Day 1 - Ally McDougal, Student

Ally McDougal
Student and Neighbors Project Student Coordinator for Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty

It is 5pm on Saturday night and I am already dreading tomorrow.

I feel my first blog is best laid out in bullet points because that is how my brain thinks:

1. Coffee. What am I going to do at 4pm in the afternoon, everyday, when I need coffee that I can not afford to spend $2.00 (or nearly half of my days allowance) on a cup of coffee. I might implode
2. I have been on food stamps before, but not like this. I spent a year doing Americorps in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was eligible for food stamps because I was only making $200 per week minus taxes and rent was $400 per month. When you really have food stamps, you receive a debit card and a certain amount of money is put on it at the beginning of each month. I was able to eat just fine because the lower Louisiana prices and cost of living. That was $87.50 per week or $12.50 per day - nearly triple the amount I am able to spend in a day in DC AND DC is more expensive. How does anyone survive on $4.11 per day in DC and why should anyone have to?
3. With food stamps, you have to buy unprepared, uncooked food. That means no precooked chicken, slices of pizza, etc. However, I could go into the Whole Foods in Louisiana and buy sushi, which seems ridiculous to me, because it is not cooked. You can buy all the raw ingredients that you want, but you can not buy pots or pans to cook them in. If you are homeless and have food stamps how am I supposed to cook without a stove?
4. This is the busiest week of the year for me: I am coordinating Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week events, I am a student with 6 classes, I have a huge application due on Friday and Sunday I am organizing a Thanksgiving Feast for St. Mary's Court. So for me the challenge is being able to find time to make my own food at home and transport it EVERYWHERE because I am never sure when I will have time for my next meal.
5. Finally, I am interested to see what it is like being a vegetarian on food stamps, since I was not the last time.

Thanks for reading, I will let you know if I survive or if I end up stuffing my face with leftovers from the Hunger Banquet (being held November 18th from 6pm - 8pm in the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom).