Food Stamps

Food stamp challenges are a great way to raise awareness of hunger problems in your area. Many programs have been started to see how long people could really last on a budget designed around the use of food stamps. What people find is that they have a hard time buying healthy food on a food stamp budget, which doesn’t allow much more than $1 a day to make three square meals for an entire family. According to Utahans Against Hunger, more than half of those who receive food stamps are children and eight percent of recipients are over 60 years of age. In order to help fight hunger in America, awareness and advocacy can vastly impact the way that politicians and policymakers view our nation’s food stamp program and provide more assistance to those who may not have enough to eat tonight. It’s simple to start one of these fundraisers and continue the awareness campaign that has touched many communities already.

1. Challenge Development

Write down some goals for your food stamp challenge. Do you just want to illustrate the issues with food stamp policy? What are these issues and why are they important to your community? Who is going to be participating and how are you going to advertise the challenge? Do you also want to partner up with a fundraiser? How long do you want your food stamp challenge to last? Typical food stamp challenges are for one to two weeks. Food stamp challenges are all about looking at the policies in your state and how they affect you locally. Doing some research by talking to local food banks and food stamp offices may definitely benefit your cause. You’ll also need to define the parameters of your food stamp challenge, such as how much can be spent each day and what you are allowed to buy during the food stamp challenge.

2. Participation Guidelines

The key to any food stamp challenge is declaring the participation guidelines. Those who do want to sign up for the challenge need to pledge that they will not spend more than a certain dollar amount on food each day. Every state’s average food stamp allotment per day is different, so you will need to get this figure from a food stamp office or look up answers online. In general, it is under $5. During that time, participants also have to only purchase food that is eligible for purchase on food stamps. Participants cannot eat any food that they already have at home during this time. It must be food that they purchased after starting the challenge. You also cannot get free food from any friends or relatives. The participants must keep a daily journal in order to log each meal and talk about their experiences from day to day during the food stamp challenge.

3. Partner Up

Whether you are advocating through your school or you simply want to help a local food bank, you can have a lasting impact on organizations locally by partnering with them, using the challenge to help a fundraiser. It may also be helpful to partner with a local news station or large group at your college or high school, so that you can gain some publicity for your cause. Local businesses may also want to help and participate in the challenge.

4. Go Public

Now it’s time to create banners, posters, and flyers to advertise your cause. You can set up a booth on a college campus or at a local grocery store that is friendly with food banks. You need to set up your booth in an area that is well populated and can reach different families. If you want to get really involved, you can set up a website with a public Word Press so that people can share their experiences and see what others are doing during the challenge. You can also take donations for food banks and take an optional signup sheet with you, so that you can contact participants through e-mail about follow-up rallies and advocacy events. Also, don’t forget pins and stickers that advertise your cause. Participants can wear these to pass on the message and also show that they are participating.