It was Christmas one year, and my family was living in a small apartment. My little brother had a lot of health issues, and the house was really cold. I don’t think that I really understood poverty at that point of my life. I knew we didn’t have a lot, and I knew I couldn’t just ask my parents for new things, but that was about it. That Christmas, there wasn’t that much in the way of gifts, but we kind of understood that was how it was going to be.
I remember my Mom being startled when someone knocked at the door. The next thing I knew there were 2 men dressed as Santa with huge bags, unloading tons of gifts under the tree. They also brought bags of groceries and lined the kitchen with them. It was one of the best Christmas Day’s ever. We got to eat fancy cereal (by fancy, I mean sugary name brand stuff). It was a really amazing day (well what I remember of it).
There were so many people in our lives growing up that pitched in when we needed it, people who let us live with them when we were homeless, people who gave us food and clothing, and for those people I am so grateful.
It’s interesting – in the past few days I’ve had some really awesome people email me, totally on board with doing this challenge, but I have had some people who were really upset and even offended by my post. I was not expecting to strike a nerve at all, more so, I was expecting that people would realize one of two things:
1. That it is hard to live on a very restricted budget when it comes to food, and something needs to be done.
2. We need more resources for people living on a budget, websites with inexpensive healthy recipes and ideas and so on.
There were some that realized those things, but a very big majority of people ended up asking me really strange questions and became offended by the challenge. I got e-mails saying that “this is impossible and not healthy” or “I am NOT giving up (fill in the blank) just to do this” or people who were asking about a specific spice or oil or appliance or any number of specifics – what if you take the bus to work and don’t have a car? What if you walk? What if you can’t get enough calories?
What I was reminded of, is that a lot of people have never had the reference point of living in poverty. This is not something I am judging anyone about, it is wonderful that so many have not had to go through things like choosing between medicine or groceries or feeding your children before you can feed yourself.
I think that this is part of the problem when it comes to understanding poverty – many people do not have a reference point, and many people make assumptions about how people got there, and what people could do differently.
The truth is that when you are living in poverty you never think about if you can use a certain spice or oil, it doesn’t matter if you walk/bike/take the bus or drive to work, because you still in the end have a certain budget.
This challenge was meant to help people who are living on a budget for food of less than 21 dollars a week and to bring awareness to the vegan community about the difficulty of doing so. It is not meant to help you budget with your very specific set of circumstances. There is no bargaining when you are living in poverty, or when your weekly groceries in part come from a food pantry of a church.
The entire goal of this challenge is to become aware of how difficult it can be to live on a restricted budget and for all of us, as a community to help find solutions.
I can assure you that people who have to worry about if their children will get their medication or food that week, are not concerned with if you can use your special salt, even if it was on sale at the time. They are not concerned with buying organic produce or things with out GMO all the time, because the alternative is that their family goes hungry. They are not concerned with if they are getting enough healthy fats from nuts, if they have to clothe their children for school in a few weeks.
In order to do this, I am going to ask you that you truly sit down and think through your day to day life and the things that you might take for granted, no matter how small they might be. Perhaps you have land for a garden, which is awesome and saves lots of money – but maybe think of the family who lives in a tiny apartment with no land to grow a garden. Perhaps you ride your bike to work, which is great and saves money – but think about the Dad who can only find a job doing day labor 40 miles away. If you have a blender, dehydrator and mixer – all awesome things, think about the mom who has 2 pots and a spatula and could never think about buying an extra appliance over ten dollars. If you shop for organic foods all the time, think about the family who struggles to buy a loaf of bread. If you shop at a organic grocery store, think about the family who has to go to the church food pantry to get some of the basics for that week.
What I would love to see more than anything is, hope. Let’s start thinking of ways the vegan community can help those in need. What if we all committed to dropping off 1 bag of vegan groceries to a food pantry or soup kitchen? What if some of the big vegan communities (like in NY or LA) started vegan soup kitchens or volunteered to make one meal a month for a local soup kitchen. This would not be vegan outreach as much as it would be providing healthy meals to people in need.
I worked in a soup kitchen for a while, and I can tell you they use whatever is donated, and people are very appreciative. You don’t have to advertise the meal as vegan (I would actually advise you do not do that) but instead you are just providing a meal to people who might need one.
My goal in all of this is to foster understanding and hope.
BRAVO!!!!
When I think I can’t learn anymore from you, I do. Thank you for being the human being that you are.
Thank you so much for such a great challenge. I find it so hard to believe that you’ve gotten ANY negative feedback whatsoever, or that anyone would take offense at this. I don’t remember you telling anyone that this was done to be healthy or that it was mandatory or that you were requiring everyone to give up their favorite things.
I, for one, think it’s a fantastic challenge, and even if one does not complete it, it definitely provides fodder for though.
I’m hoping to do it next week, but in the meantime, I shall be grateful for my well-stocked kitchen and the things I take for granted in my life on a daily basis.
I’m just now seeing this and I’m excited about it. While technically my family’s income is not poverty level, because of some factors (job losses-mine and my partner’s-and then both of us getting jobs that pay way less than before) we are now shelling out more money every month than we are bringing in. We both have degrees; one of us has a master’s degree. It is stressful, frustrating, depressing as hell. Of course we’re trying to remedy this situation but until that happens our budget is not just tight, it’s nonexistent. We do not currently have health insurance for us or our child.
Add to that that I’m 130 pounds overweight and eating Ramen noodles for lunch a couple of times a week and the stress I’m feeling and the worry that I’m going to have a heart attack pretty much every moment that I’m awake, I think I might be your target audience.
It is a fantastic challenge. I can’t believe that anyone would complain about it. It’s tough out there and this sort of discussion is needed.
Great blog entry. I loved your idea about dropping off a bag of vegan groceries. After I get my next pay check, I’m going to do that. I’m not making a lot of money, but I’m still very fortunate. I’m sure I can get a few friends on board with idea as well!
I am also surprised you’ve gotten negative feed back!
For people who are interested in the intersection of hunger and veganism, there’s an organization called “Food Not Bombs” that cooks vegan food for the homeless (and anyone else who wants to eat). They get most of their supplies from donations from grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries, and individuals (and sometimes dumpstering).
There are hundreds of these groups in the U.S. (and more world-wide), so you don’t have to live in a city with a giant vegan population to participate.
well said!
It was great to meet you today! I am not surprised you received negative feedback. When people begin taking an honest look at things, they can find their own accusing finger pointing back at them and so they get defensive. I’ve done it myself in other situations. Ah, ego. Anyway, I think this is a great idea and can’t wait to see how people do! I hope to try it out myself later this month.
Food Not Bombs is a great example of an organization feeding people vegan meals without over-publicizing that they’re vegan. The meals are very popular, because hey—who doesn’t like free food?
I agree with you that without a reference point for poverty the $21 thingy is going to boggle some people’s minds. My family and I have been on welfare and have depended on a small foodbank. When you go to the grocery store with twenty bucks and no idea when the next time is that you’ll have money for food it gets real basic real fast.
I think you’re right, that most of us have never really known poverty. I lived on ten pounds a week for groceries during grad school in England, but it was because I was cheap, not because I had to. Sadly, things on the budget-end of things went a bit downhill after I got married to someone who egged me on whenever I was tempted to buy dried porcini mushrooms or add to my overflowing spice collection. (Also, I apologize about my Twitter remark about giving up extra virgin olive oil over my dead body — it was a flippant remark that I did not think through.)
I kept thinking about your challenge this week, though, and I’d like to suggest that spices — that really add quite a lot to otherwise plain food — don’t have to be bought. Just around my condo complex and in other public spaces nearby, I can get rosemary, lavender, mint, California bay, lemons, chives, and probably lots of other things I haven’t bothered to learn how to identify. I’ll think about trying your $21 challenge using just the spices I can gather.
Why would anyone leave negative feedback… especially angry, negative feedback. If you don’t want to do the $21 challenge… don’t do it! It’s a way to come together and maybe get some suggestions or ideas for stuff that maybe you wouldn’t have come up with on your own… like something as simple as frozen vegetables, beans and brown rice. It can’t get much simpler than that! Keep the negativity to yourself… that’s what I say!
You are beautiful.
I admire what you are doing ~ and the amazing, caring energy you are sharing with the world.
Keep on shining your Light
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I’m absolutely blown away by these ideas and by what you are doing. Incredible. I’m on a a tighter budget now than I ever have been in my life but my money issues still don’t come close to this; thank you so much for the eye-opener.
I do want to participate at some point but I’m at a sort of transition period in my life and I need to get my act together first. But I will definitely be thinking a lot about this.
It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, or forget the challenges others face when you’ve been fortunate enough to have been spared some difficulties yourself. When I was in school I had to make it on about $25 a week most of the time, it definitely didn’t involve any organic or speciality foods, mostly runs to off-price grocery stores. I’m going to give the $21 a week challenge in a couple of weeks, I certainly hope I can still do it! I appreciate your efforts, your cause is absolutely worthwhile!