Clergy, politicians find out how far food stamps go
Religious leaders and members of Congress were getting a firsthand
taste of what it's like to eat on $4.50 a day as part of the Food Stamp
Challenge in Washington. In the challenge, participants try to live for
a week on the average amount received by people who use food stamps,
known as the federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program
(SNAP).
"We do need to put ourselves sometimes in other people's
shoes so we can really feel what they have to go through every day,"
said Donna Christensen, a Democrat who represents the U.S. Virgin
Islands as a nonvoting delegate. The Food Stamp Challenge is part of
Fighting Poverty with Faith, an annual interfaith initiative endorsed by
50 national religious organizations.
This year is a particularly
critical one for the cause, faith leaders said, because Congress is
considering significant cuts to the more than $64 billion program.
