Day Two - And did I mention it is A's birthday?
I get up and have my orange, toast and glass of milk, and head off to work.
Did you ever contemplate the amount of food present at work? Pot full of coffee with creamer, which I partake of, without thinking twice. During this morning's webinar, there is fruit and cookies on the table. I eat the fruit and skip the cookies.
I have brought lunch to work--an apple, cheese, crackers and hard boiled egg. And the good news is that it will be there waiting for me tomorrow, because things kept happening, and I never quite got around to lunch today. This is no one's fault but mine, but still, I am glad I ate fruit during the webinar, because it is going to be a late, late dinner. I did leave work at a reasonable time (4:00 pm) but I went to a meeting--and it ran long. The good news: they had cheese and whole grain crackers.
In other good news: my daughter A, a member of the Tacoma Symphony Choir, has a concert tonight. And by the way, did I mention it is her birthday? So though there is no time to run home and eat, I stop at the grocery store and debate--if I buy cupcakes for her and her room-mates, as a birthday present, is it breaking the rules? After a moment I decide I don't actually care if it breaks the rules or not. I purchase three cupcakes and flee.
When I get to Slavonian Hall, they have a spread of cookies and treats out. I opt to be good and drink decaf. Afterwards, a large group of us sang Happy Birthday to A, and I gave her the cupcakes; C. wanted to know why there were only three. "It's her blog thing," T. explains. The three cupcakes (if I were counting them--and yes I should, but I won't) cost $4.50--more than a day's worth of food. I am hungry. I could stop at McDonald's and pick up a $1 burger, but instead, I come home and throw a sweet potato in the oven. Saute spinach and mushrooms. Dinner is served.
When I open my facebook, there is Alison, like my own private cheerleader:
Russet potatoes are 3 lbs for $1 at Freddies this week. I know you've already spent your weekly amount, but I am telling you because it's a good filler for the rest of us. Thanks again for doing this and getting me on it too! The funny part was seeing the teenage boys on Sunday at my house wondering where the load of food I usually have is, and wondering why I was rationing my rice milk and apple juice.
Yes, somewhere along the way I inspired Alison to join me in this experiment. It may have been the wine on Friday night. But I am betting she was smart enough to eat dinner before 9:00 pm.
As I look at living on what food I could buy with an average food stamp benefit (SNAP) I see that Households CAN use SNAP benefits to buy: food for the household to eat such as breaks and cereals; fruits and vegetables; meats, fish and poultry; dairy products. Seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat.
Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to purchase: beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco; any nonfood item such as pet foods, soaps, paper products and household supplies; vitamins and medicines; food that will be eaten in the store; hot foods.
So, toilet paper, Kleenex, sanitary items for women, and bath soap aren't covered? Where do these items come from? What do women do each month . . . . ? What do you do when have a cold and a runny nose?
How very fortunate am I? VERY!
This is why more and more food banks are carrying these items. Too many people who use their food stamps carefully simply don't have money for things like shampoo and toothpaste.
Alison is, of course, right. We are very fortunate. We live in a country where even though people may live with hunger, we have programs like food stamps, food banks and free and reduced hot lunch programs to help them along--so true starvation is rare. My $1 a meal seems so small--until I remember that there are many living on much less. $1 a day. If you look at large chunks of Central and South America, Africa and Asia, you see the kind of poverty that we have not had in the USA in decades. And that $1 a day doesn't just cover food--it covers everything.
Let me put it this way: could you live on $365 a year? Of COURSE not. Realistically speaking no one can. This is the kind of abject poverty that leads us to some heartbreaking statistics:
32,000 people die every day due to hunger related causes.
The majority of them are children.
1 child every 5 seconds.
12 children a minute.
720 kids an hour.
17,280 a day.
Day after day after day.
So yes, today I bought cupcakes for my living, breathing daughter, because it is her birthday--one of 23 that she has celebrated on this earth. But this evening, I cannot get too upset about my missed lunch or my late dinner--because in the time it takes me to eat a meal, 240 children will die because they could not eat at all.
If I had all three cupcakes here right now, I am not sure I could eat them. Either that, or I would drown my sadness in chocolate and buttercream.
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