This post was written by guest blogger, Erin Milliren, an AmeriCorps volunteer with the Bridge to Basics program, a partnership between United Way of King County, Within Reach, the City of Seattle and Americorps 

Hi, my name is Erin Milliren. I am one of the four AmeriCorps service members who staff the Bridge to Basics outreach team. Based out of WithinReach in North Seattle, we travel all throughout King County. We visit food banks, public libraries, WorkSource offices and public service centers. At each site, we connect eligible community members with public benefits like food stamps, utility assistance and low cost medical options. As a team, we speak to an average of 1100 people and assist several dozen with applications for food stamps and state medical insurance (Children’s Medicaid, Pregnancy Medical).

This job is one that is full of incredibly rewarding experiences and interactions, but is also colored by the frustrations of working within an ever shrinking system of tax funded health programs. In the hundreds of hours I have spent at outreach, I have heard countless stories that detail the hardships of unemployment and underemployment, homelessness, and poverty. One client in particular, who is diabetic and experiencing homelessness, embodies the frightening dilemma that many adults face after they are cut from affordable insurance plans.

After finally getting in to see a dentist at one of the few free clinics in Seattle, Jane was informed that all of her teeth are rotten, and need to be pulled as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this means that she will need to find a way to pay for dentures. Too young to be covered by Medicare and having recently been cut from Washington’s Basic Health program, dentures are not an option. So, she has chosen to hold off on the extractions. Jane is very aware of the fact that there is an increasing chance of infection if she does not take care of this problem, and that an infection could affect her heart which is already compromised by the diabetes. When I met her, she was incredibly disheartened, and distrustful of me as a service provider.

Fortunately, I was able to connect Jane with Basic Food, and she received the maximum allotment of benefits, which is $200 per month. Even though she continues to struggle to save money for her teeth, Jane is at least able to use her food stamps to purchase healthy food which helps her control her diabetes. Also, I connected her with the Washington Prescription Drug Program which will hopefully make insulin more affordable.

I love working with the Bridge to Basics team especially because we offer tangible resources to community members who really need them. Help us assist other community members by remembering people like Jane when you vote. Keep them out of hospital emergency rooms by funding the type of services that provide medical services to low income adults.

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 person
Most single people on food stamps don’t get $7 a day. They get far less.

To qualify for food stamps, as a household of one, you need to make no more than $1,816 a month. If that seems like a lot for one month, keep in mind that equals an annual income of $21,792 (before taxes). Pretty meager.

At $1,816, a single person may likely receive as little as $16 in food stamps for an entire month, which comes out to about 52 cents a day.

To qualify for $7 a day in food stamps, you would have to be very low-income—as in $700 in monthly income. This means someone who is surviving on $8,000—or less—a year.

We wanted to make the Hunger Challenge a low barrier exercise for people so that’s why we set the allotment at the maximum benefit. We know that this doesn’t reflect the reality of most single people on food stamps, but the point of the Hunger Challenge isn’t to perfectly replicate the conditions of being poor and hungry. We want people to get a glimpse of what it’s like, and then be motivated to take action to help end hunger.

Each person in your household doesn’t get $7 a day for food stamps
For each additional person in a household, the calculation for food stamps benefit is less.

For example, if you have a two-person household, the maximum daily benefit you can get is $12, not $14.

The basis for food stamp allotments is the Thrifty Food Plan, put together by the United States Department of Agriculture. It dictates how much the feds think a family can get by on a month.

The federal government assumes that people share food within a household and so more people in your household does not always equal more money in food stamps. In other words, big families don’t get huge benefit amounts.

Every state’s food stamp program is different
Liz said that Washington is one of the few states that require people to be 200% below the federal poverty level to qualify for food stamps. In other states, you have to be “seriously, seriously” low-income to get them.

In addition, Liz said that other states want people to go through all of their resources before they apply for benefits. That means people are completely exhausting their savings, selling their assets and completely broke by the time they try to get food stamps.

That isn’t the case in Washington, which gives people a better chance of stabilizing. However, it hasn’t always been this way, and it definitely could change.

Resources
Obviously food stamps and public benefits in general are very complicated. If you want to learn more about the Washington Basic Food program, a good place to start is its website: http://foodhelp.wa.gov/basic_food.htm.

