FSAW

About Food Stamps

Did you know that the 27.8 million* Americans who qualify for food stamps receive only $3 worth per day?

The food stamp program in the United States is covered by the Farm Bill, which is currently under congressional consideration. The minimum benefits for food stamps have remained the same since the 1970s, at a mere $21 per week per individual.

This amount is astoundingly low when you consider that price of the following generic brand items at our local Safeway:

Loaf of white bread - $2.99

16 oz tub of ham - $3.99

3 lb bag of apples - $3.99

Gallon of whole milk - $3.99

16 oz bag of pasta - $1.20

26 oz pasta sauce - $2.50

12 oz box of macaroni and cheese - $2.50

Since the end of last year, Congresspeople and individuals across the nation have undertaken the Food Stamp Challenge - where they simulate the experience of being a food stamp-dependent American and live on $21 of food for a week. These efforts have been publicized on personal blogs and news articles, bringing awareness to an issue that has been neglected for too long.

STOP is bringing the Food Stamp Challenge to Old Union on Wednesday, May 7th. Try living on a food stamp budget for a day. Join us for lunch from 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM and for dinner from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM. Learn more about the issue and what you can do.

*http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/31/america/31foodstamps.php

All information about the Food Stamps Challenge (May 7) can be found on the FSC page.

About the Food Stamps Awareness Week

Twenty-eight million Americans have incomes low enough to qualify them for food stamps. Food Stamps Awareness Week is STOP's initiative to draw attention to their lives and struggles and raise awareness of the hunger that still exists in the world's richest country. Throughout the week, academics, nonprofit leaders, and community activists will share their perspectives on food stamps and hunger in America, and on Wednesday, Stanford students themselves will see what it feels like to live on $3 a day -- the average food stamps budget -- during the first Food Stamps Challenge ever held on a college campus. These events seek to provide Stanford students a forum to think and talk about one of the most urgent and overlooked issues in America today, and to act as a springboard for student action to end hunger at home.

Events