Thoughts and Reflections

Well Monday morning has arrived which means that the Dubovsky family officially survived our food stamp challenge week. When it was all said and done (and once we factored in all our adjustments as outlined in yesterday's blog), we finished the week with $5.70 left in our $94.50 overall budget. While the week itself went pretty much how we thought it would go, we had some overall thoughts that we wanted to share.

1. The overwhelming majority of our budget was spent on necessities as opposed to anything that might be considered a luxury or an indulgence. There was the 69 cents that I spent on my 2 liter Safeway-brand soda and then a total of $2.50 on candy for Stacie and I to split over the weekend. I imagine that if we actually lived on a food stamp budget for any significant period of time, we would eventually become accustomed to foregoing such things.

2. One of the main things I noticed was that, whereas during a normal week we tend to have a decent amount of variety in our meals, our diet during the challenge week was much more monotonous. I lost count of the amount of pasta, mac and cheese, sweet potato, bread, peanut butter and soup we ate. In fact, Friday was the only day during the entire week when I did not eat some type of pasta and I know Stacie and Hailey weren't far behind. In fact, by Saturday, Stacie had officially sworn off sweet potato!

3. Another interesting aspect of the week is that even though our meals were less healthy than what we eat on a regular basis, both Stacie and I lost weight. It wasn't a lot in either case, but it was interesting because both of us work out a fair amount, yet neither of us worked out at all during the challenge week. So obviously exercise was not a factor in the weight loss. Personally, I would attribute it to eating fewer meals and smaller portions even though the type of food we were eating was less healthy. Either way, since we have plans to eat out tonight and tomorrow, and we are going out of town for the weekend to visit friends and family, I imagine that the weight loss will be very short lived!

4. Throughout the course of the challenge, I have also had a fair number of people e-mail me with questions and comments about the experience, many of which have led to my conducting additional research. This necessarily resulted in my becoming even more informed about some of the issues relating to the SNAP program and its various components than was previously the case. Not only has my research allowed me to obtain this better understanding, but it has allowed me to pass it along to you all which, hopefully, will itself have a lasting impact. In a sense, this blog has provided all of you an opportunity to live vicariously through us for the week. And if doing so has given at least some of you a different  - and more sympathetic - appreciation for the travails and obstacles encountered by those who rely on SNAP, then it has more than served its purpose.

5. From a more philosophical perspective, while I am certainly happy that we undertook the challenge because of what it represented and how we were able to contribute to a cause, I am very conscious that our entire mindset was to get through just one week. In that sense, I think that our experience was probably very different from what actual SNAP recipients endure. Surviving for seven days barely scratches the surface of helping to understand or replicate the actual experience. Still, as they say, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. What we did may not have been perfect or ideal, but I'd like to think that we still did some good and made a difference.

6. Having undertaken the challenge, I can look back and say that this entire experience grew into something a lot bigger than we anticipated or expected. Stacie and I were talking yesterday and we both said that we never envisioned that the entire concept would flourish to the extent it has. Not only have I been able to keep a steady group of followers updated through this blog, but I was provided the additional forums of a daily article in Baltimore's Daily Record and am also doing an article for the Baltimore Jewish Times which hopefully will be published in the next few weeks. This has allowed us to reach so many more people than we ever believed would be the case.

7. And, then, of course, there is the fundraising component. When we first decided to undertake the challenge, I set up a fundraising website. While setting it up, I was asked to include a fundraising target. I decided to be optimistic and said that we would try and raise $1200. Because of the incredible generosity and support of many of you, we have almost doubled that amount. That is an amazing accomplishment and we are so incredibly grateful to all of you who have contributed and without whom, it would have been impossible. For those who have not yet contributed but still would like to do so, please visit:

https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5145/c/627/t/13626/my/donate.jsp?supporter_my_donate_page_KEY=5203

In this holiday season, we should all take a few moments to think of those less fortunate than ourselves and pledge to do something to help. Thank you again to everyone who has given and will give. And even if you do not have the ability or inclination to contribute financially, there are other ways in which you can help:

1.       Contact your member of Congress and/or Senator and ask them to protect funding for SNAP, especially during this very important period where our federal government is looking to drastically reduce spending by reducing or eliminating certain federal programs.

2.       Become an advocate for anti-poverty causes in whatever way you feel comfortable.  Some of you have expressed an interest in participating in the challenge themselves, but even if you are not comfortable with that option, there are a great many other ways to support the cause and I encourage anyone interested to investigate and find the method that best meets your comfort level.

