“Could you live on $29 a week …?”

OKANOGAN COUNTY – Okanogan County Community Action Council is challenging the entire county to live on a SNAP( formerly known as food stamp ) budget for one week! Could you live on $29 a week per person?

“It’s pretty obvious that hunger is a growing problem when you see the size of the lines at the food bank” said Lael Duncan, Executive Director of Community Action. “We see mostly senior citizens, the disabled, and young families who we know and who we know fall into the “working – but not making enough – or working poor” category”. To really understand the impact of hunger we are challenging especially community leaders to step up and experience what so many of our clients experience as more than an experiment for a week” Duncan continued.

The Challenge asks: “What would you do if you lost your job? How would you feed your family?” SNAP provides a safety net for just this scenario and is the first option when people can no longer afford food. The already current SNAP budget is subject to even more cuts. The current average monthly SNAP benefit for an individual in Washington is $126.69, or $4.22 a day. In November 2013, this will be cut to $115.69, or an average of $3.80 a day. Duncan and Community Action are asking: “How much of a safety-net could this be?”

To register for the challenge visit http://snapchallengeokanogan.wordpress.com/, contact Rachel Willner, AmeriCorps VISTA: Food For All Coordinator at (509) 422-4041 ext. 13, or e-mail rachelw@occac.com