Food Stamp Challenge: Day 7
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Toolbox
Published: September 14, 2007
Martin, grade 5
Woo-hoo. It’s the last day and I am so excited. It wasn’t really that hard but if I was in this for my life, it would get pretty hard. The week’s been fine, but there’s been a lot of thinking about it, and it puts a lot of pressure on you. If I was in this situation all my life, it would be hard to get through. I am excited for this to end, it was a good learning experience, talking about all of this stuff. Today’s lunch at school was good – chicken nuggets – I ate them all. Yesterday’s lunch was good, too, salad bar. I was pretty happy with them. I am a very picky eater, so this week was especially hard at dinner.
I feel bad for people who have to live on food stamps, but I have an enormous amount of respect for them because they have to do better than we did.
OK Bye-bye.
Zane, Grade 6
Today we had our fanciest dinner yet. We had corn flake chicken and broccoli. This week was hard, but fun. We saved the best meal for last. This was only one week, it would be much harder to do it for a long time. It’s possible to do, but it’s hard. I ate as much as I could at school lunch. I got orange juice, Sun chips and soup today. ZZ… signing off. Thank you for reading.
Fiona, Grade 9
LAST DAY
Todays .
The.
Last.
Day.
Wow. This week went by so fast. We really got down to the very last bit of food. I have a lot to say about this experience. For one, I have to say that I am so happy that we did it. It raised so much awareness. I am glad that we got the meassge out there. I also learned that there are people out there who live so totally different then I do. It was a really good learning project. Not just for me, but our whole family. I just want to thank everyone who read about our project in the paper and read our blog.
Thanks so much for everything.
Philene, Day 7
Our final dinner was great. Hungry, exhausted, but still a day to remember. We talked about the Challenge week while we munched on a fine dinner of corn flake chicken and fresh broccoli (I can’t believe we had any cereal left!). While I won’t say that this Food Stamp Challenge week has been easy by any stretch of the imagination, we feel closer as a family as a result of having a collective learning experience.
A couple of people have asked if I or any one in my family has ever actually been on a program like foods stamps and if we know what it really feels like. The answer is YES. As a young married couple David Ferch, Zane’s father, and I unexpectedly found ourselves unemployed (Zane was maybe 2 or 3 years old). We immediately enrolled Zane in Dr. Dynosaur (the state’s health care program for children) and accessed whatever unemployment benefits were available to us. We also purchased the cheapest high-deductible health coverage we could find in Vermont for ourselves, mostly because we didn’t want to lose the house if one of us got really ill and needed emergency care.
For six months we lived on pins and needles, but Zane received preventative and primary health care. It was not just a great peace of mind to know that Zane had health coverage, but an experience that showed me the real life value of Vermont’s commitment to investing in the health and welfare of our citizens. I would do it again in a heart beat if the circumstances were to lead me there and I would do so with pride. Who really lives without ANY government support? What about highways, schools, defense, police, California vegetables, Western beef, NIH funded drug trials, FDA assured foods, USDA subsidized grains, FCC-enable television… the list goes on and on. We all contribute funding for our government even though we may not all need or want to participate in every program and, hopefully, what we get in return is a strong public infrastructure that benefits us ALL.
On that note… thanks for all your thoughts and comments. Vermont is the best place on earth to live, learn, laugh and love.
I'm proud to share a state with you!