8. Finally, in some ways the most important part of this challenge is ensuring that our support for this cause does not end today. If all we did was participate in the challenge and raise money for the cause, it would certainly be commendable - but it would not be enough. For that reason, I pledge to continue what this challenge has started, which is to raise additional awareness of and money for, this very important cause. In the words of Shakespeare, "what's past is prologue." May it serve as a springboard to even bigger and better things.

The Dubovsky family participation in the food stamp challenge is now over. To be able to become involved in such a noble venture and to in some way give something back to society has truly been a privilege. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” When I think about the degree to which our lives have been enriched by this experience, I realize he could not have been more right.

As we conclude this experience and wrap up the blog, I want to again thank each and every one of you for your support and encouragement. As random e-mails and comments have come in, I have begun to appreciate how many people have actually been reading this blog and following our experience. That, in its own way, is tremendously gratifying and overwhelming.

Stacie, Hailey and I wish all of you and your families a safe, happy and healthy holiday season and a very happy new year and all the best for 2013.

Last Day

So after what seems like a really long wait, we are finally into our last day. Our grocery store trip yesterday was very successful. We got another box of pasta (also for $1)  and were able to get some turkey burgers (4 on sale for about $2.50 total). Overall we spent $6.32. Also, we made a few financial "adjustments" rather than buy certain items.

For example, we just ran out of milk but since today is our last day, we didn't want to have to  buy non organic milk only to then have to use it next week since we normally give Hailey organic. So we bought organic milk, but subtracted from our budget the amount it would have cost us to buy a small non-organic whole milk. In addition to that, Hailey started to run a little bit of a fever last night and this morning and wasn't all that interested in her regular food, so we have given her a couple of food pouches. Since they are $1 each, we subtracted another $2 from our budget. So when it's all said and done - assuming we don't buy anything else today - we will have finished the week having spent all but $7.70 of our budget.

Since Hailey isn't feeling great, I'm not sure that we'll be able to make the most of our plans of going out today. We'll see how she feels after her nap, although if all else fails, we can watch the Ravens/Giants game at 4:30.

As for our last meals, we have mac and cheese and toast for lunch and then we have two more turkey burgers for dinner to go with some sweet potato. And I'm sure that we'll have some more of our endless pasta supply if the turkey burger/sweet potato combo doesn't do the trick.

Tomorrow, I'll plan on posting a more extensive update which will include some of our reflections on the entire experience. As always, we love to hear your thoughts and questions as well.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Neil, Stacie and Hailey

Day 6

Just finished lunch and Stacie and I realized that we are now counting down the meals until our challenge is over. We have breakfast for tomorrow morning (eggs, toast and peanut butter), so the only meals left to worry about are dinner tonight and lunch and dinner tomorrow night (3 meals total). We have some mac and cheese left and a little pasta in addition to some sweet potato (stop me if this sounds familiar), but we figured we needed at least one more protein which, if we buy enough, should cover two out of the three meals. Haven't decided what yet - we're going to make a grocery store trip later this afternoon when Hailey wakes up from her nap and see what our options are. The good news is that we still have more than $17 of our budget remaining.

Last night we had our first real indulgence of the week. After dinner, I had to run out to the Rite Aid up the street to get something for Hailey and while there, I noticed that they had king size kitt-katts for 99 cents. I don't think either of us has been more excited to eat candy. I'm not going to lie - it was really good! Last night I also broke my streak of eating pasta every night this week. We picked up a rotisserie chicken from Safeway (on sale for $5) and I had that along with some peas and a sweet potato. Stacie and Hailey stuck with the mac and cheese though, to go with the chicken.

We're trying to keep busy this weekend and make sure we're not in the house any more than necessary so we're not just stuck here thinking about food. This morning we had a great time with our friends the Bensons at Port Discovery (a children's museum in Baltimore) and tonight we're going to Hampden to see the Christmas lights (didn't make it last night). And the Falcons are playing the Lions later tonight so I'll have that to distract me. We don't have any specific plans for tomorrow, but I'm sure we'll figure out something to get us out of the house. And if all else fails, I can always plant myself on the couch and watch the NFL. Will just have to do it without the usual snacks and adult beverages.

Will plan on updating again at some point tomorrow and will let you know what we decided to get for our final meals. If anyone has any suggestions, we're all ears.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and thanks again for everything.

