After school today, Eli, Lila and I went to the store with a list of our Shabbat "wants" - ready to spend our last amount of money on the Challenge. We were able to purchase 2 small containers of blackberries (Dierberg's had them on sale for $1 per package), 2 grapefruits, 3/4 lb. of fresh salmon to be shared by Macey, Brett and myself, a small package of chicken nuggets (they were on sale for $2.99), and a challah. The total came to $17.93. We had gone over our budget. I was thinking about giving back one of the containers of blackberries when the cashier asked me if I would like to donate $5 to Operation Food Search. I thought a $5 donation was a good way of offsetting our very slight overage - so we bought everything in the cart and headed home.
Shabbat dinner was so lovely tonight. After a week of mostly vegetarian fare, the salmon tasted quite good. Brett made some sauteed zucchini and onions and rice to go with it, and the meal felt almost decadent. Sometimes at our Shabbat table we go around and speak about moments in our week when we have felt grateful or happy. The kids all said they are grateful that the SNAP Challenge is ending soon. Brett reminded them that we are indeed lucky - that this week was just a challenge for us to face for a limited amount of time. He also said that there are many people - probably people that they know - who actually have to worry about having enough food each and every day. I added that I hoped that the Challenge would stay with us, even when our cabinets begin to be filled again with the items we are used to, so that we work harder to do our part to help alleviate hunger and food insecurity here in St. Louis.
I hope that everyone is having a Shabbat Shalom. We certainly are.
Can You Imagine What Hunger Feels Like?
FOLLOW THIS BLOG BY EMAIL by entering your address in the "Follow by Email" text box below on the right.
From Jan. 26-Feb. 1, 2014, members, staff and clergy of Congregation Shaare Emeth will take the SNAP Challenge and try to live on the average food budget of a Missouri SNAP recipient – just $29.25 per week or less than $1.40 per meal. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as Food Stamps). Why are we doing this? To raise awareness about the struggles faced by millions of food-insecure households, to experience first-hand how difficult it is to afford nutritious foods, and to renew our commitment to do what we can to put an end to hunger.Please join us by attending one of our hunger events, following our blog as we document our experiences (subscribe by email in the box on the right, subscribe to the blog feed, or check back daily), joining as SNAP Challenge participant and blog author, or participating in an alternate way. Let's all learn a little more about what it's like to live solely on food stamps.
No comments:
Post a Comment