Anyone who has ever worked in an office knows that it’s a dangerous place for dieters. There is always someone with a bottomless candy bowl and, savvy meeting organizers often use pizza or donuts to entice people. Free food can be especially difficult to navigate during the Hunger Challenge. The next time your stomach rumbles take a moment to remember why you took the Hunger Challenge in the first place.

I’ve gotten many questions from people about the $7 a day allotment for the Hunger Challenge and why a two-person household gets $12 and not $14, etc. etc.

I’m no expert on Washington’s Basic Food Program (what we call food stamps in this state), but Liz Jaquette at the nonprofit WithinReach is. So I gave Liz a call and got a brief, but illuminating, education on food stamps. Here’s what I learned.

$7 a day is the MAXIMUM benefit for a single…

As we come to end of day four, this has been the most interesting Hunger Challenge to date.  It has sparked criticism and debate and made us examine what the Challenge is and what it should be.  While some of the discussion has been difficult, I am heartened that so many people care so passionately about hunger in this country.  It tells me that we can come together and we can sustain this movement to end hunger in our community.

The United Way created…

Chicken Soup Brigade was formed in the early 1980’s by a group of volunteers who were determined to regularly bring good food and a friendly face to people struggling with HIV and AIDS. Nearly 30 years later, the program — now run by Lifelong AIDS Alliance — remains committed to helping meet the nutritional and social needs of people fighting illness and isolation. And guess what?

One of my favorite aspects of Hunger Action Week is learning about some of the incredible people and projects in our community. A great example of this is the Clean Greens Farm and Market. KOMO’s Conor Christofferson filed an excellent report on the agency and the people that make it possible here. Thanks Conor and thank you KOMO for sharing these great stories!

Note: On day 4 of Hunger Action Week, I received this tweet about the Hunger Challenge: “@UnitedWayKC a bunch of anoretic bloggers eat beans 4 wk & then write how mean poor people are in response. this helps strving families HOW?” I thought for a awhile about how I should respond. Then I wrote, “What is about the Hunger Challenge that makes you angry?” and invited the person to send me an e-mail fully explaining her position. Her name is Marisa Miller and this is…

Hunger Action Week and the Hunger Challenge have certainly captured attention in Seattle and King County.  Hundreds of people are taking the Challenge and sharing their experiences.  There has been push back as well.  There were some tweets about free food being offered at a Panda Express on the east side and a few participants may have partaken of the free fast food.  The Challenge has been called “poverty tourism” and “not like real life”.  Of course it’s not real life.  And this is…

Yes. It is possible to eat for $7 a day (that’s the maximum food stamp benefit for an individual, by the way). But chances are, if you have really, truly followed the rules of the Hunger Challenge you are starting to worry. You worry that you may not have enough food to get you through the next two days.

Eleven state representatives and senators mainly from King county (along with staff of legislators unable to attend) met with representatives from Boeing and United Way of King County as well as hunger advocates on March 22 to hear about a dynamic partnership to fight hunger in King County.

In February 2011, United Way was awarded a 2 year, $987,380 Hunger Free Communities grant from the US Department of Agriculture.  This amount was immediately leveraged by The Boeing Company with an $800,000 investment.  The funding partnership…

Note: I saw a tweet from Larissa Long that said, “As a former single mom of low income, I’m a bit offended by #HungerChallenge posts w/ complaints about giving up lattes & organic food.” I responded, and after chatting for a bit, I invited Larissa to share her viewpoint on our blog. Here is her guest post.

I couldn’t pay my bills. I was a single mother of two children, one with a disability. I longed to qualify for food stamps.

That was…