Christensen lives a week on food stamps
Published: November 4, 2011
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ST. THOMAS - To put herself in the shoes of those who live in poverty, V.I. Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen spent a week living only on the national average weekly food stamp allotment - $31.50.
The National Food Stamp Challenge, organized by Fighting Poverty with Faith, started Oct. 27 and ended Thursday.
"I was hungry most of the time. I'm hungry right now," Christensen told The Daily News on Wednesday.
The lesson she learned from the experience?
"That it's hard to live on food stamps," she said.
The National Food Stamp Challenge was created four years ago by several faith organizations to bring national attention to poverty in America by encouraging people to share in the struggle for one week. Christensen was one of a number of Washington lawmakers who participated.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, formerly known as the food stamp program, provides assistance to more than 45 million people nationwide.
In the Virgin Islands, 9,922 households - 23,684 individuals - participate in SNAP.
To be eligible for SNAP benefits, an applicant's net monthly income must be no more than the federal poverty guidelines. In Fiscal Year 2011, a household of three could earn no more than $1,384 in net income per month.
According to Lydia Rhymer, director of support services at the V.I. Human Services Department, the income requirement was raised for FY 2012 to $1,545.
Rhymer said $4.2 million in SNAP benefits were paid out to Virgin Islands residents in FY 2011.
While Christensen had to live on $31.50 - the national average used in the challenge - V.I. residents with no income receive about $64.25 per week, Rhymer said.
Christensen bought most of her food in Washington, D.C., where food prices tend to be less expensive. When she traveled to St. Croix for Bull and Bread Day, the delegate brought food with her that she had made.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture establishes the monthly SNAP benefit amounts, which are higher for people who live in the territory than those who reside on the mainland because food prices here are higher.
Two of Christensen's staffers, Shanna O'Reilly and Shelley Thomas, also participated in the challenge.
"Once I decided I was going to do it, I realized I really had to plan," Christensen said. "It was very hard, and it took a lot of planning to be able to stay within that $31.50."
She spent more time grocery shopping than usual, shopping around for the best prices and thinking about each purchase she made.
The first challenge was getting her daily coffee fix. She knew she could not afford to buy the $6.99 can of ground coffee she usually would, but she found a package of seven single serve packets for 99 cents.
She also began the week by buying a whole chicken, and she used every single part of it by the week's end. Out of one chicken she made sandwiches, several dinners and soup. On the last day of the week, she used the gizzards and back to make chicken and rice.
A single potato was stretched out across three meals - french fries, mashed potatoes and a sauté with onions and leftover vegetables.
She was also humbled by the choices she had to make. Wanting to make a soup with bok choy, she stood in the supermarket knowing she could not afford the $1.99 for the whole head. She asked a store employee if she could take a few leaves off a head and pay for them, but the employee was not sure and Christensen did not want to bother the store manager - so she left without the vegetable.
She did end up using a few leaves left over from her daughter, but calculated the "purchase" at 60 cents on her food budget.
"I did not buy any food out," she said.
The delegate packed her lunches, even bringing the food she made with her from Washington to St. Croix. When she got stuck in the Miami airport for six hours, she did not have the luxury of buying a snack from one of the many food vendors. Instead she snacked on two free crackers and a small Gouda cheese.
The only other handouts she included in her week's menu were items available to the public - a bun and fruit punch at church, and bull and bread at the Liberty Day celebration on Tuesday.
In addition to coffee, she drank water and bought unsweetened Kool-Aid. The challenge allowed the use of seasonings and condiments. She took sweetener packets from various places that she used to make the Kool-Aid and sweeten her coffee.
With the potential for cuts to SNAP funding, Christensen said it is important for the country to experience what people who rely on food stamps experience every day.
"These are programs that are always on the chopping block," Christensen said.
She said if the "super committee" recently formed in Congress to cut at least $1.2 trillion in the next 10 years is successful, SNAP and other safety net programs will be saved. If they fail, the programs likely will face serious and damaging cuts, she said.
"This is one to put ourselves in other people's shoes, to see what it's like to live on food stamps. But it's also to make a statement on poverty and to protect the SNAP program to make sure that it is fully funded and to protect all the safety net programs," Christensen said.
This week, the delegate signed onto a resolution to cut poverty in half in the next 10 years.
"Poverty is at the root of the health disparities that I work on every day," she said. "If we're ever going to close the gaps in health care, we have to deal with poverty."
Living on such a tight budget, it was hard to stay healthy and hard to stave off real hunger, Christensen said. She said she can now fully understand the link between poverty and health.
"I'm sure that by the time you get two-thirds through the month, they come down to the end of the month short, and that's very destructive to health and well being," she said.
- Contact reporter Aldeth Lewin at 774-8772 ext. 311 or email alewin@dailynews.vi.Wednesday
Oatmeal
Instant coffee singles
Soy milk
Loaf of whole wheat bread
Cut whole chicken
1 banana
1 pear
1 baking potato
Total: $14.52
Thursday
2 tomatoes
1 avocado
Eggs
Lettuce
1 can of black beans
1 small can of corn
Total: $6.32
Friday
1 onion
2 Kool-Aid packets
Total: $1.13
Sunday
2 small potatoes
Small piece of pumpkin
1 small can tomato sauce
Small pack of spaghetti
bok choy
Small piece of beef
Total: $6.03
Tuesday
Rice
Total: $1.49
Wednesday
1 banana
1 tangerine
Total: $1.22
Thursday
Green pepper
Total: 42 cents
Ending balance: 37 cents
V.I. Delegate Donna Christensen's Food Stamp Challenge menu
Thursday
Breakfast: oatmeal, coffee
Lunch: chicken salad sandwich and water
Dinner: fried chicken thigh and leg and fries, corn and water
Friday
Breakfast: oatmeal, coffee
Lunch: chicken and egg salad sandwiches and water
Dinner: 2 chicken wings and potato/corn/black bean mix with avocado
Saturday
(Traveling to St. Croix with chicken breast, leg and thigh, four slices of bread, coffee singles and oatmeal)
Breakfast: oatmeal, banana and water
Lunch: free sample crackers and a small Gouda, salad, water, Kool-aid
Dinner: salad with chicken, lettuce, tomato, black beans, corn, avocado with mayonnaise, vinegar and Mexican seasoning, and Kool-Aid
Sunday
Breakfast: hardboiled egg sandwich with coffee, small bun and punch
Dinner: Chicken soup, one slice bread
Monday
Breakfast: oatmeal and coffee
Lunch: left over soup and water
Dinner: curried chicken breast, potato and pumpkin and Kool-Aid
Tuesday
Breakfast: scrambled egg sandwich on one slice of bread, coffee
Lunch: chicken soup
Dinner: bull and bread with Kool-Aid and water
Wednesday
Breakfast: oatmeal with coffee
Lunch: chicken sandwich
Dinner: chicken and rice with black beans, Kool-Aid and water
Thursday
Breakfast: egg sandwich, tangerine
Snack: banana
Lunch: chicken and rice with black beans
Dinner: braised beef, mashed potatoes, pumpkin, Kool-Aid, water
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