Hello everyone!

I am participating in the Food Fellows’ week long  SNAP challenge, where I will be eating, price wise, on an average food stamp benefits plan. SNAP is a government subsidy program used by roughly 45 million Americans (as of July 2014) to purchase food. SNAP FAQ

While students who live on campus here at The Ohio State University are required to purchase a meal plan, the prices for this meal plan in addition to the prices for food on campus are extremely high. As a result, I want to not only highlight the struggle millions of Americans’ face in terms of food insecurity, but I also want to highlight the outlandish prices for food here at OSU. While the SNAP challenge suggests eating 4 blocks a day, I will challenge myself to eat 2 blocks a day to highlight how all students are suffering from the high prices of food on campus.

This is going to be a challenge for me. My blood is made of green tea and I usually snack throughout the day. Now, I am going to stick to my glass water bottle and document each day what 2 blocks can get me in terms of energy, ability, and the overall calorie count. Normally, I have jam packed days. I take six classes totaling 18 credit hours, I do work for The Undergraduate Student Government and the Journal of Politics and International Affairs, I’m starting work on developing a research thesis, and all this work is magnified by participating in a campaign for Undergraduate Student Government. Additionally, I just took a job that requires me to walk about campus distributing a survey for a student’s Denman Thesis.

I was once told that one of the best things about me was that I never let my work get through the cracks, that I get everything done. I feel as though this challenge may cause me to suffer some setbacks to a lot of what I do because food has always been a secure source of economic benefit and a complete necessity for me to be ambitious. I am very nervous, but eager to participate in this challenge! I will be documenting what I eat each day, how I feel, and how I do. Hopefully, you will read along and see what happens!