A return to the Food Stamp Challenge. For now.

So today I am returning to my Food Stamp Challenge.  Why?

Well, there are several reasons.  The first is obvious--you cannot really understand in 40 days what people got through for months and sometimes years.  And second, (and this may seem odd) I need the discipline and quite frankly, the financial savings. 

I don't know how long I will continue.  But the average length of time a person is on food stamps is 8-10 months.   

But also, I want to see if there are ways I can draw more attention to those in this country who are hungry, and what their real needs are.  I want to bust open some myths about people on food stamps and help bring reality back to the conversation.  I have an idea on how to do this, but I have to check some things out to see if it is workable.  If it is, I will share it with you (and hopefully a lot of other people).

And I want to see if there are resources out there that I have not previously found or talked about.

So we will play it by ear.  This will continue while it continues.

Spent $14.15 on groceries so far this week.  Black bean tacos are on the menu.  Stir-fried spinach is on the menu.  Oddly, Cream of Wheat is on the menu (there will be cinnamon and brown sugar in it).  

One thing I want to check is if any of the local farmers markets take food stamps.  Produce, when in season, can be very cheap there.  But while I love the farmers markets, I have never really paid attention to this . . . so I will be looking into that.

The Food Stamp Challenge, one week after

So, Easter has come, Easter has gone, and for a week I have been eating whatever I please.

What did I miss the most?  

Mindless eating.  I could survive on food stamps if I had to, but I  spent a lot more time planning my shopping and cooking than I have in years.  This week I have eaten chocolate, drank soda, and generally ate a ton of unhealthy crap.

I was better off when I had to plan.

I am grouchy, bloated, and I spent more on groceries and food than I had any good reason to spend.

And what did I learn?

That you CAN survive on food stamps, given the right conditions.  I have no teenagers living with me, which made it easier.  For someone like Allison, a teen boy on a special diet made this challenge much more difficult. I was willing to eat the same foods over and over, and that was okay too.  But it took a couple of hours a week to plan my meals and do the shopping.  And when produce went bad--as happened a couple of times--it wreaked havoc in my plans.

But there was never a week that I didn't struggle, particularly toward the end of the week.  And the purchase of a staple that I had run out of--such as olive oil--put a whole in my budget.  And I still don't know how people who live gluten free or dairy free (or worse, both) manage to eat something resembling healthy on $21 a week.

With the effects of The Sequester starting to trickle into the economy, I am grateful that congress in its wisdom did not include the food stamp program in the Sequester.  It is enough of a struggle to get by on food stamps without having even less to purchase food with.

You want to help kids learn, improve test scores and stay healthy?  Ensure they have enough to eat.  Keep funding for food stamps.  

I feel like there is more I need to know.  So starting Monday (because I have lunch plans today and tomorrow) I am going to go back on the food stamp challenge.  I want dig deeper, learn more, and see where and how I can help create change.  Stay tuned.  

Food Stamp Challenge and a Facebook Meme

Okay, so you HAVE to love how people read the meme's that others post on facebook and never stop to question them.

Making the rounds today . . . an internet meme thanking Florida, Kentucky and Missouri for forcing food stamp recipients to get drug testing.  It reads (in part) "It's okay to test people who work for their money, but not for those who don't?"

So let us talk about the 39 million people in this country who get food stamps but are not on TANF (cash benefits).  You know WHY they are not getting cash benefits?  Because they fall into one of three groups:

1.  Low income seniors.

2.  Children

3.  Low wage employed.

Yep, these people largely are retired, or working for a living.  And the largest employer of people who work for a living and get food stamps?  That would be WalMart.  Got to love those low, low prices.

Why do people buy into the stereotypes of the poor?  Florida tried this, and found that less than 2% of the people they tested had drugs in their system.  Several studies suggest that it is the lower middle class that have the most access to illicit drugs. And a federal study showed that the largest group of people using drugs--that would be the full time employed.  

Why, why, WHY do we continue to demonize the poor?  And why, when it happens does not one cry "class warfare"?  Suggest the rich should pay more taxes and the conservatives cry class warfare.  Suggest the poor pee in a cup to get $21 a week to buy groceries with, and it is just and fair. 

