Campus Kitchens student leader Hannah Beal was interviewed for a Fox44 News story on hunger in Vermont. Hannah talked to reporter Mitch Pittman about her participation in UVM’s Food Stamp Challenge:

Mitch Pittman
UVM Students Raise Hunger Awareness
http://www.fox44now.com/global/story.asp?s=11517924

Trying to buy four days of food for $20 is no easy task, but some UVM students are attempting the ‘near impossible’ that millions of Americans are forced to do each day.

That’s why senior Hannah Beal has a special shopping list this week.

“Potatoes are next on my list.”

Beal and 50 other UVM students are trying to eat on a food stamp-only budget of five dollars a day.  That’s forcing Beal to weigh her options carefully, and make her realize, “Oh wow, some people spend even less than this on food.”

Hannah and her friends are only doing it four days.  But for 80,000 Vermonters, food stamps are an issue they face every day.

“I worry about running out of food stamps every single month,” says a woman who asked to be referred to as “V.” She didn’t want us to reveal her identity, but she didn’t mind sharing her story.  One that is becoming increasingly common in Vermont.

According to the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, food stamp enrollment rose 40% in the last year.  The group says one out of every 8 Vermonters receives aid.

V says while the economy is tough, the decision to feed her daughter is tougher, saying that she has sometimes gone without food to provide for her child.

The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger helps link people in need with aid, and shows them how to use it wisely.  Their outreach specialist, Angela Smith-Dieng, says eating healthy on a tight budget is especially hard.

She says the organization says they offer classes for people “to learn how to cook a nutritious meal on a tight budget, to learn how to shop for healthy foods, [find] what those look like, and then how do you prepare them to serve your kids a healthy diet?”  She adds, “It’s possible but it’s definitely hard.”

Back at the City Market, Hannah hopes the hunger she feels now will fill her with understanding of those less fortunate.

“Just making sure that I’m grateful for it.”

For more info on The Food Stamp Challenge, check out the participants’ blog: http://fscuvm.blogspot.com/

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week is 11/15 – 11/20!

Check out opportunities to get involved on this week’s UVM Serves newsletter, and become a fan of the Week’s events!

From October 22 – 25, three Campus Kitchens student leaders and one staff coordinator traveled to Washington, DC to attend the Campus Kitchens Project national conference. They met with students from the 19 other Campus Kitchens across the United States to exchange ideas and share their successes from their past year of service. On Thursday, October 22 the CK UVM representatives helped to celebrate Campus Kitchen’s “Millionth Meal” by volunteering in the DC Central Kitchen.

To learn more about the Campus Kitchen at UVM, check out the website at www.uvm.edu/~kitchens

Here’s our weekly newsletter– UVM Serves– to hear about community engagement opportunities! This week you could help clean up your neighborhood after Halloween, spruce up Snake Mountain with the Nature Conservancy, or apply for Alternative Spring Break!

Check it out! Like it? Sign up for more in the right-hand column of this webpage.