CAFB’s Andrew Cheyne Accepts the SNAP Challenge This Week

Do you know what it’s like to really be hungry and struggle to find enough to eat? I don’t. I grew up in Minnesota, a modest but thoroughly middle class upbringing by two school teachers in which I never had to wonder about my next meal. But with their desire for justice informing my perspective and my work, I see and hear how many people do have to worry. Having been in the anti-hunger world for a few years and not yet taken the CalFresh challenge, I want to make my efforts to provide food for others a more personal experience by trying to better understand what the 4 million Californians- basically 1 in 10 of everybody who lives in our state – face on a regular basis.

May is CalFresh Awareness Month, a fitting time to take the #SNAPChallenge, something I’ve never done it before. SNAP, formerly called food stamps, is known as CalFresh in California. This will be my five-day commitment to living on the average CalFresh benefit, which according to the Center on Budget, was $31.50 a week in 2016. That means only $4.50 a day, which leaves me with $22.50 for the work week. Going out to eat, it’s extremely easy to spend more on one meal than some people have to spend on food for one week. To be honest, as someone who often grabs an easy lunch near the office, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it.

Please follow our blog and social media posts as I share my attempt to undertake the challenge of eating on less than five dollars a day.

Written by Andrew Cheyne, Director of Government Affairs