Many of my Christian friends are, like me, living through Holy Week, and I just came from one of my two favorite services of the entire year:  Easter Vigil.  And we walk through the history of God and his people, from the beauty of the Creation Story, to the terror and ugliness of the Crucifiction.

As Christians we have no right to judge (though everyone, including me, does so all the time)  But I would suggest that a Christian who is familiar with the Bible would know that God doesn't demand a drug test to offer food.  Look at Jesus and the feeding of the 5000. He didn't listen to those who told him it was crazy to try to feed so many people--he just DID it.

And honestly, it isn't like Jesus was drastically changing what God had put before us from the start . . . 

“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’”." Leviticus 23:22

"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land."  Deutoronomy 15:11

  

"He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world." 1 Samuel 2:8

“Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” Psalm 12:5

More thoughts on this after Easter Dinner.  Which, thankfully, I am not cooking.  

Good Friday and the Food Stamp Challenge

Most of my friends know that the community center I work at shares a building with a food bank.  In fact, the building was specifically built with the food bank in mind; the community center was planned, but with a less solid idea about what it would do.

This afternoon I went downstairs to the put some stuff in storage.  Our store rooms are right off the food bank, and I know many of the volunteers, so I started chatting with Barb.  Now, don't get me wrong.  ALL donations are gratefully received, and people use them.  But what is up with the tubs (like, ten of them) that are full of bubble gum?  And there is green tea--more than I could drink in a year.

The shelves of food are not bare, but they are missing some essentials.  Like tuna.

Oddly enough on the food stamp challenge, I have only used tuna a couple of times.  I like tuna, I just got hooked on black bean tacos and stir fried spinach, and so tuna moved down my list of things to eat.  

Schools hold massive food drives for Thanksgiving and Christmas, as do many other organizations.  But something happens after January.  Donations start to falter a little.  We remember the hungry during the holidays, but the rest of the year . . . well, not so much.

I went back up to my computer and used facebook to invite everyone to bring tuna to church on Easter Sunday.  I called it Loaves and Fishes day. And already four or five people have said they will help out.  Which is a start.  But the reality of it, according to Barb, is that they need 300 cans of tuna fish every time they open the doors to serve.  They go through it fast.  

First off, it's a shelf stable protein.  And you can do a lot of things with it: make a sandwich, make tuna noodle casserole or tuna with rice.  Peanut butter is the other common shelf stable protein, but most people just use it to make PB&J sandwiches.  Tuna is a bit more versatile, and fewer people are allergic to it.  Canned chicken is good for the same reasons.

But 300 cans?  Tuna used to be cheap, but the price has gone up in recent years.  In the long run this is probably good.  Tuna fishing often catches other fish, and hurts endangered populations.

But still . . . I wonder if we can get anywhere NEAR 300 cans of tuna on one Sunday?  It seems unlikely, if for no other reason than this was a spur of the moment ask--and I have no idea how many people will bring tuna.

Next week will be hard for a lot of low income families, as their kids will be on spring break and miss that free or reduced cost hot lunch.  It makes it harder for the dollars to stretch.  So please, pick up a can or ten of tuna and take it to your local food bank or church collection site.

Because kids should not have to go hungry just because school is on break.  

The Food Stamp Challenge and Current Events

I have to say, today something happened on Facebook that truly startled me.  An amazing number of people changed their profile pic to proclaim their support for marriage equality. It is a worthy issue.  Marriage equality is important.

I wasn't one of them.  Not because I don't believe in marriage equality.  I do believe in it. But I don't believe that the US Supreme Court should judge the case based on popular opinion.  And I suspect the court will come out in favor of marriage equality because legally, I don't think it has a choice--I think the law is on the side of marriage equality.

But the reason the whole thing astonished me is this: today, 32,000 people died of hunger on the planet.  A child died every minute of malaria. And we never see thousands of people change their Facebook profile pics to bring awareness to the issues of hunger and poverty in this country, or in the world in general. Why is that?

It is, apparently, easier to be concerned about marriage equality than it is to be concerned about starvation, hunger, poverty, homelessness, etc.  And I do not understand this.  Is it because there is no court case to be fought and won?  