Another interesting tool is the Basic Food Benefit Estimator. This gives you a sense of what your food stamps benefit would be based on your household size, income and other factors.

You can also call the Family Health Hotline at 1.800.322.2588 to ask questions about food stamps and other benefits.

And Liz Jaquette of WithinReach has generously agreed to personally take questions at lizj@withinreachwa.org.

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 6 years ago.

I had a good job. I was a program director for a youth center. It was fulfilling, and the benefits covered the crucial therapy for my severely autistic son. But the pay for a rewarding job is, well…let’s say, meager.

I had to take a second job working as a cocktail waitress at a casino in the evenings. But it was the only way I could get by – and even that wasn’t always enough.

There were days when I wasn’t sure how to get to work because I had no money for gas. Where I lived, there was no public transportation. But the worst feeling was worrying about food. I made $50 more a year than the requirement to qualify for food stamps. To get by, we pretty much lived on tuna and Ramen.

I remember one day in particular when I went into the cupboard and there were only condiments.I started to cry. I had a few dollars ($5.00 to be exact) to last for two more days. I had a choice to buy food or gas so I could get work the next two days. I knew I had to go to work because I couldn’t afford the day off and I knew if I did call in this dilemma would come again in two weeks. I loaded my kids in the car went to the gas station and got $4 in gas. I took the extra dollar with me to the grocery store and bought a bag of tortilla chips. We literally lived off of chips for the next two days.

Many people in Seattle have taken on the United Way of King County’s Hunger Challenge. They’re living on only $7 a day – the amount of food stamps an individual would receive if they were considered low income. But for me, and many others who have been — are still in — a real life Hunger Challenge, living on $49 a week in food stamps sounds like a luxury.

I have read many blog posts and tweets chronicling the day-by-day “struggles” of people who’ve never been hungry and are participating in the Hunger Challenge for one week of their lives. To be honest, I found some of the posts offensive. Many people were complaining about the loss of their daily lattes and organic yogurts. Others were stating how they may have to cheat because it’s impossible to live off of that amount of money (isn’t that the point of the exercise?). I almost felt as if they were looking for sympathy for themselves.

Now, there are many very heart felt blogs pointing out how many people have to decide between eating and paying rent. Because I was one of those people I started to go back to the days of my struggles and realized how blessed I really am. Even though times were hard I was still very lucky. I had friends and family near by to help with childcare and a friend who took me in when I lost my home.

And I’ve been able to work my way out of that situation. Today, life is good. I have three healthy children, a great husband, nice home, a good job and food to eat every night. I am so grateful for everything I have.

I work for a wonderful organization called SeeYourImpact.org, and part of my daily work is getting food to people who are in even more dire straights than mine. Unlike in America where people are given resources like medicare and WIC, families across the world face an incomparable struggle to make it on their own. We partner with organizations (like United Way) to provide simple solutions, such as providing school lunches to children in southern India (which helps with immediate food security) and school fees in Guatemala (a good education provides food security for generations to come).

I don’t want anyone to feel that pain in their stomach from not having anything to eat, and I especially don’t want that for a child.

I’m glad the Hunger Challenge is giving people an opportunity to experience a life they’ve never had to (and hopefully will never have to) live. People struggling to get by don’t need sympathy. They do need your empathy – an empathy that hopefully leads to action. Consider donating the money you’re saving on food this week to help someone who’s Hunger Challenge won’t end on Friday. As someone who has briefly walked in their shoes, I can’t tell you how much your gift will mean.

And remember. The next time you buy your $4 latte: 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a day. I promise you’ll get an even richer satisfaction if you round up and invest that $10 elsewhere.

Click here to make a donation to end hunger here in King County. Through April 14, every dollar you give will be matched–so that means your gift will be doubled!

“There’s something off-putting about watching privileged people play at being poor, and it isn’t just that their complaints amount to whining about five days without $12-a-pound coffee and $9 sandwiches from the Dahlia Lounge. It’s that ‘living on food stamps’ isn’t the same as actually being poor. People in poverty lack many advantages besides the money to buy better food; and ‘winning’ the Hunger Challenge gives participants permission to pat themselves on the back while ignoring the many privileges that differentiate them from the actual impoverished people.

Those privileges include, but are by no means limited to: Access to transportation…proximity to one or more decent grocery stores (if you don’t have a car or a frequent bus route, you’ll probably make do with whatever’s available at the nearest convenience store); access to plentiful information about cheap, nutritious food; and the time (and well-equipped kitchen) needed to cook it.”

