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Shopping With Food Stamps
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During the holidays, there are usually more meals and lots more money is spent on groceries. But millions of Americans still go hungry. To increase awareness about poverty in the U.S., advocates have designed a “Food Stamp Challenge.” Elected officials are asked to live on the $21 weekly stipend and keep that experience in mind as they consider legislation. Reed Galin reports. |
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SCRIPT:
(Locator: Nashville, TN)
Could you buy all of your groceries for $21 a week?
Sam Davis/Member, Hobson United Methodist Church: “I could go into a
store and I could only buy the sales items and I could only go down
certain aisles.”
Sam Davis, like many others, lives on food stamps. Benefits that average
one dollar per meal.
Sam Davis/Member, Hobson United Methodist Church: “My steak is
hamburger. Okay, hamburger I can make chili, I can make a hamburger
patty or I can put hamburger in gravy.”
To call attention to hunger issues, civic and spiritual leaders in
dozens of cities nationwide, took the Food Stamp Challenge, living on a food
stamp budget for a week.
The Rev. Becca Stevens/St. Augustine’s Chapel, Vanderbilt University:
“It’s really a moral issue that children are hungry in this country.”
The Rev. Sonnye Dixon/Hobson United Methodist Church: “So while I was
eating and trying to make sure that I stayed full, nowhere in the week,
during the diet, did I really feel I was eating healthy.”
Participant Sonnye Dixon is pastor at Hobson United Methodist in
Nashville. He found the challenge eye opening.
The Rev. Sonnye Dixon/Hobson United Methodist Church: “It’s just
sensitized me more to some people who are in my congregation or what
they must go through on a weekly basis.”
26 million Americans rely on food stamps. These benefits haven’t
been adjusted for inflation in over a decade. Advocates hope their
actions will inspire change.
Sam Davis/Member, Hobson United Methodist Church: “Food is wasted, even
in America, richest country in the world. These people still don’t have
a nutritious diet.”
The Rev. Becca Stevens/St. Augustine’s Chapel, Vanderbilt University: So
if you feel like you’re listening to this, it’s boring, and you’ve heard
it all before, live on $21 for the week, and then have the conversation
again. It will be a different conversation.”
TAG:
In lieu of participating in the Food Stamp
Challenge, Americans are encouraged to donate $21 (the average weekly
food stamp allotment) or more to their community’s food bank.
For more information, visit the
Congressional Food Stamp Challenge Web site.