Martha’s Table Pt-1

Evening everyone!

I was lucky enough to volunteer at Martha’s Table (The most often confused of the DC homelessness/hunger organizations) had a very interesting experience. I plan on volunteer across the organization in various ways and will be writing about my experiences.

Full disclaimer- I know that the volunteering experience is only a small part of an organization. Speaking from experience, volunteers can be both burden and blessing so I very much appreciated being able to volunteer at such a storied organization on short notice.

Martha’s Table is a local organization that strives to support stronger children, families, and communities with four key programs: Healthy Start, Healthy Eating, Healthy Connections, and Emergency Support Services. With a 35 year history, the organization has done a great deal of good for the DC and surrounding community.

As a former chef, I felt the most natural place for me to start volunteering was in the Health Eating- AM shift. After arriving, I was briefly introduced to the mission and vision of Martha’s Table and quickly put to work chopping a 50lb bag of onions. It was different from what I expected. There was minimal interaction with Chef Flo, and the volunteers were set up in the dining room, outside of the kitchen, with a singular task. I wasn’t sure how the ingredients the volunteers were prepping were going to be incorporated into the evening meal or on McKenna’s wagon.

From what I was able to glean from the dining room, the quality of the meals seems very high. There was a plethora of fresh vegetables and delectable smells coming from the stoves and the kitchen was clean, professional, and organized!

Overall I was impressed with the kitchen program but wished there was a bit more of a connection between the prep work and the meal.

Next week, I’ll be volunteering across the other aspects of the organization both in McKenna’s Wagon and the thrift store!

How to fight hunger?

Good evening everyone. I will be updating this blog periodically with my experiences volunteering at and learning from various hunger relief organizations around DC and around the nation. Hopefully, I can glean (That’s for you Hagel) an understanding of the different ways non-profit and for-profit organizations are combating hunger.

I figure the best way is to volunteer multiple times at the various organizations, meet with key staff, and understand the vision and the process of how the organization is combating hunger. The goal is self-learning. Exposing myself to various different models should help me understand the pros and cons of each.

As always, the content will include a bevy of curses, memes, gifs, and hilarious grammatical mistakes. If you have suggestions for where I should go and better if you know people at these organizations please let me know!

 

 

 

RESPONSE TO GWU PATRIOT ARTICLE

9/12/2014-

This article was originally posted on the GWSNAP Tumbler in response to an article by the schools conservative newspaper on the SNAP challenge. That article has since been retraced. Re-posting this to my blog for just ghits and siggles.

Response to “SNAP out of it” article by Kevin Reagan

Hello, this is Tae Min Kim of GWU’s SNAP challenge initiative. First off, I would like to thank the GWU Patriot and Mr. Reagan for helping to spread awareness about the SNAP program. As they say all press is good press and true meaningful discussion about the SNAP program was and continues to be one of the principle goals of our initiative.

While I wish Mr. Reagan and the GWU Patriot would have reached out to me or one of the group members directly (Primary sources being the hallmark of good journalism) I would like the time to clarify some possible misconceptions in the GWU Hatchet article. As you no doubt understand, there are often nuances lost in a general article due to limited space etc…

The SNAP challenge is unrealistic

The SNAP Challenge figure of 31.50 is based off the national average of SNAP benefits according to FY 2010 data. It is, of course, an average. Furthermore our number of 31.50 closely mirrors the surrounding DC community. According to most recent USDA data, the average monthly benefit per person in the District of Columbia in FY 2012 was 137.74. There being an average of 30.4 days per month (365/12) it means a daily benefit of 4.53 cents (rounded to the nearest hundredth). Multiply that by 7 and you get 31.71 or very close to 31.50.

I assume you took the monthly benefit of 159 per month and divided by 4 weeks leading to your figure of 39.75. If every month had 28days (I.E. February on a non-leap year) this would be correct. Using the CBPP’s 2013 data the numbers actually turn out to be 36.61 for 7 days. Now I remind you that the SNAP challenge does use the FY 2010 data and there could be a case to be made to update the challenge to reflect that. ¹

SNAP stands for Supplemental

Erroneous mathematics aside, let us move on to the Supplemental aspect of the program. You are correct; the S in SNAP does stand for supplemental. For most households the SNAP benefit is not meant to cover all a family’s food needs in a given month precisely because the family is expected to buy some food from its own resources. However, the reality reflected in USDA SNAP Food Security In-Depth Interview Study in March of 2013 found that many households plan their food budget with SNAP as a foundation.

“Families often build their monthly budgets around SNAP, allocating their fungible cash resources toward their bills and other, often urgent, financial needs triggered by a sudden loss of income or increase in expenditure.”²(In-depth study,USDA, xi)

Now I do agree that this is a problem and SNAP shouldn’t be considered a foundation for the food     budget. Furthermore most families run out of SNAP benefits by the 3^rd week and consequently forgo paying bills to purchase food.

“It is very difficult, very difficult. I am working…part time. I’m a single mom of two, and it seems like nothing is ever enough. No matter how many hours I put in it’s not enough for what I need at home. I thank God that at least [I have] the SNAP benefits. It’s the only way I can make it. Other than that, I wouldn’t have anything to eat.” (In-depth study, USDA, 14)

The above quotation is an accurate reflection of the households on snap. They are living very close to the economic margin. You also noted correctly that to qualify for SNAP a family must be at or under 130% of the poverty line. For a family of 3 that means they make under 24,817 dollars annually using 2012 FPL guidelines. 24,817 for 3 people to include housing, utilities and all other expenses is very little.

Legitimate abuses of the program

Moving on let us address the legitimate abuses of the program. Yes abuse happens but let us again turn to hard data and facts to see what truly is going on.

SNAP has one of the most rigorous quality control systems of any public benefit program. Furthermore, there has been aggressive action taken by the federal government to combat SNAP abuse and fraud. For example, the share of SNAP payments that represent over-payments or payments to ineligible households was reduced to 2.99%. Currently over 99% of those receiving SNAP benefits are eligible and payment accuracy was at 96.2%, a historic high.

Culture of dependence.

Again let us discuss facts. The “8 and a half year” dependence statistic comes from Robert Rector’s testimony at the Heritage foundation on June 27, 2001. Let’s continue the discussion with more up to date, relevant data as we are over a decade past the legitimacy of the figure.

A House Budget Committee analysis titled “The Path to Prosperity” released in March 12, 2013 shows the majority of SNAP recipients who can work do so. For families with children, more than 60% of households work while receiving SNAP and almost 90% work in the prior or subsequent year.³

Hopefully this has cleared up any possible confusion on not only the GWU Initiative, but the SNAP program as a whole. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future.

Tae Min Kim

References and Background:

1. SNAP Benefits Average by State: http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/18SNAPavg$PP.htm
2. Nutrition Assistance Program Report Series: Office of Research and Analysis “SNAP Food Security In-Depth Interview Study: Final Report” USDAhttp://www.fns.usda.gov/ORA/menu/Published/SNAP/FILES/Participation/SNAPFoodSec.pdf
3. The Path to Prosperity:  A Responsible, Balanced Budget,House Budget Committee, March 12, 2013, p. 29.

General Background:

For more information on SNAP:http://www.fns.usda.gov/ORA/menu/Published/SNAP/SNAP.htm#Building

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2226

What does it mean to cut the SNAP budget?

What does it mean to cut the SNAP budget?

With the various budget crises in congress as well as the delay on the reauthorization of the Farm Bill, there have been many fiscally conservative congressman that have advocated for the cutting of the SNAP budget.

If you don’t want to read the post here are takeaways:

1. Don’t Cut Snap Funding

2. SNAP isn’t wasteful

3. Snap is projected not to add to the national budget in the long term.

Below is a summary from a fantastic analysis done by Dottie Rosenbaum and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (Wisconsin) has proposed a budget which cuts the food stamp program by 135 billion in the next 10 years. Let’s for a moment entertain the notion that this budget has feasibility. What would it mean for the people who are on SNAP?

90% of the SNAP budget goes directly to providing food assistance for low-income households. The remaining 10% goes into administrative costs such as determining who gets food stamp benefits, operations etc… The budget proposes a 2 tier cut with 125 billion in cuts happening from 2019-2023 (34% of the current SNAP funding) and the rest over the next 5 years. This would mean that 12-13million people currently on the program would need to be cut, and Snap benefits would have to be cut by 50$ per person per month!

Those of you on the SNAP challenge know it’s already a struggle living off 31.50 a week, but under this budget plan your benefit would be cut by 12.50 leaving only a 19.00 a week allowance! Furthermore, this would mean SNAP benefits would only cover 73% of the USDA guidelines for the Thrifty Food Plan (A USDA estimate of the minimum amount of food a family needs)

SO WTF?

Let’s discuss a few key assumptions this budget rests upon.

1. SNAP is facing a budget crunch and contributes to the nation’s long term debt.

It’s true SNAP grew during the recession but this growth is temporary and merely a reflection of the state of the US economy as a whole. The recent growth has already slowed and initially grew because of: the recession, improvements in the program to reach eligible families, and the Recovery Act’s temporary boost”

Furthermore, the program won’t increase the nation’s debt because its projected not to grow any faster than the economy over time. (Source Congressional Budget Office)

2. SNAP recipients do not have a strong work ethic.

The center on Budget and Policy priorities found that a large majority of SNAP recipients who can work, work. “Among SNAP households with at least one working-age, non-disabled adult, more than half work while receiving SNAP — and more than 80 percent work in the year prior to or the year after receiving SNAP.  The rates are even higher for families with children — more than 60 percent work while receiving SNAP, and almost 90 percent work in the prior or subsequent year.  Among SNAP households that start receiving SNAP, only 4 percent that worked in the year before starting to receive SNAP did not work in the following year.  The number of SNAP recipients who work while receiving SNAP has more than tripled over the past decade.

3. Snap is wasteful, filled with fraud and abuse.

 

“SNAP has one of the most rigorous quality control systems of any public benefit program.  Despite the recent growth in caseloads, the share of total SNAP payments that represent overpayments or payments to ineligible households reached a record low of 2.99 percent in fiscal year 2011. In addition, the Agriculture Department (USDA) has cut “trafficking” — the sale of SNAP benefits for cash, which violates federal law — by three-quarters over the past 15 years.  Only 1 percent of SNAP benefits is trafficked.  USDA has also permanently disqualified thousands of retail stores from the program for not following federal requirements.  When cases of SNAP fraud are reported in the news, it is because the offenders have been caught, evidence that states and USDA are aggressively combating fraud.”

 

Adapted from: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3923

 

 

SNAP Challenge Round 2. FIGHT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPw-3e_pzqU

Why.

I never thought I would say these words again… For the next week I will be attempting the SNAP or food stamp challenge and live off a food stamp budget to raise awareness and discover insight about the difficulties of living on a food stamp budget.

I know. WTF am I thinking. Well what happened was I opened my big mouth and screwed the pooch. After the last challenge I brought up the idea of doing a GWU wide food stamp challenge to my project group in Jose Andres’ World on a Plate course and the group said yes.

I thought about not doing it this time around but the social pressure was overwhelming. An unbelievable amount of support from GWU including Mrs. Knapp, SPHHS, GW Urban task food initiative as well as DC Mayor Grey, Rep. Mcgovern, DC Central Kitchen etc… pretty much SHAMED me into acquiescence. 

The half page spread on the Hatchet with my mug didn’t help either. (Bad hair day to boot) 

 

Honestly these past few weeks have been incredible in terms of the people I’ve been working with, the scope of the project, and the support we’ve gotten. 

 

Because I know you’re already sick of reading and there’s little point in me bitching again for another week many of the post will be focused on the Maco and Structural issues surrounding SNAP as well as criticisms of the challenge itself.

They will be over quickly. They will be entertaining, You will be educated. I am not your professor. 

Food Challenge Day 7

DONE, FINISHED, WHOOOOOOO.

This will be a short post.

Yes, at the time of writing the 7^th day is drawing to a close. As I sit writing, hungrily eyeing a Klondike bar that I will immediately inhale as the clock strikes 12, (Terrible, terrible inhuman things I would do for a Klondike bar.) I’ve reflected upon the past week.

Crunching the numbers I’m surprised to find besides the calories, I’ve maintained a pretty decent plate with vegetables and balance.

Ultimately, I am surprised you can eat in a relatively healthy manner with 3 simple caveats.

1. It will take an incredible amount of knowledge and an above average level of culinary skill
2. Planning is paramount 
3. You will be hungry

Category	Total Eaten	Recommended Value	Daily Eaten
Calories	10041	2000	1434.42
Protein	607	56	86.7
Carbohydrate	1253	130	179
Fiber	315	38	45
Fat	30%	20-30
Vitamin A ug	7298	900	1042
Vitamin B6 mg	11.8	1.3	1.6
Vitamin B12 ug	9.1	2.4	1.3
Vitamin C mg	577	90	82.42
Vitamin E mg	77	15	11
Potassium mg	16615	4700	2373
Sodium mg	15063	2300	2151

 

A proper reflection will be done tomorrow.

Time for ice-cream and alcohol. 

Food Challenge Day 6

Day 6.

Part of me wishes I was a better human being and I would appreciate the experience I’ve been through for the last week. I. Am. Not. I can barely contain the unbridled glee of being able to consume unhealthy amounts of trans fats in less than 24 hours. (Cookie cookie cookie)

To put this in perspective, I am not talking about something mundane like eating a pint of ice cream a party size bag of chips and a few snickers. I am referring to a 5 layer candy bar cake with a layer of ice cream topped in peanut butter mousse and bacon brittle. It would be funny if I was joking.