This is the third year United Way of King County has invited the community to participate in the Hunger Challenge, and I don’t recall anyone basking in the glory of “winning” the challenge. And they certainly don’t ignore the privileges they have. If anything–the Hunger Challenge brings those things into focus.

John Eddy, who writes the food blog Cook Local, is taking the Hunger Challenge with his wife, Patricia, and he wrote a post in response to critics of the Hunger Challenge. Here’s what he says about “playing at being poor.”

“Well, yeah. We are. And when I played Dungeons and Dragons, I played at being a Thief, and when I play Battleship, I play at being Fleet Admiral Horatio Hoffenblauer, of Her Royal Majesty’s Naval Forces. I’ve spent probably half of the last five years unemployed, but, for the grace of my wonderful wife, I remained financially solvent. I didn’t have to go on food stamps, although in retrospect I may have been able to. Yes, we have the safety-net of being able to fall off the wagon and spend money, and this Saturday we fall back into our normal habits. But to suggest that the people doing this aren’t going to learn anything is asinine and unproductive. I learned things from last year’s event. I’m learning things from this year’s event. I’m learning that yes, it can be difficult to live on $12/day for food, and, at the same time, I’m learning how to plan for the possibility of ending up there ourselves. We’re learning that being self-productive is the most important thing. That even if we are working two jobs each, there are things we can do in our garden that will take little work on our part to produce food for us to eat.”

He also takes on the issue of Hunger Challenge participants complaining about having to go without high-end food items.

“‘You guys are whining about missing your latte. That’s shameful and not very realistic. 5 days isn’t going to teach you what it is like.’

I’m going to agree with you on the one hand and disagree with you on the other. Yes, it comes across as crass and silly and stupid.

 

 

At the same time, that is exactly what I wager 75% of you would say if you ended up on food assistance. ‘How am I going to not get my $4 latte?’ ‘I am not going to not appease my sweet tooth!’ ‘How am I never going to be able to give my child a treat? I need this money for real food!’ I argue that the people who say this, and then stick with it for the whole week, are the ones who are going to learn the most. Many who are calling them on this, those who know what it is like to be on food stamps, have been (or were) on them long enough to be able to work out how to make things happen. And five days is enough time to understand some of the issues.”

 

Another Hunger Challenge participant, Tom Moran, tweeted this in response to the Publicola article:

@SeattleDonorBiz @ericacbarnett The key Q? is, what changes because of you and #HungerChallenge? Impact beyond 1 week? Traveller or tourist?

For some, the Hunger Challenge is an eye-opening experience. For others, it’s a crass stunt. What do you think?

If you’re looking for a new volunteering opportunity, consider the Bridge to Basics program. In just a few hours a week, you can help connect low-income people with things like food stamps, utility assistance and low-cost health care.

I work full-time as a writer at United Way of King County. It’s been two years now, and it’s been a great experience. Through United Way, I’ve discovered so many programs and services available for people who need the help.  The problem lots of times is connecting those so desperately in need with the help that exists for them. 

So, when I heard about the new Bridge to Basics program that was launching in the fall of 2009, I was intrigued.

UWKC was spearheading it, and they were looking for 100 volunteers.
It wasn’t a huge time commitment—one all-day training and a few
hours a week over several months. I could do that.

I learned so much during the training—but these were key takeaways:

• The minimum income requirement for food stamps
  has been raised significantly, so that many more people are eligible and they don’t know it.
• Food stamps now come on a preloaded debit card—so much more appealing than having to deal with the stigma sometimes associated with having to pay at grocery storeswith food stamps.
• Utility companies have programs that can help people who are struggling financially to keep their power on.

We’re recruiting Bridge to Basics volunteers now! If you’re looking for a wonderfully rewarding way to help struggling low-income individuals and families, I’d highly recommend checking it out here.

