Tony and Dolly Ellis

By Ed Nicholson

Yesterday was the final day of a week of living on a food budget of $25 a week (what food stamp recipients receive) as part of the United Way of Northwest Arkansas/ Northwest  Arkansas Food Bank $25 Grocery Challenge.  I posted my menu and food costs here, for anyone interested. 

I wrapped up my seven days of the food stamp budget diet last night. A few parting thoughts:

In a real-world sense, it's not particularly difficult to do this for a week. But that's like running 100 yards and saying, "Running a marathon wouldn't be so hard." Living it would take its toll.

I had distinct advantages that made it easier for me. 
I had some basic cooking skills (and some good recipes) passed to me by parents who grew up in the Depression and always had a garden. My wife, Ginger, also a great cook, went along with me. We have a kitchen (an alarming number of low income families don't).
I can shop. I know the store with the cheapest groceries in town, and I have the transportation to get there.
I really wanted to do this. I thought a lot about how to make it work. I knew it was going to end in a week. And I'm looking forward to a big dinner with a glass of wine tonight.

I mentioned the high price of good nutrition in an earlier post.  Lisa Goddard from the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas posted an excellent article on their blog yesterday with an item-by-item shopping list comparison showing how people on a budget are constrained to less-healthful choices.  It's easy for us to be food elitists.  While local, fresh and organic are nice ideals for those of us who can afford them, they're simply not options--at least at this point--for people living with food insecurity.  Consider this if you're prone to pontificate on  food choices. 

I'm reminded by this experiment that I eat and drink too much.  Too much sugar. Too much fat. Too many beers.  I feel better after a week, and have lost three pounds. I'm thinking of repeating the experiment on occasion, just to recalibrate my consumption habits.   But I have no doubt that after more than a week, it wouldn't be long before I started seeing negative effects from the limited food choices available.

Food plays such an amazing role in our lives. It's a big part of how we celebrate. How we grieve. How we court and bond. It's at the heart of so many relationships, beginning with our sitting at the family table.  If food were confined merely to the role of sustanence, our lives would be so less rich.

Still with me?.  If so, I urge you to consider getting involved in the fight against hunger.  In the richest country in the world, even in these uncertain economic times, there's no excuse for anyone going hungry. 

How to get  inovolved:
Northwest Arkansas Food Bank
Feeding America (formerly named America's Second Harvest).
Share Our Strength--National organization with a focus on ending childhood hunger

We're taking Fridays to remind  people there are kids who depend on the school lunch program for their nutrition. We've asked our friends on the front lines of hunger relief to help tell their stories.

Guest post by Myrita Craig, Freestore Foodbank, Cincinnati

“One boy told me he had to spend a weekend with an uncle who had no food, and he was so glad he had taken his Power Pack with him so that he had his own breakfast and lunch food – he may not have eaten otherwise.”  Power Pack site coordinator. 

In the Greater Cincinnati region which includes 20 counties in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, the FreestoreFoodbank sees the daily struggles of childhood hunger, and the number of children that often go without food is distressing.  As the region’s food bank, we have started the Power Pack and Kids Cafe programs to ensure that as many children as possible have enough food to eat when not at school.

The Power Pack program sends children home with nutritious, shelf stable snacks for the weekends, and currently, we're giving over 2,900 Power Packs per month in 30 schools. Schools that are eligible for this program must have 85% participation rate in free/reduced lunch programs.  There are so many qualified schools qualify that would like to join the program, and we are continually trying to expand in order to keep up with demand.

By serving over 9,200 hot meals per month at 15 after school sites, the Kids Café program sends children home with a full belly in anticipation that they may not be fed until they return to school the next day.  Hunger is a harsh reality that many children face, and there is an epidemic need for programs like these.

Of course, we can say much about our own work, but sometimes it’s best just to let those on the front lines speak for themselves.  Here are just a few of many stories from our school site coordinators who participate in our Power Pack program:

"I added a developmentally challenged Preschool student to the program today.  He was asked in class yesterday what he would do if he had $100, and he answered "Buy bread."  He cries when he gets on the bus to leave school because he knows he will be hungry at home.  We are so lucky to have this program to make sure that students do not go hungry."

“One of the kids in the program is new to this school, and he recently wrote a letter to his teachers to tell them how much he loves it here and how “good” we are to him. He said he feels loved because they care that he gets to eat.  When he left before break he told me “I love you” when he got his food – this is NOT the usual we see from this boy.  The program is making a difference for these children.”

Please feel free to visit www.freestorefoodbank.org for more information about our work to end hunger and further self-reliance for those in need in our community.

This space available. Do you have similar stories?  Comment here.

 

photo by Tortoro! Creative Commons 

By Ed Nicholson

I'm currently in day six of the United  Way of Northwest  Arkansas/ Northwest Arkansas Food Bank $25 Grocery Challenge, in which participants are living on a food budget of $25 per person a week (what food stamp recipients receive).  

