Could you feed your children on one dollar per child per meal?

I don’t know if I could. It would be a struggle. But millions of American parents may have to tell their kids “there’s nothing to eat tonight.” Hard to believe, but it’s true.

Here’s a little background:
• Last week both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees passed separate versions of the Farm Bill.
• Those proposals would cut more than $20 billion dollars from SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program), the program that feeds millions of hungry people in this country and used to be known as food stamps.
• One in five Americans receive food stamps, most of them working-poor families with children.
• The full Senate will debate the bill next week.

The number of children who go hungry has grown dramatically over the past several years because there are more people facing poverty and unemployment due to the recession and an economy slow to recover.

Food stamps have always been a contentious issue because of the misperception that many recipients are just taking advantage of the system. But here’s what’s interesting: SNAP does what it is supposed to do… feed the hungry.

Cutting these benefits won’t do much to help the nation’s long-term financial issues. It will only keep hungry children from being fed. And that’s tragic.

Here’s a great idea: Before the vote, every member of Congress should take the “Food Stamp Challenge”. For one month, each of them must eat on a budget of about one dollar per person per meal.

THEN let’s see how many of them want to cut SNAP benefits.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead

There’s a small non-profit organization in Chicago that is making a big difference in the lives of many who live in areas where grocery stores are non-existent or are overrun by fast food restaurants… it’s called Top Box Foods.

Top Box Foods primarily helps families who live in low-income neighborhoods buy nutritious meat, fresh fruits and vegetables at much lower prices than what’s offered in grocery stores. This isn’t charity, but a way to get high-quality food to where it is needed the most.

This is how it works: Top Box buys food from distributors and local suppliers and boxes it in several different ways (for example, the Garden Box is loaded with 10 pounds of fresh vegetables and fruit). Then once, a month, the boxes are delivered to participating churches and other groups where they can be purchased. The boxes cost anywhere from $19 to $39 (and Top Box also accepts SNAP cards). Click here to see an average delivery day.

Could you live on $4 a day? That’s the amount food stamp recipients must live on, and there are more than 50 million people in this country who require food stamps to survive. Top Box Foods is directly addressing the issue of hunger and food deserts by offering access to foods many of us take for granted.

Top Box Foods isn’t really trying to change the whole world… just that part of it that goes to bed every night hungry  in America. That’s enough for now, isn’t it?

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