Thank you for joining the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida SNAP Challenge 2017! By agreeing to take the SNAP challenge, you are agreeing to attempt to live on a food stamp budget. While living on a food stamp budget for just a few days cannot come close to the struggles low-income families encounter month after month, the challenge will provide a brief experience as to what life is like. When a gallon of milk costs half of your entire day’s food budget, you’ll never look at grocery shopping the same way again.
Why should I take the challenge?
SNAP is the nation’s single most important program in the fight against hunger. The 2018 Farm bill, the largest piece of legislation that provides funding for SNAP, TEFAP and other agriculture programs, is up for renewal and negotiations will start soon in DC. There are proposals right now that aim to reduce benefits and limit the number of people eligible. Any cut to food stamps will only add to the need that food pantries are already struggling to fill.
Food that can be purchased:
Non-prepared food items; Breads and cereals; Fruits and vegetables; Meats, fish and poultry; Food for the household to eat.
Foods that cannot be purchased:
Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes, tobacco; Non-food items; Pet foods; Household supplies (soap, paper products, etc); Vitamins and medicines; Hot (prepared) food.
Share your personal experience via social media and tag Second Harvest with #feedhopenow. We ask that you answer at least one of the SNAP challenge debrief questions below.
Sample tweets
SNAP helps put food on the table for over 20 million kids a month. #thisissnap
In Florida, almost 60% of SNAP participants are families with children. #thisissnap #endhunger #feedhopenow
Proposed SNAP cuts result in at least 4.5 billion fewer meals each year. Fewer meals = more families facing #hunger