Michigan mayor, study participants fail $29 food challenge

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A Northern Michigan mayor usually makes a health-conscious choice to avoid the candy bowls and donuts available at meetings, but his attitude changed once he and several area college students accepted a challenge to live on $29 worth of food for a week.

“They are much more attractive to me now,” Traverse City, Michigan Mayor Jim Carruthers said. “I’m hungry.”

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a federal and state program more commonly known as food stamps. The SNAP Challenge was created by the Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit organization working to eradicate hunger and under-nutrition in the United States. The challenge involves eating for a week on $29 — the average amount of assistance the program provides to an adult.

Earlier this year, actress and food writer Gwyneth Paltrow drew the ire of critics, SNAP program participants and others when she attempted the challenge. Paltrow’s grocery purchases, which she shared on Twitter, included black beans, kale, cilantro, corn tortillas and an avocado. After about four days, Paltrow, too failed the challenge and featured her experience on her lifestyle website, GOOP.

Three instructors at Northwestern Michigan College used the challenge as part of an interdisciplinary study of homelessness, poverty and hunger awareness for about 100 students across five classes. The study culminated with a number of events and presentations that coincide with National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, which takes place each year the week before Thanksgiving.

“It’s to bring awareness about what people in poverty and food insecurity have to go through,” NMC instructor Lisa Blackford said. “It’s really, really a struggle to do it. I failed, and I’ve been a social worker for 20 years.”

Each participating student had to ask at least three people to try the challenge, but some students said they asked twice that many and couldn’t get anyone to participate.

“People didn’t believe it, that anyone would have to live on $29 a week,” said student Maggie Devell.

Carruthers didn’t last past the first day. He accepted a free cup of coffee from his favorite coffee shop, a rule violation. By the end of the week, his first as mayor, he dined on free pizza at a city event, lunch bought by a friend and finger foods at a cocktail party.

“That would be considered cheating,” Blackford said. “You can’t accept free things.

“A lot of people don’t have the privilege of going out to lunch or people buying you dinner or a meeting where free food is served. For some of our families, this is a struggle … and they don’t have the option to fail.”

Carruthers said despite his failing to beat the challenge, the exercise increased his awareness about hunger in the community, the cost of food and just how much people take good, quality food for granted.

He spent his $29 on eggs, rice, pasta, beans, raw carrots, spinach and some broccoli slaw. Initially, He felt good about the variety and healthy choices he had made, but when he got home, he said he realized he takes some things for granted, such as olive oil, spices and sauces that weren’t available to him.

“It was bland,” he said. “And I spent time hungry. No late-night snacks before bed.”

Carruthers didn’t fail alone.

Blackford said she didn’t realize how much she takes grocery shopping for granted when she discovered her fresh fruit, vegetables and meats were out of her price range. She bought food she could stretch over several meals which meant a lot of pasta, beans, rice, eggs and high-sodium canned foods.

“I felt sluggish, lethargic, extremely frustrated and forgetful,” she said. “I felt like I was in a fog all of the time.”

Students Rachel Light, Breana Demaray and Devell also tried and failed the SNAP Challenge and didn’t know anyone who succeeded.

“As students, we are already almost taking the challenge without the SNAP assistance,” Demaray said.

McGillivary writes for the Traverse City (Michigan) Record-Eagle.