Today I officially began my week-long food stamp diet -- appropriately enough, it is National Hunger Awareness Day. The 'Food Stamp Challenge' has drawn national attention since Congressional Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) undertook the challenge to bolster awareness of and support for the Feeding America's Families Act, which aims to increase funding and eligibility for the Food Stamp Program.

When McGovern and Emerson asked Congress to join their Food Stamp Challenge, only two additional members joined them. That's two congressional representatives out of fifty senators and four hundred thirty-five members of the House of Representatives. I faired significantly better at Bread for the City. Of the sixty-two staff members and twenty-one Board members here at Bread for the City, nine staff and four Board members have joined me in my pledge to spend only $3 a day on food for the next week.

Over the next few days, I will be including the experiences of my fellow participants at BFC in my updates. For now, I will share a powerful observation from a BFC Board member who called me to say he was sorry he could not participate in the Challenge. He went on to say that he had previously taken part in a similar campaign. He told me that what troubled him about his prior experience was that the difficulty of the challenge was lessened by the knowledge that it would last for only a limited time. For the poor, he reminded me, trying to survive on scarce resources is an ongoing reality.

In his spontaneous testimony, I feel he made a compelling call for a more permanent solution to hunger and food insecurity in this country.

As I embark on this Food Stamp Challenge, which more modestly supports the call for increased funding of the Food Stamp Program, the dreamer in me embraces the vision of a day when, in America at least, food and nutritional deprivation is permanently eradicated.

DC Hunger Solutions, a local hunger and food security advocacy group, spearheaded the local Food Stamp Challenge that Bread for the City has joined.

Last week, DC Hunger Solutions sent out a few guidelines for participants to follow:

Rule One: Spend only $21 on food for seven days.

I purchased my groceries from a Giant grocery store in Bethesda Maryland, at about 8:00 am this morning. Trying not to blow my budget, I needed two trips to the cashier line to purchase all of my foodstuffs.

Here's my grocery list on my first pass through the line at 8:05 am:

Item: ------------------------------ Cost
1 loaf Wheat potato Bread ------ $2.59
1 large 8 pack of eggs ----------- $1.29
1 large can of baked beans ------ $1.99
1 box of granulated sugar ------- $1.99
1 box of Quick Hominy Grits ---- $1.29
1 pack of bologna ---------------- $1.99
7- bananas ------------------------ $1.27
2- baking potatoes --------------- $1.04
Total ------------------------------ $13.45

The first time I passed through the check out line I did not use my grocery store bonus card, unsure if food stamp recipients could use such a card. I called Alex Ashbrook, the Executive Director of DC Hunger Solutions, and she informed me that food stamp recipients can and do use these free discount cards. If I had used my bonus card my bill would have been $1.48 less, or $11.97.

On my second trip through the check out line I purchased:

Item: ----------------------------------------------- Cost
1 large bag of frozen sweet white corn -------- $3.59
1 large bag of frozen mixed peas & carrots --- $2.19
3 large cans of tuna in water -------------------- $4.17
Total ----------------------------------------------- $8.17

On this purchase I actually used my bonus card and, coincidentally, the receipt showed that my actual savings were again $1.48.

So, the sum of my two purchases, $13.45 and $8.17, equals $21.62. However, if I had used my bonus card on the first purchase as I did the second, I would have spent a total of $20.14.

Shortly after shopping, I pulled out one of my bananas and ate it for breakfast. One meal down, twenty to go.

I don't know how well I'll do stretching this food over the next seven days, but I do know that I have already spent more time managing my grocery shopping and studying my receipts than I usually do in several months of shopping.

Rule Two: Our food stamp diet is to last seven consecutive days in June.

Rule Three: Participants can use condiments and spices that we already have on hand. At the very least this loophole promises to make the food items I just purchased a little more palatable, if not filling.

Rule Four: Participants cannot use the $21 to purchase hot or prepared foods or alcohol.

Rule Five: Avoid accepting food at receptions, parties, friends' homes, or at work.

Well, it's almost time for dinner now, but there will be more to come tomorrow. Meanwhile, I am off to have another banana.