If I were to express a wish, a deep heartfelt wish, this Holy Week, it would be that we pay a bit more attention to those who we continue to leave by the side of the road--the hungry, the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill, the wrongly imprisoned.  We ignore these groups at our own peril.  The child who is hungry tonight will not learn well in school tomorrow, and will struggle to get a job and support himself the day after that.

I am angry.  I hate to put it that way, but I am.  I want Equal Rights for EVERYONE.  I want the hungry to have the same right to a meal as the rich person.  I want the homeless person to have the same right to a safe place to sleep as the businessman. I am not advocating socialism or communism, just basic CHRISTIAN DECENCY.  

And I have to say, the church is part of the problem (I mean the church in general, not my congregation).  The church has spent way too much time worrying about who is sleeping with whom, and the morality and legality of it all.  Personally, if you think it is a sin, that is your issue, not mine.  If it is, it is surely not the only sin happening on the planet.  

In Matthew 25, Jesus explains (for the umpteenth time) the duty and privilege it is to feed the hungry.  We are to look into the face of each hungry person, each prisoner, each naked person, each societal outcast and SEE THE FACE OF JESUS.  Instead, too many of us see a person we prefer to think of as "those people".

My grouchiness may be due to hunger.  Got home late, and just ate dinner.  Baked sweet potato and red beans and rice.  I was so hungry, I barely tasted it.  I think I burned my throat.  But I am full. Thankfully, blissfully full.

And I am lucky, because I can abandon this project any time I want.   There is nothing to stop me from a McDonald's run tonight (well, I am in my pajamas, so I would have to get dressed).  Or I can chose to continue to walk (as best I can) side by side with those who struggle with hunger daily.

How long until people care?  

Palm Sunday on the Food Stamp Challenge

I had an interesting Sunday morning.  First off, about half the choir, myself included, thought we were singing at both services, resulting in an arrival at church about 2 hours earlier than needed.

Because it was Palm Sunday, we of course sang about Jesus arriving in Jerusalem.  We sang  Bret Hesla's "Pave the Way with Branches", while the kids  brought their branches to the front of the church.  For those of you unfamiliar with the lyrics:
Jesus is coming . .  . Release for the captives . . . . Jesus is coming . . . Land for the landless . . . Jesus is coming . . . Hope for the down trod . . . Jesus is coming . . . Debts are forgiven . . . Jesus is coming . . . Pave the way with branches . . . Hosanna

We sang these verses joyfully--the tune is joyful, celebratory, and exuberant.  Much like I imagine Jesus processing into Jerusalem.  

But afterwards I picked up a pencil, and wrote in the margin of my bulletin: 
"How does this work?  How do Christians sing these words on Sunday and on Monday return to their self-centered lives?  Where does the compassion they sing about, pray about on Sunday go when they leave the building?"

Now, please, don't get me wrong.  I love my church, and it does many great things.  But I have for many years now heard some members mutter about people on welfare, people who use the food bank, those people.  One person I know is convinced that the recent break in at our church was the result of those people being around.

So let us return to Jesus, the guy who hung out with tax collectors, and women of ill repute, and who forgave them because he knew NONE of us is sinless.

What would Jesus do?  

When the people were hungry, Jesus didn't ask why they didn't have jobs, why they didn't bring along food when they came to hear him speak, why they didn't get up off their lazy asses or make them feel ashamed.  He just simply made sure they ate.

Over and over and OVER the Bible, both in the New and Old Testament tells us that we are to care for those who do not have enough.  

Yet we begrudge them food stamps.  We talk about how the government is taking "our money".  In one way, I suppose this is true.  But in another way, it isn't.  As Christians, we acknowledge that what we have, all that we have, is a gift from God.  And we are to share that gift.  

Now, I know that one of the arguments is that churches should be able to take care of the poor instead of the government.  But for this to work, EVERY church, synagogue and mosque in the country would have to spend an additional $50,000 a year.  EVERY ONE OF THEM.  

I've been in a lot of churches in my area.  Some can barely pay the light bill.  One I know of can't pay the pastor.  How are they going to come up with an additional $50,000 a year?

The government isn't some body of unknown people in Washington DC.  It is you and me.  WE THE PEOPLE.  And in our more perfect union, we strive for justice and domestic tranquility, in part by ensuring that no child goes without a lunch at school and that no family can not afford to eat. Our common defense is programs like food stamps, medicaid and social security; we promote the general welfare by building schools and hospitals; and secure the blessings of liberty by recognizing that we are all in this together, united to be one people, one nation.

