SNAP Cuse

Dan Cowen for Syracuse Common Council has helped organize an important community challenge – The Snap Challenge – that will help shed light on the complexity of general health, nutrition, hunger and economic challenges facing the Syracuse community.

In the coming weeks various participants will begin to post updates about their progress in confronting the SNAP Challenge – in which participants may only consume food that can be purchased with food stamps. The SNAP Challenge gives participants a personal and new perspective of what life can be like for millions of low-income Americans. Most participants take the Challenge for one week, living on the average daily food stamp benefit (about $5 per person per day). The challenge is not just to avoid hunger but to also deal with the economic disparity of food prices – with typically nutritious foods being expensive and having a  shorter shelf life while relatively inexpensive foods tend to have longer shelf life but do not offer substantial nutrition – and at the same time maintain a healthy standard of living.