Neil, Stacie and Hailey

Day 5

So just three more days to go, but as I mentioned yesterday, I imagine they will be the most difficult. With apologies to those who have been following my column in the Daily Record (since this will be somewhat repetitive), as our experience draws to its conclusion I find myself feeling guilty. While this may seem strange, the reason is actually quite simple. Now that the finish line is in sight, I realize how excited I am for Monday and a return to normalcy. I think about how much I look forward to being able to go back to our regular food schedule. Even going out to dinner  and having a drink. Only a few more days to go. That should be easy enough. Just hang in there for a little longer and then it will be over.

And that is when the guilt sets in because I am immediately reminded of how different our challenge was to the actual lives of those millions who rely on food stamps to feed themselves and their families. They do not have the luxury of “opting out” of their situation. And, unlike ours, their experience is not measured in days. It certainly puts our "hardship" into perspective.

One of our readers raised a good question which I wanted to address. He pointed out that while I have been discussing our meal options and alternatives this week, it would be more helpful to compare them with my usual food intake when we are not on a restricted budget. There are two specific examples which I think have been significant.

The first is that I normally keep a stash of peanuts and protein bars in my office at work for between-meal snacks. Since those have been off limits this week, I find that I have been hungrier at regular meal times which hasn't exactly been ideal since I have not been able to increase my portion sizes to compensate. And I know that Stacie also routinely has similar snacks which have also been unavailable to her. The net result of that has been that we have been eating a lot of either pasta or mac and cheese for dinner. And while there is certainly nothing wrong with pasta or mac and cheese, eating it every night (as I have this week) is neither usual nor particularly healthy.

The other example of a dietary change  this week is that we have not been able to eat dessert at all. I know this probably sounds silly, but both Stacie and I enjoy having dessert at least a couple of nights a week. Nothing too unhealthy, whether it's strawberries for Stacie and a Healthy Choice Fudge Bar for me or something comparable, it satisfies a craving. Going without dessert for the entire week is certainly not the worst thing in the world, but it is something that I have definitely noticed. And it has been even more difficult because many of my law firm's clients and vendors have been sending candy and other goodies to our office so we have a stockpile in our kitchen and there is nothing I can do about it!

Thinking ahead, what I imagine we will need to guard against is going overboard and eating too much when the challenge is over on Monday. It reminds me of the feeling one has after fasting on Yom Kippur only to overeat when breaking the fast. Not a good idea. That might be easier said than done though because we have plans to go out with friends for dinner on Monday night and then (spoiler alert!) Chinese food on Christmas day.

I will update the blog again over the weekend and will certainly have a wrap up on Monday after the challenge week is over. It really has gone very quickly.

 

Neil, Stacie and Hailey

Day 4

At lunch time today, we will officially be half way through our challenge week and so far, it feels as though nothing unanticipated has happened. We certainly have enough food to get us into the weekend if not all the way through. Stacie and I decided that we would sit down tonight and evaluate exactly where we are in terms of our food supply and then figure out exactly what we think we need for the weekend so we can allocate our remaining budget of $23.93 accordingly.

Personally, I think the weekend is going to be the most difficult part of the whole experience. During the week, we normally eat fairly healthy and since we're both at work, the days go by pretty quickly. Weekends are when we tend to spend most of our food money eating out. Our big favorite is brunch at any one of the local Canton of Fell's Point restaurants. There are a bunch of them that have really good weekend brunches and it's something we enjoy. Needless to say, we will be foregoing that this weekend.

Also, tomorrow evening we are taking Hailey to see the Christmas lights in Hampden (those of you from Baltimore will know what I'm talking about). In a normal week, we would probably go see the lights and then grab something to eat before heading home. This week, of course, we will have to head straight home for dinner which will probably be mac and cheese with tuna.

On the lighter side, I was able to snap this photo of Hailey yesterday and one of my work colleagues made the comment that she was probably trying to order pizza since she's clearly hungry!

She has actually been a trooper through the entire thing so far and seems totally unaffected. That's probably because, as Stacie correctly points out, her diet is essentially identical to what it normally is. As I think I may have mentioned before, the only real changes for Hailey are that she is drinking regular whole milk instead of organic and that instead of getting Puffs for her morning snack when she gets to daycare, we've been giving her carrots. And since she seems to love the carrots, that may end up being a permanent replacement since it's much healthier.

Please keep the questions (and the donations) coming and I will continue to answer them all on the blog. I know I keep repeating it, but we are unbelievably appreciative of the support we have been receiving and the interest level is far higher than we ever could have imagined. Thank you all.

Neil, Stacie and Hailey

Day 3

Day 3 is now under way and we are still all doing pretty well. Our food supply seems to be holding up well mainly because we are trying to maintain disciplined portion control. That way, what might normally be two meals can be stretched into three and so on.

