Vegas
04-21-2007, 10:59 PM
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2007/04/21/news/news09042107.txt
SALEM - Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his wife, Mary Oberst, are used to being served the best their bountiful state has to offer: Fresh salmon from the Columbia River, huckleberries and mushrooms foraged from the slopes of the Cascade mountains, even beer made with local hops from the state's many craft breweries.
But next week, it's goodbye salmon, hello canned tuna for Kulongoski and Oberst, who will spend just $3 a day apiece on their meals, $42 in all, to match the amount spent by the average food stamp recipient in Oregon.
“My wife came up to me and said, ‘Either you or the dog is going on a diet,'” Kulongoski quipped while announcing the food stamp challenge at a recent event in Portland, and inviting others to join in. “I lost.”
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Oregon's first couple are the latest, and the most-high profile people yet, to take part in a “food stamp challenge,” a growing trend sponsored by religious groups, community activists and food pantries across the country. The goal is to walk the proverbial mile in the steps of those who rely on food stamps to feed a family, to kindle both awareness, and, hopefully, empathy.
“It really re-energized me to be so much more conscious of what people are going through,” said Sister Mary Scullion, the executive director of a Philadelphia nonprofit that works with the homeless, who did the food-stamp challenge last year. “It's about understanding the limited choices people have, and how money gives you choices.”
The challenge comes at a politically delicate juncture for the food stamp program.
The Bush administration has proposed several cuts to the program, among them taking away food stamps from about 185,000 people who qualify only because they receive other non-cash government assistance. The Department of Agriculture budget, as proposed, would also eliminate a program that gives boxes of food to nearly half a million seniors each month.
The administration has proposed some changes hailed by hunger advocates, like excluding retirement savings from income limits, and setting aside money to encourage food stamp recipients to purchase more fresh produce.
Kulongoski is in Washington, D.C., this week, and plans to lobby Congress to restore the cuts.
Those who've done the challenge say it can leave you both physically enervated and mentally exhilarated. They say shopping on such a tight budget requires plenty of planning, a reliance on inexpensive staples like legumes, beans, rice and peanut butter, and forgoing more expensive fresh fruit, vegetables and protein.
Meeting friends for a slice of pizza or a cup of coffee becomes a nearly unaffordable luxury. Cheating by using staples already on hand, like ketchup or olive oil, is discouraged.
“On the spiritual side, when I did eat, I was more present,” said Connecticut state Sen. Jonathan Harris, D-West Hartford, who just finished three weeks on food stamp funds. “Usually I'm watching TV, shoveling things in, not thinking that I am blessed.”
Like Kulongoski, Harris said, he's lucky to have a car to get to a grocery store and a kitchen in which to prepare food. And like Kulongoski will have to do, he had to resist the free goodies at state receptions and business lunches.
The experience has helped him as a policy maker, Harris said, in discussions such as whether to expand the earned-income tax credit in Connecticut.
“I personally felt how a few extra hundred dollars in the bank to supplement my nutrition would make a major difference in my life,” he said.
Hunger has been a major issue in Oregon, ever since the state was embarrassed by having the country's highest hunger rate in 2000. Hunger groups launched an effort to get more people signed up for food stamps, and the state's ranking fell to 17th.
Kulongoski, too, has made it a priority, regularly serving at soup kitchens and helping to unload donations at the state's food pantries.
Karen Wilson, director of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition against Hunger, said Kulongoski's support of the food stamp challenge is particularly notable, given the time of year.
“People only seem to focus on hunger and food insecurity around the holidays,” she said. “People are hungry year-round.”
SALEM - Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and his wife, Mary Oberst, are used to being served the best their bountiful state has to offer: Fresh salmon from the Columbia River, huckleberries and mushrooms foraged from the slopes of the Cascade mountains, even beer made with local hops from the state's many craft breweries.
But next week, it's goodbye salmon, hello canned tuna for Kulongoski and Oberst, who will spend just $3 a day apiece on their meals, $42 in all, to match the amount spent by the average food stamp recipient in Oregon.
“My wife came up to me and said, ‘Either you or the dog is going on a diet,'” Kulongoski quipped while announcing the food stamp challenge at a recent event in Portland, and inviting others to join in. “I lost.”
Advertisement
Oregon's first couple are the latest, and the most-high profile people yet, to take part in a “food stamp challenge,” a growing trend sponsored by religious groups, community activists and food pantries across the country. The goal is to walk the proverbial mile in the steps of those who rely on food stamps to feed a family, to kindle both awareness, and, hopefully, empathy.
“It really re-energized me to be so much more conscious of what people are going through,” said Sister Mary Scullion, the executive director of a Philadelphia nonprofit that works with the homeless, who did the food-stamp challenge last year. “It's about understanding the limited choices people have, and how money gives you choices.”
The challenge comes at a politically delicate juncture for the food stamp program.
The Bush administration has proposed several cuts to the program, among them taking away food stamps from about 185,000 people who qualify only because they receive other non-cash government assistance. The Department of Agriculture budget, as proposed, would also eliminate a program that gives boxes of food to nearly half a million seniors each month.
The administration has proposed some changes hailed by hunger advocates, like excluding retirement savings from income limits, and setting aside money to encourage food stamp recipients to purchase more fresh produce.
Kulongoski is in Washington, D.C., this week, and plans to lobby Congress to restore the cuts.
Those who've done the challenge say it can leave you both physically enervated and mentally exhilarated. They say shopping on such a tight budget requires plenty of planning, a reliance on inexpensive staples like legumes, beans, rice and peanut butter, and forgoing more expensive fresh fruit, vegetables and protein.
Meeting friends for a slice of pizza or a cup of coffee becomes a nearly unaffordable luxury. Cheating by using staples already on hand, like ketchup or olive oil, is discouraged.
“On the spiritual side, when I did eat, I was more present,” said Connecticut state Sen. Jonathan Harris, D-West Hartford, who just finished three weeks on food stamp funds. “Usually I'm watching TV, shoveling things in, not thinking that I am blessed.”
Like Kulongoski, Harris said, he's lucky to have a car to get to a grocery store and a kitchen in which to prepare food. And like Kulongoski will have to do, he had to resist the free goodies at state receptions and business lunches.
The experience has helped him as a policy maker, Harris said, in discussions such as whether to expand the earned-income tax credit in Connecticut.
“I personally felt how a few extra hundred dollars in the bank to supplement my nutrition would make a major difference in my life,” he said.
Hunger has been a major issue in Oregon, ever since the state was embarrassed by having the country's highest hunger rate in 2000. Hunger groups launched an effort to get more people signed up for food stamps, and the state's ranking fell to 17th.
Kulongoski, too, has made it a priority, regularly serving at soup kitchens and helping to unload donations at the state's food pantries.
Karen Wilson, director of the Greater Philadelphia Coalition against Hunger, said Kulongoski's support of the food stamp challenge is particularly notable, given the time of year.
“People only seem to focus on hunger and food insecurity around the holidays,” she said. “People are hungry year-round.”