Humility and Hunger - A Challenge
I just watched the documentary A Place At the Table - which I HIGHLY recommend - on food-insecurity and food policy in America and it pretty much broke me but also got me back on track with my policy passions/ambitions/how I hope to leave the world (lately I've been a little whiny and lazy and omg chocolates so many ahhh).
I am going to take the Food Stamp Challenge and mix it with both understanding food insecurity better AND the real food challenge. Is it possible to live on $15 a week (food stamps run about $4/day for a family of three. THREE.) AND do it without resorting to ANY processed goods? Considering I can without so much as a dent in my spending account drop $150 on food a week (oh wholefoodsiluihu)- I'm very curious to see if I can do it (hell, my beloved macadamia nuts cost me $15.99 a pop so those are out...).
I'm going to see if I can go a month at this...but at the end of the week I am donating $135 to a food bank and/or initiative (need to do more research) and I'm hoping to get a volunteer opportunity at a food pantry or kitchen this week as well to really see the conditions and make a regular effort of it.
I am in the process of buying a condo in Washington, D.C. *and* furnishing it and while the whole process of being responsible and adulting it all is stressful, I am not worried about funding this process at all (mostly thanks to my parents). I am extraordinarily blessed in my life that I have never wanted for food, clothes, shelter, education, work, family, friends, etc. - in fact I've had them in so much abundance I feel so regretful/shamed of the bratty and depressed and bulimic wasted times in my life... I've had it GOOD.
I certainly don't wish a bad life or a struggle on myself but I do need to push myself to be more compassionate and generous to the world, as well as more forthright and motivated in expecting/living the best 'me'.
I also have to stop using the weather as an excuse - for god's sake, I don't have to LIVE AND SLEEP in it; the least I can do it get off my lazy ass and get in a jog around the block in the fresh air.
I am going to take the Food Stamp Challenge and mix it with both understanding food insecurity better AND the real food challenge. Is it possible to live on $15 a week (food stamps run about $4/day for a family of three. THREE.) AND do it without resorting to ANY processed goods? Considering I can without so much as a dent in my spending account drop $150 on food a week (oh wholefoodsiluihu)- I'm very curious to see if I can do it (hell, my beloved macadamia nuts cost me $15.99 a pop so those are out...).
I'm going to see if I can go a month at this...but at the end of the week I am donating $135 to a food bank and/or initiative (need to do more research) and I'm hoping to get a volunteer opportunity at a food pantry or kitchen this week as well to really see the conditions and make a regular effort of it.
I am in the process of buying a condo in Washington, D.C. *and* furnishing it and while the whole process of being responsible and adulting it all is stressful, I am not worried about funding this process at all (mostly thanks to my parents). I am extraordinarily blessed in my life that I have never wanted for food, clothes, shelter, education, work, family, friends, etc. - in fact I've had them in so much abundance I feel so regretful/shamed of the bratty and depressed and bulimic wasted times in my life... I've had it GOOD.
I certainly don't wish a bad life or a struggle on myself but I do need to push myself to be more compassionate and generous to the world, as well as more forthright and motivated in expecting/living the best 'me'.
I also have to stop using the weather as an excuse - for god's sake, I don't have to LIVE AND SLEEP in it; the least I can do it get off my lazy ass and get in a jog around the block in the fresh air.