Living off of $21 a week

Malena Amusa

Living off of $21 a week

RaceWire digs this story. In “Rep. Lee highlights food-stamp plight,” the Oakland Tribune reports:

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, walked into a Washington, D.C., McDonald’s on Tuesday, ordered a McChicken sandwich, and reportedly was mocked from behind the counter as she asked for ketchup, mustard — and strawberry jam.
But for Lee this week — as it is for millions of Americans every week — getting every possible crumb of food for her buck was no laughing matter. Tuesday marked the start of Lee’s “Food Stamp Challenge” in which she’ll subsist for one week on $21, the national average weekly benefit for a food-stamp recipient. That’s about $1 per meal; at $1.10, even the over-sauced McChicken was busting her budget.

“It is important for the public to understand how many people rely on this program and just how limited their nutrition options are,” she said.

The food-stamp program is up for reauthorization this summer as part of the 2007 Farm Bill, which is expected to be enacted by Oct. 1. Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., who co-chair the House Hunger Caucus, took the challenge last month to highlight their call for another $4 billion to be added to the current $33 billion food-stamp budget; that would give a family of four another $48 per month…

Lee received food stamps while attending college as a single mother of two. But changes to the program made during the welfare reforms of 1996 basically have worn down the stamps’ buying power; food prices have increased without the stamps’ value keeping pace.

So Lee spent $13.37 at a Washington, D.C., Safeway supermarket Tuesday, buying a box of vegetable crackers, a can of peas, two cans of beans, tortillas, a loaf of wheat bread, two bananas, a box of hominy grits, a bag of brown rice and a package of chicken thighs.

“I was struck by how hard it is to eat in a healthy manner on a tight budget. I had to put the apples back because they were too expensive. Whole wheat tortillas were twice as expensive as flour,” she wrote later Tuesday on the challenge’s blog, http://foodstampchallenge.typepad.com/ “I got grits instead of oatmeal, and I could not afford to get some of the things I eat every day, like nuts, juice or coffee (even instant coffee was $4 per container!).”

“So far, so good, although I am already ready for a snack,” she wrote.

Perhaps more politicians should try on the shoes of the people their policies most impact. For example, Bush could leave the country and try and re-entering along the U.S.-Mexico border as an illegal immigrant.

Posted at 11:16 AM, Jun 06, 2007 in News | Permalink | View Comments

Comments

While I respect Ms. Lee's desire to understand the plight of people on food stamps, by focusing only on the problem of food stamps she misses the greater, systemic problem of poverty. For example, many children in the foster care system are discharged onto the streets where they are expected to "pull themselves up by their boot straps" and make something of themselves without having an opportunity for gaining real job skills. Unfortunately, these young people have had a lack of educational opportunity from the onset.

I would like to see Ms. Lee and other governmental representatives in an experiment where they begin on the street as a homeless, disabled person. Given certain perimeters of the disability they are assigned they must then find and hold a job, as well as obtaining housing without any help from family and/or friends. Their success should be determined by how much money they have saved by the end of the month, in addition to finding and keeping a place to live.

I appreciate this project. Many people take basic elements of life, especially nutrition, for granted.

I support farmers' markets but today, I had to opt out of going to the weekly market because much of the produce, although much is organic and locally produced, is out of my limited budget. The last time I checked, farmers' markets do not accept food stamps as payment.

I work at a vocational culinary tranining program for adults and many of the students in the program have never tasted fresh spinach, or used feta cheese in any of their cooking. Many of them only cook at school. For the most part, many of the students have health issues related to obesity. They miss classes to go to doctors' appointments. I definitely agree with the previous post, though there is a correlation between nutrition and job sustainability in our communities. And when many people don't have enough to even purchase the fast food items in restaurants, this states volumes regarding the priorities of our government. Because of this, I see the value in this project that Rep. Lee and others are undertaking as well as challenge others to examine how many of our problems are interconnected.

to Liz: Maybe its a regional thing but the farmers market by my home in St. Louis gladly takes foodstamps. This post was interesting to me because when I recieved foodstamps I was able to shop at Whole Foods and the other HealthFood stores in my area. Now that I don't qualify because "I make too much money" my grocery money is a lot less than what I was getting from the state. Once again maybe this is regional.

yes one could shop at whole foods (whole paycheck) but there is no way n hell one could do all of a family's shoppin there - u would b homeless. and I do appreciate lee takin on the challenge of walkin n a poor person's shoes for a lil while. it is amazingly difficult to exist n poverty n this society. and it is very expensive to b broke. everything costs much more when u have no money. there is always a poverty penalty! :-(
again, how do we propel ourselves out of poverty??

As usual, Barbara Lee is doing the right thing. But what she is doing will not result in a solution for all that ails our society. Poverty and all the ills related to it (joblessness, homelessness, racism, discrimination, segregation, poor education, the list goes on) is a complex problem that requires complex solutions. One thing we can do, as individuals, that too many of us don't do is hold our political representatives accountable for the decisions they make. Increasingly, we as a people are disengaged politically. I live in a community in the northeast quadrant of Los Angeles, CA. In our last election, 7% of eligible voters voted. Most people know the name of their Senator but not their congressional representative, assemblyperson, state senator, city council rep etc. The point I'm making is they don't know their names which means they don't know how these representatives are voting. The social ills we see today are products of legislation and public policy established yesterday. Things are out of control because we don't demand better. I wish we had 434 more Barbara Lees but since that is not possible, I do my best to stay on top of what my congressman is doing. And he knows it. I think that that makes a difference. At least I remain hopeful.

Food Stamp Challenge would make a great Reality TV show. It writes itself... take any elected official, put their stats up on the screen (name, political party, annual income) and keep the cameras on them.

Likewise, Booh's idea about starting out as a homeless, disabled person and made to run the obstacle course of help agencies would make compelling television, and would get this issue more needed exposure.

A shame that people starve in the richest country in the world.