Yesterday was a slightly unusual day for me in that I was out of the office for most of it. I was at the courthouse in Annapolis for a mediation, so I made sure to make my lunch ahead of time and take it with me. So when all of the attorneys and parties left to have lunch at some of the area restaurants and I stayed in the conference room and ate my peanut butter sandwich. I am starting to feel as though that is my "go to" meal now! Quick, easy and inexpensive makes for a good combination on a food stamp budget.

To be honest, not much of note has happened so far, except I am excited to report that we have now officially raised over $2000, in large measure based on our ability to reach out to a greater number of people through this blog and my newspaper articles. The increased awareness of and support for this cause is very gratifying for Stacie and me. In fact, if we have one regret at all, it is that Hailey is too young to appreciate what we are doing since it would be a very valuable lesson for her. Still, whether she knows it or not, she is helping in her own way.

I wanted to again take a moment to address some of the questions that we have been receiving. One of the more frequent questions I have received over the last day or so is why we chose to undertake this challenge during the holiday season as opposed to some other time of the year.

When I first raised the challenge with Stacie back in November (before Thanksgiving), we had to look at our calendar to find a week where we didn't have anything on our schedule that would have impeded our ability to complete the challenge successfully. Because of the fact that the rules preclude taking advantage of free food options, it proved to be more difficult than we thought mainly because of the number of holiday parties and events this time of year. And it turned out that the first available week where we had nothing on our schedule was this week.

We definitely understood that it was in the middle of the holiday season, but decided to go ahead and do it anyway for two reasons. First, since we are Jewish, the proximity of the challenge week to Christmas was not relevant and Chanukkah has already ended. And second, since our goal was to try and replicate the challenge faced by actual food stamp recipients, avoiding certain weeks because they were inconvenient would undermine the purpose of the undertaking. Food stamp recipients don't get to opt out of their situation at Christmas or any other time and we felt as though we shouldn't either. That said, if I'm being honest, doing the challenge this week hasn't really been any more of an imposition or difficulty than it would be any other week even though we are in the midst of the holiday season.

Another question (or more accurately, a comment) I have heard is whether those receiving food stamps are the beneficiaries of a government handout which acts as a disincentive for them to try and extricate themselves from a bad situation. This is obviously an issue on which people have very different - and strongly held - opinions. Personally, I think that Ms. Glover's comment to yesterday's post did a better job than I could ever do of explaining the plight of many of those who receive SNAP benefits. However, I do have some thoughts I wanted to share.

First, food stamp recipients are not monolithic. Within that very large group, there are many different kinds of people. Some (I would argue a small minority) presumably avail themselves of the benefits without trying to lift themselves up. Some have been in poverty for a long time (perhaps from birth) and don't have the means (educationally) or opportunity, to lift themselves out despite having a genuine desire to do so. And then there are others, like Ms. Glover, who because of our recent economic downturn and recession, went from being employed members of the middle-class to unemployed food stamp recipients. And, as the economy improves and employment opportunities increase, the hope is that they will no longer require SNAP assistance.

However, despite the fact that food stamp recipients fall into different categories (certainly more than the three I have delineated), the common thread that connects them is the need for assistance with some of life's basic needs. Basically, I would argue that whether or not the benefit is considered a handout misses the point. The fundamental question is whether we as a society benefit from providing this assistance (handout or not) to our fellow citizens. And, for a number of reasons, I would argue that we do.

First, I believe we have a moral obligation to help the less fortunate among us especially when we are talking about something as basic as ensuring that they have sufficient food to feed themselves and their families. Second, even assuming one disagrees with the moral argument, SNAP assistance provides practical benefits as well. Putting aside the fact that these funds are injected back into our economy thereby directly stimulating commerce, the medical and health benefits of assisting recipients in eating more nutritional diets is significant. Without it, health care costs for a group of people who are largely uninsured or receiving Medicaid would skyrocket. And the corollary of this economic benefit is also true - that the prevention of adverse health conditions is always preferable and less expensive than the future treatment of those conditions once present.

I know this probably won't change too many people's minds on the issue. If you agreed with my perspective beforehand, I suspect this will reinforce that opinion and if you disagree with me, I don't imagine my ramblings will persuade you. But I think that simply having the discussion is meaningful and, for that alone, I am grateful that you have taken the time to read this.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's update. Until then, thanks again to you all for your support and encouragement.