I had a very interesting lecture in my World on a plate class with Jose Andres. The guest lecturer, Christopher Kimball, noted that he doesn’t understand why people, especially lower income families, do not cook more since cooking is cheaper and healthier.

Christopher Kimball is pretty much a pillar in the pantheon of American culinary Gods. He is one of the most knowledgeable food people in the world. His Test Kitchen is the equivalent of a top tier research institution devoted to food and the work done there has been incredibly beneficial in producing fantastic recipes and clearing up many myths and misconceptions on food. I would most likely pee my pants and sell off a kidney to work for him. But, he is wrong.

I believe his error in judgment on the issue stems from simply not giving it enough thought. He is an incredibly intelligent human being but comes from a perspective wholly different than what a person on food stamps would face.

For the poor agency is an illusion. Choice does not exist in a vacuum but is inherently tied to structural issues. For example, yes a single mother of can choose to make healthy nutritious food. But if that mother is poor then there are additional issues to consider. First is knowledge. Does she have the knowledge to make the healthy nutritious choice for her children and herself? If so does she have the practical skills and knowledge to make that happen? Second, does she have the time? If you’re working 2-3 jobs a day on 18 hour shifts to make ends meet there is precious little time to cook, make pasta, cut vegetables etc… Third is does she have the equipment. The gas and electric may not be constant all the time. The stove may have been broken for the past two months and the only working utility may be the microwave. All these are hypothetical, but have to be considered.

Does that make Dr. Kimball a bad person? Hell no. He has done more for the rigorous advancement of home cooking in the last decade than any other person in America. It can only mean that he hasn’t considered it. This may be part of the value that I have been struggling to find within the challenge: that you begin to have a larger more nuanced understanding of the problem.

Enough of the large, complicated thoughts that are entirely out of the scope of my understanding. The finish line is in sight and I’ll be damned if there isn’t cake and whiskey waiting.

Stay tuned for the last day. 

Food Challenge Day 5

Day 5

Its remarkable how quickly a person can get used to a situation. It’s only been 5 days and I find myself falling into the routine of cooking, packaging and portioning my meals for the day. I don’t want to say it’s become easy, because it hasn’t. I still feel the stress of making sure I have enough to last the week and preparing my meals accordingly. I still miss having a variety of ingredients to experiment and jazz up my dishes but its less of an ordeal it was even a few days ago.

One thing I do crave constantly is sweets. As many of my friends know, I have a massive sweet tooth especially for baked goods. I miss éclairs, cake, cookies all of it. Seeing the finish line hasn’t made it any easier. I find myself planning my feast meal after this challenge is over. True, there is a small bit of guilt knowing that I can go back and load my body with extremely unhealthy things as soon as the challenge is over. I don’t know how I will feel sitting in front of a dozen éclairs and a porterhouse. More than likely I will scarf everything down and possibly reflect on the week before I doze off into the inevitable food coma.

Is it right? Probably not. Will I enjoy that meal? You bet your ass I will. (Hey fatty, fatty, fatty) Hopefully I won’t fall into a sugar induced coma and possibly rupture my stomach, but I’ve always been a man of indulgences.

I can’t thank my parents enough for letting me go to culinary school. I wouldn’t have been able to survive till now without these skills. The stock, tomato sauce and homemade pasta have been manna from heaven. I can’t imagine doing this without my (albeit limited) skills. I rarely am grateful for the blessings in my life but this week has made me do so. (I doubt it will last.)

2 days to go. Stay tuned!

Food Challenge Day 4

Day 4 Hump Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The weekend has presented its own unique hurdles that threaten my ability to hold to the challenge. The biggest threat:  Alcohol. I’ve been known to enjoy a drink (ssss) and its absence is in my life has been noted with big bold letters. Socially this sucks.  Actually, this just sucks. Being the only sober one at the party, my thoughts turned to a question a close friend had asked me the day before.

What is the point of the food stamp challenge?

Seriously, what’s IS the point? It’s not as if by the end of the challenge I will have magically solved the hunger problem, or even gained a true glimpse of what it’s like to live on food stamps. Realistically, this doesn’t mean shit. Even worse completing this challenge may give me a false sense of moral superiority and accomplishment.

