receive them.” Is highly inaccurate IMO as many cannot qualify and what is worse is Politicians go around on feel good missions such as this without a lick of compassion to what their constituents need. A good example is Gregg Walden my local Congressmen from Oregon who’s office was blatantly un compassionate and VERY condescending in my conversation with them (they have yet to return any further mail in over two weeks)

The food stamps program needs to fixed first on more basic levels if this program can ever be considered anything beyond the failure it currently is.
As it currently is administered in Oregon, you have no hope of qualifying if you are an honest self employed person who has fallen on hard times (as I have due to family issues).
The system only allows a 50% deduction for cost of goods AND expenses which of coarse is not real world (except for maybe the Mob)
Currently my family is denied ANY State or Federal benefit whatsoever other than the Earned Income Tax Credit (for which I am thankful for) with an income of $1500 per month take home with a family of 5 and a house payment of $1200 per month (we have gone through all savings and are now living off credit cards)

http://american-aquarium.blogspot.com/2007/11/oregon-food-stamps.html

[David Aitken]

You should try eating for a month on food stamps like this couple did: http://www.freecolorado.com/2007/08/challenge.html. Looks like they ate well, and had money left over, which means that it's not that food stamps pays too little, but that people make poor choices.

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Yeah David, I guess it's great when you can get in the ol' SUV and drive to a warehouse market that will let you buy in bulk with food stamps rather than have to walk to the corner store like us po' trash do.

[Lauren Harrington]

It is so unbelievable to me that we can let people in our country starve but we are more than willing to keep sending money to countries that dont like us.

[Josh Neumann]

I feel sorry for you-just $21 a week in free money while the rest of the population actually has to work for their food, along with supporting your free meals. Can't you get a bigger welfare check?

[Judie Serode]

I know this is post is from last year but I just found it. My daughter and her two year old daughter lives on $95 per month on food stamps. Before you start judging her, she is on SSI because my daugther was born with some problems and she tried to live a normal life as much as possible. Even married and had a child. But with the problems she had, she is now a single mom. She is doing the best she can, and I try to help as much as possible, but it is not buying food for two people on $95 per month (which equals $23.75 per week). Her SSI check helps pay her rent (which is partially reduced but not fully as her apartment complex owner is no longer particpating in the UDSA program); her electric and water and anything she can't buy with the food stamps such as diapers, etc. Yes she does receive minimal help from the father.

My mother, who at 70 years old still has to work, just found out the job she had closed down and she is trying to survive on her social security to pay her bills which by the way does not pay them. She has been struggling for a while and the job closure was just two weeks ago. She did apply and is getting $20 per week or about $80 per month but she says she can eat off of that. What does she do? This is no fault of hers - maybe it is because she should have planned her retirement but she has been on her own since 1979 when she left an abusive marriage (my father). I only share these personal stories so people will see and know that there are legitimate people who need help!

[Pamela Lider]

Unlike your news commentator, most people know not to buy oatmeal in individual serving packets. Buy an 18 oz. container for about $1.99 (often less on sale and many times "two for one"), measure it yourself and save $$! Shop around: A 10 lb. package of chicken quarters (legs/thighs) sold for $4.98 in Super WalMart yesterday. That's a lot of protein! Times are hard for many people. Being a wise consumer is imperative now more than ever.

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[R Becklund]

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