A food stamp challenge is a trend in the United States popularized by religious groups, community activists and food pantries in which a family of means chooses to purchase food using only the monetary equivalent of what a family that size would receive in federal food stamps. In 2007, this amounted to US$3 per person per day.
CNN reporter Sean Callebs did an experiment where he spent the month of February 2009 eating only as much food as what a person could get with the maximum possible amount of food stamps. Since he was living in New Orleans, Louisiana, this amounted to $176. At the end of the experiment, he said that he had eaten pretty well, and that the biggest drawback was a social one, not a nutritional one, because he could not go out to eat at restaurants with friends.
In St. Louis, Missouri, Food Outreach executive director Greg Lukeman has led a food stamp challenge since 2008, during September "Hunger Action Month" to bring awareness of the nonprofit organization's clients. Community members, Food Outreach staff and supporters, area politicians, and members of the local media have participated and blog about the experience.
In October 2010, a new documentary Food Stamped, where a couple live on a food stamp budget for a week, premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival.
Famous quotes containing the words food, stamp and/or challenge:
“Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to live i’ th’ sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleased with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Only a still place
and perhaps some outer horror
some hideousness to stamp beauty,
a mark no changing it now
on our hearts.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“The very best reason parents are so special . . . is because we are the holders of a priceless gift, a gift we received from countless generations we never knew, a gift that only we now possess and only we can give to our children. That unique gift, of course, is the gift of ourselves. Whatever we can do to give that gift, and to help others receive it, is worth the challenge of all our human endeavor.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)