My Dad's a pretty good cook. Because Mom worked her tail off at a job that kept her away from home on occassion, kitchen duties fell to him frequently, and he didn't shirk them.  Pinto beans and cornbread were one of his go-to meals.  He didn't use a recipe for either; just started throwing things in the pot and pans. It always ended up good.

In another lifetime, when I was a less-than-prosperous musician, being friends with dried legumes served me well. 

So Sunday night, on the second day of this experiment, we had beans and cornbread at our house.  I had leftovers last night.  We also made some bean dip (beans, cumin, a little Rotel and vinegar, all smashed together).  And we still have some left.  At $3.00 for the pot of beans and $1.50 for a cornbread made with real butter and buttermilk, that's pretty good value.

Here's how I do beans:
Soak 2 lbs. of pintos overnight.  Drain & rinse.  Add water, a big onion chopped, 4 cloves of chopped garlic, salt & pepper.  We always add some pork (ham, salt pork, bacon, etc.--here I had about 6 oz. of leftover pulled pork from a shoulder I'd smoked the week before).  Additional seasoning to taste. I add hot sauce. Liquid smoke is good. Cover & cook low and slow all day. 

It's no wonder that beans are a staple the world 'round. They're rich in protein and a great source of dietary fiber, to offset all the carbs and starch you're going to get with the rest of this diet.

By the way, at 87, Dad doesn't cook much any more.  But he can still throw down on a great pot of beans.  Thanks, Dad.

 

By Ed Nicholson

I'm currently in day five of the United  Way of Northwest  Arkansas/ Northwest Arkansas Food Bank $25 Grocery Challenge, in which participants are living on a food budget of $25 per person a week (what food stamp recipients receive).  

My grandmother, or as we called her, Nana (someday I'm gonna write a book called 1001 Names for Your Grandparents), raised five kids in dirt-poor northwest Arkansas back in the 30s and 40's.  Like most other Depression and WWII-era moms, she had to make things stretch.

She had a hamburger casserole recipe (doesn't every family have one) that ended up on our table quite often as I was growing up.  Now I know why.  It's cheap, filling and nutritious.   With ingredients from Aldi, it'll generate eight servings for $6.64. My wife, my daughter and I ate it for dinner last night, I ate it for lunch today, and there's still a lot left. It re-heats in the microwave quite nicely.

Here goes:
375 degree oven.
In a buttered 12-in. casserole dish, layer:  5 small potatoes (we like red ones); 3 large  sliced carrots; 2 stalks thin-sliced celery; 1 can green peas (reserve liquid);  2 onions, thin-sliced. 1 pound browned hamburger meat;   Add liquid from peas, along with 1/2 c. water to 2 cans tomato soup and pour over the whole mess. Season to taste (garlic powder is cheap and tasty). 
Cook for 1 hr. 45 min.

I'd not eaten it in years and had forgotten how good it tastes.  Sometimes the best things in life are incredibly simple. But you gotta have a kitchen and the time, energy and ability to cook--things that might not be available to everyone on this budget.

 

By Ed Nicholson

Today is the fourth day of my week of living on a food stamp food budget in the United Way of NW AR/ NW AR Food Bank $25 Grocery Challenge. 

In response to yesterday's post about the challenges of eating nutritiously on a budget, our friend Jeff Wiedner from Share Our Strength reminded us that David Davenport* recently posted a link to a New York Times story (see how social media works) about how much more expensive it is to eat healthful, nutritious food than higher calorie foods with fewer nutrients. 

Ever hear anyone say, "How can he be hungry? He's forty pounds overweight.  He could drop a few."  

I know how.

Yesterday's main course at lunch, after my apple, was Ramen noodles (something I never ate much in my days as a low-income, semi-working musician).  At 18 cents a large serving, it's probably one of the cheapest ways to fill up. But it's crammed with sodium and calories. 

As of yesterday morning, I'd lost two pounds from the first two days of the experiment.  This morning when I weighed, I'd gained a pound and a half back.

It's ironic that food insecurity and obesity often cohabitate.  But given the economic food choices, it's not surprising. 

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* Big hat tip to David Davenport, CEO of the phenomenally progressive Capital Area Food Bank of Texas.  David  lived on this  food budget for a month. Talk about a guy who puts his money where his mouth is!

By Ed Nicholson

I'm trying something this week.

For the past couple of years, in working with hunger relief organizations around the country, I've become aware of an interesting experiment, conducted to make its participants realize how difficult it might be to live full-time on the what the typical food stamp recipient gets--$21-25 a week.

As far as I know, the experiment began as the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge, issued by hunger relief organizations to members of Congress as they were considering the nutrition title of the most recent version of the Farm Bill.  Some of the members particpated and posted their observations.

David Davenport, CEO of Austin's Capital Area Food Bank, did it for a month (hat tip, David!)

Six inspiring food bloggers from the Bay Area did it in September of '08, and worked collectively on a blog that has perhaps the best collection of advice, information and recipes for anyone trying this.

