Food vs. Credit Challenge: Days 3 and 4

Please see my initial blog that offers how I approached the week to begin with, which, in retrospect and in agreement with another reader's comment, perhaps was ill chosen! But I am sticking with it so far! Day 2 into Day 3 was really hard…light headed…energy level low. I can see the link between food insecurity and education/work performance.

Day 3

As many have commented, folks supplement their food stamps with trips to a food pantry. My church has a food pantry, but I decided to leave the food for people who really need it…whose situation around food is not chosen, nor temporary! And, as I have written a proposal for our church to be able to receive food supplies from the Greater Boston Food Bank, I know that I would need to get a referral from one of the area non-profit agencies. The intent of a referral is to make sure the food gets to people who really need it (and that people who need food might get linked into other benefits and services that may be helpful for their families) …and, that if the people take the effort to get to the pantry, that the pantry will have enough food for them when they get there! In a food pantry that I coordinated years ago that didn’t have this referral requirement, we ran out of food, ALOT! Hungry families have the obstacle of a referral in order to access food…and have to perhaps stand in two lines to get food. Or risk standing in line until the food pantry opens, but have no guarantee that they will get food. As has been highlighted before, what does this do for someone’s dignity? Not to mention, the time it all takes?

This afternoon, gratefully, the folks who hosted an offsite meeting had some snacks that filled me up! I lucked out! And, for dinner, I made tofu stir fry with broccoli and carrots…yum…finally a more normal sized meal that filled me – gave me some hope that maybe I could get over this low energy and make it through the week.

Day 4

Today, I had a morning meeting and they offered coffee and munchkins! Yahoo! Iam becoming dependent on the good nature of others to fill me up!

With all of us doing this Challenge and buzzing around talking about food at United Way, I am finding that when one’s basic needs are threatened, the sense of time horizon is different. We focus on food and NOW! The end of the month…I don’t really want to think about! I am ever more mindful of those who don’t have the security that next week, more food will be available. To think long term can be a lot easier for someone with more economic security. I am very grateful.

On another note, previously to the Food Stamp Challenge, I committed to make chocolate chip cookies as an auction item for our own internal United Way fundraising campaign. The recipe involves eggs, sugar, flour, chocolate chips, etc (I don’t want to give away the recipe!). Those ingredients were not part of my $21 purchase for the Food Stamp Challenge! So, once again, I needed to go into debt. I estimate that the ingredients cost at least $7.

What if … I was on food stamps and my child had a birthday. What do I do to celebrate the birthday? Assuming that I even had the time, what if I just wanted to make a batch of cookies for him/her to bring into school? That would put me into debt!

Debt after Day 4: $20.11