SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - What is it like to live on food stamps? The group, "Utahns Against Hunger" is asking people to find out. The non-profit organization has created the Food Stamp Challenge.
The Food Stamp Challenge doesn't allow you to eat anything already in your pantry, and you can't borrow from friends. $28 dollars is the average weekly food stamp benefit per person. That’s four dollars a day and that’s what they are asking you to live on for a week. Jackie Juston says she’s never been on food stamps but that amount would be a challenge. "I think it's a difficult amount to try to feed a family."
Mike Evans from Utahns Against Hunger says it’s a good exercise especially for politicians. He says it quickly changes perceptions about food stamps. "We are not saying that the Food Stamp Challenge is replicating what it's like to be on food stamps, but it allows you to get into the mindset of going to the grocery store, and doing some shopping thinking about what the average food stamp benefit is."
Food stamp use in Utah has increased 112 percent since 2007. Evans says more than 274,000 low-income Utahns accessed the program in May. More than half of the food stamp recipients are children, and eight percent are over the 60 years of age.
To take the challenge visit www.uah.org