This week, I agreed to participate, along with several others from our community in the $25 Grocery Challenge, being issued by United Way of Northwest Arkansas, and the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank (Feeding America member). 

I'll be posting my observations here, as well as cross-posting, along with other participants, to the Live United blog.

Should be interesting. 

Have you done this?  We'd love to hear your observations in the comments.

This is the second week we're taking Friday to remind people there are kids who go hungry on the weekend.  David Proctor, director of communications for the Idaho Food Bank sent this in after our call for your stories last week.

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Too often low-income children depend on school breakfast and lunch programs to eat during the week and then must fend for themselves during the lean weekends. The Idaho Foodbank’s BackPack Program distributes backpacks filled with food to children in need every Friday so they, and their families, will have some nourishment on Saturdays and Sundays.

This story came to us from a teacher in Wilder, where we recently inaugurated a BackPack Program. Names have been withheld to protect the child’s privacy.

He was a little guy, the number-one child on the teacher’s priority list of kids she knew needed food assistance. The teacher took him aside and explained that she had something for him, and then showed him the backpack full of food.

He looked as if he had won the lottery. "I get to have all this food? It’s for me? I get to eat this weekend?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, "but remember to bring the backpack back on Monday."

He was crestfallen and confused. "I have to bring it all back on Monday?"

"No," she explained. "We’re going to fill it up again and you can take it home again next Friday."

"I get to eat every weekend?" he asked, his eyes as big as plates.

"Yes," she told him. "Every weekend."

"My mom’s gonna cry," he said.

The next Monday the boy was the first one back to school, backpack in hand, and asked how many days it would be until he could have more.

"It was incredible. I never felt more like a fairy godmother delivering gold to these kids," the teacher told us. "I loved it."

We need more stories or testimony to illustrate this point. Comment here or email me.

 

A Tyson/LULAC donation in San Antonio

By Ed Nicholson     

For the next few days, northwest Arkansas will be hosting the national board of directors of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) for their quarterly meeting.  They'll spend some of their time at Tyson headquarters tomorrow, part  of which will be devoted to a truckload food donation to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.

Tyson and LULAC have had a partnership with Feeding America (formerly named America's Second Harvest) for two years, in which food donations are made to Feeding America food banks that serve Hispanic communities. 

For many people, their idea of "food bank" is where a hungry person goes to get a meal.  Those in hunger relief know that's not how the system works.  True food banks typically serve as distribution warehouses for a network that more than often includes hundreds of agencies--food pantries, feeding operations, child and senior care facilities--that in turn work on the ground to meet the needs of those at risk of hunger.

One of the goals of the partnership is to allow local LULAC councils to become catalysts in creating relationships between agencies serving those at risk of hunger in local communities and the Feeding America food banks.  Most of the time the LULAC councils are closely connected with agencies serving Hispanic communities. However--for a variety of reasons--many of these agenices aren't yet aware of the great potential in a relationship with their local food bank.

Tomorrow morning, the LULAC national leadership will join Tyson senior managers in making a joint donation of a truckload of food to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. In turn a part of that donation will be specifically targeted to agencies that serve Hispanic communities in northwest Arkansas.  The local LULAC council, which is already helping introduce agencies to the food bank, will be on hand as a critical part of that donation.

We believe this is another example of how groups working together can make the emergency food distribution system stronger, to serve those who are truly in need.

 

By Ed Nicholson                                                                           photo by eyeliam--Creative Commons

A colleague of mine came into the office last year with a compelling story.  Her eight year-old grandson frequently spent time with her on weekends. Often he was accompanied by a good friend: a normal looking kid; clean, well-dressed, well-mannered.. The friend had a voracious appetite, eating just about everything in his path.  When my colleague made a lighthearted comment about how much he could pack away, he said, “We don’t eat much at my house on the weekend.”   Turns out, life was pretty tough for this kid.  His single dad was making some choices that didn’t exactly put nutrition at the top of the priority list for his family.

Unfortunately, this kind of story is way too common in our land of plenty.

It’s Friday afternoon here in the Ozarks.  Along about the time this posts, school kids around the country will be eating lunch.  For some of them, it will be the last good meal they’ll have until Monday.  If  I’m reading the charts correctly, over 15 million kids participate in the free school lunch program.  For a lot of these kids, the school lunch program is their lifeline; there just aren’t three squares on the weekends and holidays. 

So tomorrow night, if you’re eating a nice Valentine’s Day dinner, think about the kid that’s not.

For the next few Fridays, we’re devoting this space and some of our social media capital to reminding the world of the kids who don’t eat on the weekends.  We know there are lots of stories about these kids out there.  If  you have one  and would like to tell it here, leave us a comment, and we’ll get with you.  You can guest post, or just let us tell it.

Meanwhile, there are lots of ways you can help.  Go to the Share Our Strength or Feeding America web sites.  Or go visit your local food bank. 

No kid should dread the weekend.