Let me clarify. The completion of this challenge does not count as an accomplishment. I will have done nothing. True, I may have gained a modicum of understanding about the difficulties facing those in this situation and be more sympathetic to their plight but this doesn’t feed the hungry. Furthermore, I’m not arrogant enough to believe that my writing will influence any major change or increased awareness. Why? Because my grammar is terrible and I doubt more than a few of my close friends actually reads this blog. (I probably wouldn’t if I wasn’t writing it)

Ideally if one donated the money they would have spent on food during a normal week or began volunteering at a local food bank there would be a tangible, positive benefit to this challenge. Will I do that? Honestly I don’t know. Nor will I ever post about my decision to. (I have a reputation to maintain)

So what does this mean? I still believe and have increasingly come to believe this challenge has value. The most important reason being that the challenge has made me reflect not just on the issue of hunger and food insecurity but also on my lifestyle. Does this mean I will drastically change my habits? Probably not, but it will give me an increased sensitivity and empathy to the issue. Furthermore, it will remind me not to judge another’s experiences unless I’ve faced a similar situation.

I understand that this is not a similar situation. This challenge is in no way a true reflection of the struggles faced by 1 in 6 people in the nation. Nor does it reflect the myriad of issues that come up in those people’s lives. It would be truly insulting to pretend otherwise. The challenge may be then a start to the conversation, an avenue of thought previously overlooked and passed by and the true challenge may begin after this 7 day period ends.

 

P.S

Apologies for the lack of humor (or attempted humor) in this post. I’ll try harder tomorrow. 

Food Challenge Day 3

Day 3

In sickness and in health.

Allergies. Spring has sprung and with it comes all its symptoms.  Sneezing, wheezing, coughing, runny nose, eyes swollen shut (Insert Asian joke here) all appear magically as if to spite those of us wretched souls with an overactive immune system. As if our genetic flaw is so heinous that we should not be able to enjoy the flowers under the shining sun.

Allergies are the reason why I hate flowers. The banks where the wild thyme blows, where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, with sweet musk roses can pretty much all burn and Titania along with them.

Rant aside, the reason allergies start off this post is allergies, or any sort of sickness makes it increasingly difficult to live off a food stamp budget. Being sick sucks! (No shit Sherlock) Having to cook all your items from scratch to stretch a dollar while being sick because you can’t afford delivery is miserable.

I can only imagine how worse this would be if I had an actual sickness like the flu. You need to eat to get better despite not having any sort of appetite. In that situation it’s much easier to order a gallon of Wonton soup and dumplings to chow down in bed. Throw taking care of meals for an entire family into the mix and you have a truly bleak situation.

Not so Happy Hour

I touched upon the difficulty of social interactions in yesterday’s post and tonight exemplified the struggle. I went to happy hour with a few friends to watch the basketball games and it was a miserable experience. Sure I loved the company having Duke and Georgetown lose is never a bad thing, but watching my friends drink while I sat there taking up valuable real estate at the bar sipping water was an unpleasant experience. It was truly difficult when my friends would offer to buy me beers or food and I had to refuse. I hadn’t eaten dinner at that point so it became a special type of torture. Eventually I had to excuse myself because I didn’t think I would be able to stick to the challenge. (I’m weak and I lack discipline) This coupled with the lack of comprehension in my friends eyes every time I refused a beer quickly reduced my normally cheerful and sunny disposition.

I came home famished and realized I had no pasta dough prepared. EPIC FUCKING FAIL. Being stressed and depressed after the happy hour I decided to work my frustration out cooking. It did help but knowing I didn’t have all the ingredients I wanted did not improve my mood. I did manage to come up with a decent dish that at minimum satisfied my hunger.

Yes. This is how far I’ve fallen. I’ve betrayed the Goddess of flavor and have been praying to the patron saint of satiety. It would be overly dramatic to say a little part of me died with this confession.I was right, it was overly dramatic. Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.

Using the pulled chicken and stock/chicken water from yesterday I made ravioli stuffed with chicken and peas with white gravy. It was… underwhelming. I would have done some terrible, terrible things for some herbs and butter.

Butter, butter, butter. Butter is love, butter is flavor, butter is good. Making a roux with olive oil instead of butter for the gravy betrayed everything I was taught or believed in but necessity is a cruel mistress.

Another component in my food I miss dearly is texture. The pasta is soft, peas are soft, eggs are soft. Everything I eat is soft as well as bland and it makes me miss crunch. I may fry up some of the veggies or beans tomorrow and see if it can fill the void but I am not optimistic.

Slowly I’m beginning to realize that this challenge is not about hunger. Hunger can be managed; it can be controlled or shifted from mind. However, the social and mental consequences are not so easily dealt with, even if you’re used to it. Ultimately, there is a profound difference between hunger from self-induced restriction and hunger from the inability to fulfill a need.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post.