The food stamp diet

Sunday, June 17, 2007

As a means of calling attention to gaps and limitations in America's food stamp program, the week-long "Food Stamp Challenge" - surviving on the average weekly benefit - was undoubtedly good political theater.

It was also informative for the political figures who participated in it, including Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Roxane White, manager of Denver Human Services.

But as a guide to the state of programs combating hunger, the challenge falls short.

The food stamp program, which under various names and guises has been around since 1939, is the mainstay of the federal food assistance program. The total cost of the program in fiscal year 2005 was $34.5 billion, and the program's advocates in Congress hope to add $4 billion to that when the 2007 Farm Bill comes up for reauthorization hearings, possibly in July.

An average of 26 million people receive food stamps every month, with the average monthly benefit per person $94. In Colorado, the average monthly benefit is $106.

That isn't very much, and maybe the benefit should be boosted. But food stamps aren't intended to be the only nutrition game in town, either.

The Food and Nutrition Service, which oversees the food stamp program with the states, operates 15 separate nutrition programs, spending a total of $59 billion, up 50 percent since 2001. These include popular programs such as free- and reduced-price school lunches and breakfasts and the Women, Infants and Children supplemental food program.

The number of people using food stamps is up, but that is due in large part to a campaign to get more people who are eligible to sign up. White said that participation in Denver has increased from 38,000 people in 2002 to 57,000 now.

Food assistance programs are fragmented and difficult to access, yes. Underfunded? That's not so clear.

And we haven't even mentioned the enormous role played by private and charitable efforts, beginning with the five member food banks of the Colorado Food Bank Association, which distribute to more than 1,600 agencies statewide.

No doubt it takes careful planning and shopping to afford a nutritionally sound diet on the average food stamp benefit. But given other sources of available food, it is not nearly as hopeless as some challenge participants suggest.