Neil, Stacie and Hailey

Day 2

So Day 1 is in the books and so far, so good. All three of us seemed to cope okay, although I have to admit that I was pretty hungry around dinner. As I mentioned, I had peanut butter and toast for breakfast and then meatloaf for lunch. For dinner, Stacie made chicken along with some pasta and then we had some sweet potato as well.

This morning, I brought in some eggs and cheese for breakfast and since I am going to be out of the office most of the day, I made myself another peanut butter sandwich to take with me for lunch.

As I think I mentioned in my first blog post, one of the rules of the challenge is that you are not allowed to take advantage of free food opportunities that may present themselves at work or elsewhere. Both Stacie and I had temptations yesterday, but were able to avoid them. Stacie was saying that at her office, they put out a bunch of leftover sandwiches from a lunch meeting. In my case, one of my colleagues just returned from a trip to New Zealand and brought a bag of goodies from her trip.

I also wanted to use today's blog post to address a couple of good questions that have been raised by blog followers. The first one - raised by a number of people - is whether we are able to take advantage of the WIC program because of Hailey's age. WIC stands for "Women, Infants and Children" and  is a federally funded program that provides healthy supplemental foods and nutrition counseling for pregnant women, new mothers, infants and children under age five. If you are eligible for WIC, you receive not only nutritional information, but additional financial resources to buy foods such as milk, infant formula, 100% fruit and/or vegetable oil, peanut butter, cheese, eggs and cereal.

In order to apply for WIC, you have to be (1) a pregnant woman, (2) breastfeeding for up to one year, (3) postpartum for up to six months, or (4) infants (0-1 years old) and children (under 5 years old) with specific nutritional needs. Assuming one meets one of these eligibility requirements, an applicant must also demonstrate that they meet the income requirement, is a resident of the state/county to which they are applying for assistance and must have a nutritional risk assessment by a qualified health professional.

In our case, while it is possible that Hailey might qualify for additional assistance under this program, there would be no way to know for sure without her undergoing a medical evaluation to determine whether she has a nutritional deficiency. And since we have seen absolutely no evidence of that to this point, both Stacie and I believe we are better off simply moving forward on our SNAP budget without trying to avail ourselves of additional advantages. Also, Hailey's diet is really the same this week as it is most weeks. The only major differences are that she is getting regular whole milk instead of organic and for her morning snack at daycare, she is getting carrots instead of puffs. However, we are obviously monitoring Hailey  during the week to make sure that all of her nutritional needs are being met. We have also informed her teachers at daycare that we are taking the challenge and have also asked them to monitor her as well and to let us know if they observe any signs of concern. However, because her diet is essentially the same, we do not anticipate that happening.

The other question that we have been asked is whether it is truly a worthwhile exercise to take a one week challenge when those actually living on food stamps have to do it every single week of their lives. In other words, isn't it just a gimmick; a week-long fantasy camp for people of means? Having taken some take to reflect on this question, I am really glad it was raised because it allowed me focus more on the actual reasons we are doing this challenge and why it is important.

The truth is that the main benefit of taking the challenge is philanthropic. Our primary goal is - and always has been - to raise as much money as possible for the cause of poverty and those living in poverty. As I write this, we have raised approximately $2,000 and I hope and expect that this will continue to increase. Again, for those interested and willing to donate, you can go to:

https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5145/c/627/t/13626/my/donate.jsp?supporter_my_donate_page_KEY=5203

I absolutely believe that our participation in the challenge has led to more donations than would otherwise have been the case. So for that reason alone, it has been worthwhile.

There is also a secondary benefit which is that our participation in the challenge has provided an avenue to raise awareness of the issue by giving me a forum to discuss the issue I would not otherwise have had. Because of the unique nature of the challenge, I have been able to reach out to two local newspapers (The Baltimore Jewish Times and the Maryland Daily Record) both of which asked me to write articles based on our experience. That allows us to reach significantly more people than would be the case if we had decided to simply raise money for the cause without investing ourselves personally.

This additional raised awareness not only helps with the fundraising component, but it also provides a forum to explain the importance of maintaining the SNAP program and the potentially catastrophic effects of reducing or eliminating federal funding for the program. Again, without Stacie, Hailey and I committing to undertake the challenge, the degree to which we would have been able disseminate the message and information would be greatly diminished.

I hope this helps explain the reason why the challenge itself is an essential component of our commitment to this cause and our attempt to raise awareness of it. Again, we really are grateful for all the questions and comments and for all the continued support and encouragement from you all. Thanks again.

Neil, Stacie and Hailey