You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who would choose to live on a $3 per day food budget.
But a group of state legislators will try to do just that for a few days this week. They hope to bring attention to the federal food stamp program which is up for reauthorization in Congress. Three dollars a day is what the average food stamp recipient gets in Arkansas.
Little Rock State Representative Kathy Webb (D) is leading the way on this "Arkansas Hunger Challenge," along with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and the Arkansas Hunger Coalition. The challenge will start Monday, and a total of twenty-two state lawmakers are taking part -- including State Rep. David Johnson (D-Little Rock), who did all of his shopping for this challenge on Sunday.
"I wasn't able to buy any protein, fruits or vegetables. I just got basic carbohydrates -- that's basically it," Johnson said. Nine dollars for three days worth of food bought him three loaves of bread, some peanut butter, and a couple of cans of frozen orange juice -- the only fruit he could work into the budget.
But Johnson, of course, will be able to go back to a more generous food budget after Wednesday -- we talked to one shopper who says he's relied on food stamps before, and says that average of $3 a day just isn't enough.
"For the working people of Arkansas with kids, gas prices, paying utility bills -- it's really not enough, it's really not," Jon Manassa, a Little Rock resident who once relied on food stamps to make ends meet, told us.
Johnson and anti-hunger advocates like Hope Coulter of the Arkansas Hunger Coalition say the program needs to be reauthorized with more funds to reflect prices in today's grocery stores.
In Arkansas 380,000 people participate in the food stamp program. It brings in $420 million in federal funds to the state and proponents say that not only helps recipients, but also grocers and small business owners.
National statistics show that 80% of recipients are households with children, and that $3 per day average? It adds up to just about $89.72 a month.