Jesus is coming. Release for the captives.  Land for the landless.  Hope for the down trod.  Debts are forgiven.  Jesus is coming.  Hosanna!

The Food Stamp Challenge

I got an email from Allison on recently.  She is a good friend, and in a fit of foolishness (sorry, but at times this feels like the most foolish thing I have done in years) she decided to take the food stamp challenge for Lent also.

She writes: After buying inexpensive bread, cheddar cheese on sale and a little milk on Monday, I took my son to a headache specialist yesterday and he is now on a 100% diary free for a month to see if it is causing some inflammation of the nerves around his nasal passages and thus causing or helping his headache.  So, I noticed last night that the bread had milk in it, as did almost everything else I got yesterday.  Who knew there was so much dairy in food!

$21 a week does NOT work on special diets like gluten-free, dairy free and MSG-free (the three diets my family members are on right now).  Neither do food banks carry these kinds of food, most likely because they are expensive.

Still trying to figure out how to live healthy and full (got that teen age boy with the hollow leg) on this amount of money...Praying for those that don't have an Easter end to their financial problems.

She is not the first person to make this complaint to me.  I hear from people who need to use the food bank, but are on special diets and find little at the food bank that meets their needs.  Gluten free is (in my opinion) the worst.  You have to really work hard to eat gluten free if you aren't on food stamps.  Gluten hides in a variety of things.  Imitation Vanilla Extract.  Soda and candy.  Many lunch meats and processed foods have hidden gluten in them.  Instant coffee frequently has gluten in it (don't ask me why, but I suspect that it is the same reason that some soy sauces have gluten--to darken the color).  

It is hard to eat healthy while on food stamps.  It is harder with a teen aged boy in the house.  I have never had to do this.  

It is hard enough having a small child when on food stamps.  My daughter doesn't remember our days using food stamps (or so she claims), but she does remember eating the same meals over and over and over again.  Lots of government cheese (which you can turn into decent soup if you know how to cook).  

But if you have to go dairy free, that means cheese--which is high calorie, and therefore a great way to add some much needed fuel to a teen diet--is out.

After reading Allison's email, I do a quick search online, looking for dairy free recipes that might fit into the food stamp budget.  Most of what I find is lentils (always a nice choice), beans and such.  These are cheap, but teen boys (actually all teens) are not fond of a study diet of these.  

I did create a decent gluten free, dairy free, cheap soup this week:
Black Bean Soup for Lenten Dinner
5 cans seasoned black beans (get the gluten free variety if you can--but the regular ones are cheaper!)
1 can whole corn, drained
2 cans chopped tomatoes

Combine in a crock pot and heat through.  This soup cost me less than $7 to make 14 servings for our weekly soup and bread dinner.  Of course I blew through a lot of my weekly budget doing this, but the soup was healthy, cheap and tasted great!  IF you have the money, you can serve a little sour cream and some tortilla chips on the side.

For some reason I have fallen heavily in love with black beans.  Black bean tacos,  black bean soups (I have created 3 new varieties from my hungry brain), and they are tasty.  Healthy.  Cheap.

But I still don't see a teen boy surviving on these meals.  I have lost weight, because I am (mostly) eating fewer calories than a person of my age and height should.  I have enough energy, I think, but when I am tired, I am very tired.  I would guess that I am anemic, though I have no easy way of telling.  

There is something else.  I have skipped some meals.  And because of the amount of food that shows up at work, I have not struggled the way some people would on $21 a week for groceries  I have traveled to see family twice, and both times there was no way to stay on the food stamp challenge.  

There are things I miss:pizza, soda, a hot dog from Costco.  For some reason, I am craving meat (and I am not a huge meat eater).  I want to be able to walk into Red Robin or the Old Spaghetti Factory and eat whatever I feel like.

But at the same time, I am hopeful.  I hope that when I do walk into those places in the future, I will take a moment to think about those who cannot afford to eat out, who struggle to afford to eat at all.  And I am contemplating continuing the food stamp challenge through the spring.  I feel like the travelling and such has really given me an unfair advantage during the challenge.  I feel like there is something I still need to learn or remember.