Some guidelines..

We know that one day on a Food Stamp budget cannot truly show what it is like to experience the long-term physical or psychological effects of hunger. This challenge is not the definitive experience. Most people on food stamps use the money as a supplement for food. Also, one day on a food stamp budget does not allow you to shop for food or prepare meals. We know all of this and yet we still believe that the Challenge is worthwhile; hopefully it can give us some small glimpse of the struggles and considerations that were made by the over 200,000 Connecticut citizens who were on food stamps every month in 2006.

In order for this to be a truly meaningful experience, we do have a few guidelines:

1. Don't starve yourself. Seriously--eating for $3 a day is impossible! The challenge is not to see who can go the longest on $3, it is to feel the limitations and struggles of the Food Stamp lifestyle. The $3 a day is symbolic and should be understood as such. If you would like to really have the full Food Stamp Challenge experience, we encourage you to try to eat for $21 the entire week of November 1-8.

2. To be reimbursed for your $3 (or $21) spent, you must blog the next day about your experiences. The first 10 blog entries each day will be reimbursed. Sorry--we have a budget, too! Everyone who responded to FSChallenge.yale@gmail.com or mimi.lewis@yale.edu is now an adminstrator of this blog, so you can log on the morning after your Challenge and record your experiences.

3. In the blog entries, please try to be descriptive--tell us what you ate, how you felt, and what conclusions this has helped you to build. Keep your entries respectful and add your name at the end.

4. Spread the word! This Challenge is not intended to be a stand-alone experience; we hope that your feelings after participating will convince you to push for changes in our federal nutrition programs. Check the blog for announcements of follow-up activities.