Guests at United Way's Community Resource Exchange

“Token days are not the ebb and flow of life.  They ease our feelings of regret about the way things have to be for the remainder of the year.  They do not really change the way things are.”–Jonathan Kozol, “The Shame of the Nation”

Last Friday was Day of Caring, my 13th with United Way of King County.  I was among about 300 volunteers (there were over 10,500 total throughout the county) that spent the day at Qwest Field for the Community Resource Exchange.  In case you don’t know, the CRE is an event that provides direct access to a variety of public and quality of life services to people struggling with homelessness, all in one place on one day.  Last year, we had approximately 1200 guests.  Last Friday, we had over 2000.  That’s a conservative estimate.  I stood in line with many of them, and I can tell you 2000 is low.  But I’ll wait for the official numbers next week.

I shouldn’t be surprised by the huge increase in need.  None of us should be, really.  As one of the organizers of the event, I was an obvious target for the emotions that naturally accompany something like this:  anger, fear, gratitude, sadness, hope, surrender, and love were all on display.  As the day came to an end, one of the final guests came up to me as I loaded materials into our UPS truck.  The sadness in her voice was masked by the smile on her face. 

“Bless you,” she said.  “I didn’t get everything I needed today, but you made me feel human again.  Just for a moment.  And that’s enough for now.  Maybe I can get up tomorrow and keep going, and do it again.”

I’ve always been a bit cynical about Day of Caring.  Kozol’s quote above puts my perspective in words.  And yet, this woman’s words stick with me, as well.  They give me pause, for which I now turn and ask of you.  To the more than 10,000 people who gave of themselves so graciously last Friday, I say “THANK YOU.”  And, “What’s Next?”  To the rest of us, I know that many of you allow yourselves those moments when you actually think things aren’t so bad.  But they could be better, right?  So I say “Bless YOU.”  And, “What’s Next?”  Here are two possibilities in our local area:

• The Bridge to Basics program connects volunteers to local organizations in an effort to help struggling families stretch their limited resources by getting signed up for public benefit programs.  As someone said at the CRE, ‘I may only qualify for $15 in food stamps per month because I’m working more, but that’s almost four days worth of food for me and my daughter’.
• Our Free Tax Campaign helps thousands of low-income individuals and families get every dollar back on their federal tax return that they’re eligible for, without having to pay someone to do it for them.  You can be one of almost 650 volunteers in King County this year to help make that happen!  Registration opens Friday, October 1st right here!  And as I love telling folks, NO tax experience necessary!

Whatever you might think about the amount of actual change that can occur on a ‘token day’, I hope you remember two things.  First, make today as good as you can make it.  Second, wake up tomorrow and do whatever you can to make it better than today.

Did you know that in L.A. County, certain “restaurants” accept food stamps? It is part of their Restaurant Meals Program that has been running since 2005.

For those that don’t know, food stamps (aka EBT) is generally only allowed for food products that must be prepared. So allowing benefits to be used at restaurants is a pretty radical shift in the program’s scope.

I put the word “restaurants” in quotation marks above because the participating restaurants in the program are almost all fast food chains — Domino’s, Jack in the Box, El Pollo Loco, and Subway are the most prevalent participants.

At first glance, I found the program to be pretty ridiculous. Since the only options were unhealthy foods, what good does this program do aside from promoting obesity? However, my opinion changed slightly after I read their FAQ.

The Restaurant Meals Program is only available to the homeless, disabled, and elderly (over 60). For these groups, cooking is difficult if not impossible. So even with food stamps, their options are limited and usually unhealthy. I mean, what can someone experiencing homelessness buy at a grocery store that will be warm and nutritious?

So while eating pizza is not ideal , if it’s the only option for someone to be able to get a hot meal, then I understand.

I still think that some healthier, affordable restaurants need to get on the program but I’m less critical of it now that I know all the facts.

[Fire roasted tomato and bleu cheese soup with a bacon apple and caramelized onion grilled cheese panini]

Candi Wilvang participated in the United Way Hunger Challenge with her family of three – Mom, Dad and ten year old son (with some help from her 20 year old son). Read about their experience below.

The challenge was an awesome experience for our family to take. I am the mother of two son’s ages 20 and 10. My oldest son Shattuck lives in his own apartment so we took the challenge as mom, dad, and 10 year old son, MacKenna. At first I thought $18 was pretty reasonable because I do not think we spend that much as it is. We utilize our neighborhood food banks. I was quickly reminded by dad that we can’t use anything we already have. He looked frightened after we hid all our food, condiments, spices etc… I, on the other hand, was very excited about learning from this.

