RSVP Partner Site Takes SNAP CHALLENGE

The St. Paul Area Council of Churches sponsors an emergency food shelf serving the Native American community. RSVP can connect you to volunteer opportunities there. Volunteers 55 and over receive special benefits. For more info: Call Jyni, 952-945-4162 or Email Jyni.

From Patricia

Join me in this most important challenge

Last month I joined a dozen faith leaders from the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities in the Twin Cities in a week-long “Food Stamp Challenge”. To increase our own awareness of the challenges faced by those who rely on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) to meet their food needs, each of us shopped for a week’s groceries using $31.50, a representative benefit for a single individual. The challenge provided an experiential way to deepen our own commitment to advocacy work on behalf of those who face hunger daily.

I completed the week-long experience with some food to spare. But more importantly, I learned lessons about the significance of food, shared meals, and having enough. Like all short-term experiences, a restricted food budget for a week did not create a new reality for me. At the end of the week, I was able to restore my shopping budget in a way that those in poverty are not able to do. Yet, the lessons I learned remain a part of how I think about my resources — and the needs of others — when I think about my daily meals.

Here are five lessons I learned. If you are living on a limited food budget by necessity or choice:

1. Be prepared to shop ahead or share a food purchase. Grocery stores do not favor single shoppers or a week-at-a-time budget. Access to a freezer and the ability to purchase in quantity are assumed when it comes to bargains.
2. Plan meals and menus. There is savings in that. Creativity is a great gift and beats eating peanut butter sandwiches four days in a row.
3. Make room at the table. Eating with others makes the simplest fare a feast — of conversation, laughter, hospitality
4. There are no margins for poor choices. I spent 10% of my budget to buy coffee, which was so bitter I couldn’t drink it.
5. A week's experience in awareness-raising is only as good as the advocacy efforts and life-changes that follow.

At the Council we are increasing our advocacy efforts to address and eliminate hunger in our communities. I hope you’ll join us in that most important challenge.

Patricia Lull
Executive Director

You can help by making a food or financial contribution to the DIW food shelf.

High priority items needed:

Dry goods rice: white, brown, wild navy beans pinto beans crackers pancake mix flour baking powder yeast sugar baking soda iodized salt macaroni spaghetti macaroni & cheese instant potatoes dry soup mixes: onion, chicken noodle unflavored oatmeal Cream of Wheat breakfast cereals artificial sweetener sugar-free items for diabetics

Canned & bottled beans: navy, pinto, baked spaghetti sauce vegetable oil syrup canned meats: tuna, chicken, spam, ham, corned beef, beef stew tomatoes: stewed, diced, whole, puree applesauce juices: orange, apple, cranberry, pineapple, tomato peanut butter jellies & jams

Personal care & household toilet paper feminine hygiene products soap shampoo toothpaste toothbrushes

Please drop off donations between 10am and 3pm on weekdays at the DIW entrance of 1671 Summit Ave., St. Paul. Call Becky at 651-644-2768 with questions.  Website