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| Food Stamp Challenge | |||
| The Food Connection, along with other members of the Pierce County Food Coalition (comprised of emergency food providers throughout Pierce County), is sponsoring a Food Stamp Challenge April 14 – 20. Local elected officials, including Tacoma City Councilwoman Lauren Walker, and directors of local emergency food providers, including St. Leo Food Connection Director Kevin Glackin-Coley, will live on the nationwide average week food stamp benefit of $21 for the week. Like many food stamp recipients, participants will also be encouraged to visit both a local food bank and hot meal site one time during the week to help them stretch their food dollars for the week. | ||||
The Food Stamp Program helps more than 26 million low-income people purchase food for themselves and their families. The program is designed as a safety net to help ensure people have access to food during difficult times, with the majority of people leaving the program within nine months. More than half of food stamp recipients are children and eight percent are over 60 years of age. In addition to helping families meet their nutritional needs, the Basic Food Program also gives back to the Washington State economy. Every $5 in basic food purchases at grocery stores and farmer’s markets generates close to $10 in economic activity. | ||||
| “We hope that this event will help raise the community’s awareness of the effects of hunger in our community, and will spark a community-wide conversation about effective short-term and long-term responses to reduce hunger in Pierce County,” said Pierce County Food Coalition co-chair Kevin Glackin-Coley, Director of the St. Leo Food Connection. | ||||
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