What would you do if you only had $3 a day to spend on food? Sure you could eat from the dollar menu at your local McDonalds but if you did, as we saw in the documentary film Super Size Me, you could kiss your energy level, brain function, and the delicate internal balance needed to maintain a healthy body goodbye.

So how does a food stamp recipient who on average only receives $21 per week eat well? It’s not easy. You can find out just how difficult by joining me and other Nashvillians in taking the Nashville Food Stamp Challenge.

The Food Stamp Challenge, a project co-sponsored by the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Nashville and The Second Harvest Food Bank of Nashville, is a committment to subsist for one week on $21 per week, or the equivalent of approximately $1 per meal per day. It has been designed to increase public awareness about the depth and breadth of poverty in Nashville and the rest of the country and create awareness of the difficulty of sustaining a healthy and nutritious diet on a food stamp budget. It’s also a Call to Action to call your Senators in support of reauthorizing and strengthening the Farm Bill currently before Congress.

The Challenge begins on Tuesday, October 23, when participants will gather at a local grocery store to be guided, by veteran food stamp recipients, through the purchase of food for the week. Participants will also collect their food stamp receipts for the week and then write about their experience, which makes it a perfect thing for bloggers (hint, hint) to participate in.

Then on Friday, November 2 the organizers will hold a “public debriefing” by the participants at the Room in the Inn, which will be open to the public and feature a breakfast commensurate with the food stamp allotment.

Other participants in the Nashville version of the challenge, which has been taken by at least 25 other communities in the U.S., include Congressman Jim Cooper, WKRN-TV News Anchor and Second Harvest Food Bank Board Member Bob Mueller, Room in the Inn founder and Community Activist Rev. Charles Strobel, Community Activist and Founder of Magdalene House Rev. Becca Stevens, Chair of the Community Relations Committee of the Jewish Federation of Nashville Avi Poster, CEO/Loews Vanderbilt Hotel and Community Activist Tom Negri, former Vice Mayor and Nashville Chamber of Commerce Howard Gentry, Metro Council members Ronnie Steine, Jason Holleman, and Vivian Wihloite, Nashville Scene Editor Liz Garrigan, the lovely and talented Kay West, local businessman and voting rights and prison reform activist Denver Schimming, and his lovely wife and Human Resources Director, Sheila Hobson.

If you’d like more information about the challenge email me or coordinator Avi Poster.

In lieu of participating in the Challenge, Nashvillians interested in supporting those taking the Food Stamp Challenge are encouraged to donate $21 (the average weekly food stamp allotment) or more to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Checks should be made payable to Second Harvest and mailed to: Food Stamp Challenge, c/o Judy Saks, Jewish Federation of Nashville, 801 Percy Warner Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37205.

This post was written by Mary Mancini