As part of an ongoing, intimate look into poverty in America, Odyssey Networks features a video story today about the recent food stamp challenge and the effect it had on Congress members who took it (see accompanying video).
The challenge was developed by the organization Fighting Poverty with Faith, a multi-faith collaboration lead by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the National Council of Churches, Catholic Charities, and over 50 other faith-based groups to cut domestic poverty in half by 2020.
The challenge requires participating representatives to eat on a food stamp budget for a week, which provides $4.50 per day for food, or $31.50 for the week. The purpose is to allow those entrusted with legislative power to walk in the shoes of the 46 million Americans who live on food stamps, so that they might understand why the amount should be raised.
Odyssey Networks reveals the emotional reactions and thoughtful conclusions of two Congress members who lived the challenge: Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) and Rep. Eleanor Homes Norton (D-District of Columbia). Norton laments that nutritional favorites like fruit and fish are too expensive to purchase on the stamp budget. She says that as Americans wait for the new super-committee to determine what spending cuts will be made, it's important to remember the hungry and struggling.
Ellison realizes that the frustratingly difficult challenge will be over in a week for the Congress participants, but "for some people this is their life, and I think we need to have a little more compassion and remember that a budget is a moral document, and in that document we specify who matters and who doesn't, what matters and what doesn't..."
Rabbi Steve Gutow, President & CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs says of the challenge, "It feels a little like being enslaved because once you purchase what can purchase, you can't eat another thing."
Ellison reflects on the fact that "the values of love and charity are shared by many faiths," and how the opportunity to join with people of different faiths concerned with the plight of others gives him hope for the future.
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