We decided we wanted to price compare at 5 different grocery stores and so we would spend $18 a day, for 5 days, at 5 different stores. We spent $15.63 at QFC the first day of shopping. We went there on Sunday and we decided we would just get the basics.

By Monday we realized we had no dinner items and no coffee! “That’s ok, we will spend our next $18 tonight on dinner and a few missed luxury items” I tried to reassure dad. That night we went to Whole Foods loaded with coupons. Mondays dinner was creative, chicken breast with spinach and melted white cheddar on maple waffles and a side of fresh Mango and steamed broccoli.

Tuesday we went to Safeway and spent $17.13 Tuesdays dinner was Feta, pineapple, broccoli manicotti with fresh spinach pesto cheese sauce.

My oldest son works at Seattle Art Museum, Taste Restaurant, and wanted to come with me on Wednesday and buy ingredients so he could cook homemade fire roasted tomato and bleu cheese soup with a bacon apple and caramelized onion grilled cheese panini for us. Somebody suggested we try Grocery Outlet this time and we walked out with almost everything we needed for the amount of $17.04. My son was missing some important ingredients but it turned out fantastic!

With 4 shopping sprees behind us, I realized Thursday was our last chance to buy food. It meant we had to make the food last through to Fridays dinner. The soup went a long way for leftovers. I also used it as flavoring in Fridays “Cheeseburger Cupcakes”. Trader Joes was our final destination and we did our shopping for $19.31 It was the first time we went over budget, but still under budget over all! We deserved that ice-cream sandwich!

I was able to share this experience on Facebook and Flickr which made it all the more inspiring to make creative dishes and photograph it! I think I will continue to post recipes and cook with my children more often. Thank you for this great opportunity. It was empowering.

This week, over 250 community members are participating in the United Way of King County Hunger Challenge. We have been lucky enough to hear from some participants about how their first day went and some initial thoughts and reflections on the challenge. Read about Lauren Lutz’s first day below and sign up to take the Hunger Challenge:  

“Today is my first day starting the United Way Hunger Challenge and I can already tell this is going to more difficult than I had mentally prepared myself for.  For breakfast, I had a banana (which I bought as a bunch for $2.50, one for each morning). I normally get a Chai tea on my way to work but considering that would be half of my daily allowance I had to sacrifice that luxury.  For lunch, I brought an Eating Right frozen squash ravioli meal that I purchased for $2. Looking at the nutrition facts, I’m actually pretty impressed, although I don’t know if I could do a frozen meal for too long a period. After eating the frozen entrée, I’m still pretty hungry because the proportion is smaller than I normally eat for lunch. This left me $4 for dinner, which I was stumped on until my mom suggested a can of soup. I purchased a can of Tortilla soup for $3 but was unable to afford the Frito chips and cheddar cheese that I normally add for flavor. I had planned to buy a small candy bar for desert but with tax I was already at $6.83. So you may ask, did you get enough to eat? Well the answer  is no. Without my morning chai, my normal afternoon snack, and a large dinner I’m going to bed still craving more!  I’m already planning what I will get to eat tomorrow; food will be in my dreams tonight!”

We’d love to hear from you too! How did your first day go? Did you have enough to eat, or did you go to bed less than satisfied like Lauren? Post your thoughts in the comments section of this entry.

United Way of King County’s Hunger Challenge is an exercise of empathy—to live in someone else’s shoes for one week and learn how you can help fight hunger in our community. You can choose to do the challenge with your partner or family.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, KOMO radio host Brian Calvert and the following food bloggers are already signed up to take the Hunger Challenge. Please sign up now to join them!

• Big City Hippie
• A Conscious Feast
• Kathleen Flinn
• Eric Rivera’s Cooking Blog
• Family Friendly Food
• Foodista
• Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef
• Mirch Masala
• Savory Sweet Life

UPDATE: Since this post, more food bloggers have signed on to participate!  You can see the full list here on our blogroll.

The food bloggers who participated in last year’s Hunger Challenge came up with many delicious, low-cost recipes, and I can’t wait to see what is whipped up this time.

Everyone who completes the Hunger Challenge will be eligible to receive a free ticket to Disneyland! Just go to the “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day” site to register. Under “Search for an activity,” type in your zip code and choose “Hunger & Homelessness” for your volunteer opportunity interest area.

Fill out the form below to sign up for the Hunger Challenge!

Learn more about Hunger Action Week >>