Gwyneth Paltrow accepted a challenge from her friend Mario Batali to live on food stamps for a week. Her challenge was to live for a week on a $29 food budget. She only lasted four days. She stated, "the food system in our beautiful country needs to be subjected to heavy revision. I'm saying everyone should be able to afford fresh, real food." After failing the mission, she donated to the New York Food Bank and encouraged others to do the same. The purpose of the challenge was to raise awareness to what some families struggle with. Even though she failed the challenge, she has accomplished her mission - Time magazine published an essay about her involvement. Kudos to her for trying the challenge and raising awareness about hunger in America.
I know that some people were hard on Gweneth Paltrow online about this. Therer were those stating that she wasn't shopping the way that most poor people would. In other words she wasn't shopping at discounted stores. I would have to agree with this to a certain degree. After all I would have to wonder if she ever heard of a store called 99 Cents Only, which is a dollar store and grocery store in one or for the matter ever stepped foot in a dollar store for that matter. But I do give her credit for seeing the plight of the poor person. Even with discounted stores, making the SNAP benefits stretch to the end of the month isn't easy for families to do. The fact that Paltrow chose to donate to a food bank after all this she also gets my respect. Maybe if more public figures such as politician took this challenge it might change their viewpoint on the SNAP program and instead of taking money from it they might actually fund it for a change.
I agree. I think that when you go on public assistance, it should come with education. There are foods that are cheaper than others, and some that are more nutritious. I keep hearing this same myth repeated over and over, "Healthy food is more expensive than junk food.". It's surprising the number of people who believe that, who don't even bother to look. I always tell them, you can buy 1 lb of potatoes for $1, but a 10 oz bag of chips cost $3. Or those chicken nuggets you buy - you pay $3-4 for 12 oz, so that's $4-5 a lb, and most of that is filler, very little "real" chicken" in it, but I get boneless, skinless breasts for $3 a pound. Bananas - about 25-30 cents each, a candy bar - $1. The list goes on and on. If you are knowledgeable, and look around for deals, it's much cheaper to eat healthy - plus you have to add in the medical issues caused by junk food. I'm not saying that you can eat well on $29 a week - that's a stretch even with the most knowledgeable shopper. But, a lot of times when we go shopping, we see people paying for their groceries with EBT cards, and it's amazing the stuff in their cart - mostly junk food, with no nutritional value, and pricey stuff that I can't afford to buy.
SNAP benefits were never intended to feed a person or family for the entire month. They were intended to supplement income in order for the poorer among us to be able to eat decently. I do agree with Mal above - education should come automatically when one first qualifies for SNAP benefits. Teach people about diet and nutrition, as well as teach them how to shop better - eat in season, use coupons, etc.
Yes, but unfortunately for some SNAP is all they have to feed their family for the month. I remember as a kid we had to be a SNAP benefits, my father was disable and barely got by on disablity raising eight kids. Yes, my parents manage to make it but I know in today's society some families don't make it. I know someone who worked as a teacher who use to talk about how kids would say that the only food they got to eat was at school because there were times of the month when their parents couldn't feed them. It was a sad thing to hear about, and yes SNAP shouldn't be the only means to feed families but for some that's where they now sit financially.
As I recall Gweneth's comment was in regards to not being able to afford fresh food, which would be fruits and vegetables. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that $29 a week for an adult will not get you the type of nutritionally balanced food you need to be healthy, although you can get foods that will let you survive. Many adults in the United States, do live on about $120-$150 a month for food, it is not a luxurious way of life and I can assure you it does not include steak or lobster. I see this for what it was, another Hollywood person trying to remain in the lime lite. Frankly I find it insulting and sickening when celebrities start all this up, so she made a donation BIG DEAL. For years the media went on and on about welfare mom's and just pushed an agenda for a stereotype that was no where near the reality. This country is very hard on the poor, they truly make it as if all poor people are scammers and deserve their lot in life, if they would just stop being lazy and get a real job. Well I am hear to tell you that there are many poor people with real jobs sometimes one or two jobs and they are still poor. It is hard to understand unless you have been poor, it is not an equal playing field in the world. You can work hard everyday and still struggle.
I agree with you. There are people that are hard working, but because of the economy, ill health or some other reason are not able to support themselves. They deserve help, but it seems that these are not the people helped by the welfare system. Instead, it's the "career" welfare recipients that get the benefits. The honest person who just needs a little help to get back on their feet doesn't know the system. The person who becomes ill and is disabled doesn't know how the system works. But those that are raised on welfare, well, they know all the tricks and games to maximize their benefits. I'm not sure what the answer is, but I can say that the way things are today just don't work. We have kids who are going hungry, while others who refuse to work, even though capable, are living in section 8 housing, getting medicade, food stamps and WIC and lots of other hand outs from private organizations.