Hunger Action Week - Day 1

THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN: For the third year running, our family is participating in the United Way of King County Hunger Action Week. Our participation consists of tracking exactly how much we spend on food each day, and staying on budget. For our family of four, we're allowed $22 per day, a number determined based on the maximum monthly Basic Food ("food stamps") benefits for our family's size.

 

Why this exercise? Per UWKC, "The Challenge is an exercise in empathy to see how tough it can be to rely solely on food stamps … and how much tougher it could be without them."
While we're tallying our food expenditures, we're also learning more about hunger in our community. According to the United Way of King County's Web site, 1in 5 kids is at risk of hunger in our community, and in the last four years, Seattle food banks have seen a 30 percent increase in the number of clients coming to them for help, while experiencing a 31 percent decline in donations.

This week is always full of fantastic math exercises for the kids. Sunday, we went to the Grocery Outlet to lay in some supplies for the week. Then, we carefully figured out the per-serving prices of some of the foods the kids would be eating this week - everything from bananas to carrots, cereal to bacon. CJ did most of the pencil to paper work, while Annabelle did most of the labeling on boxes and such.

EDIT: Guest blogger Christian here to report the day's totals.
CJ: 1 Yogurt, 1 carrot, 27 Cheez-its, 1 oz. dry roasted peanuts, 1 string cheese, 34 Cheetos, 3 pieces of pepperoni pizza, and an ice cream sandwich for a total of $2.83

Annabelle: 1 Yogurt, 1 carrot, 27 Cheez-its, 1 oz. dry roasted peanuts, 1 banana, 34 Cheetos, 3 pieces of pepperoni pizza, and an ice cream sandwich for a total of $3.03

Kristine: Coffee, 2 bananas, 4 oz. dry roasted peanuts, and rice for $3.35

Christian: Coffee, cream, 2 eggs, 1 sausage patty, 1 oz. peanuts, dinner leftovers, 1/4 cup almonds, and 2 bottles of beer for a total of $6.75

Family total: $15.96 which is, of course, well under the $22 allotted. Clearly some (The kids and Kristine) should eat more and one (me) should not hog the budget.

SPARE ME: This weekend marked a first - we took the kids bowling at Majestic Lanes. It was a a nice, big Brunswick alley up in Lynnwood, about a half hour north of here.

The kids donned their classy rental shoes and threw some bowling balls down the alleys. They each managed to get a couple of spares and celebrated wildly when that happened.

Sometimes body English helps ...

 SPA DAY: Apparently the daily grind of being almost 9 is starting to wear on CJ, because on Sunday he declared he needed a spa day, and he wasn't just talking. He took himself a nice long bubble bath, donned his dad's robe, wrapped a towel around his head and asked for a bucket to put some of his bathwater in so he could soak his feet. Earlier, we'd bought a cucumber at the store, because everyone knows they put cucumbers on yours eyes at a spa, right?

He enjoyed a quick hand massage and even did some oatmeal exfoliating. He was absolutely glowing afterward. :)

STILL GROUNDED: We've been keeping our eyes on the 5 (rockets) in 5 (minutes) "Launch Madness" that was supposed to take place last week from Wallops, VA, but bad weather kept the ATREX mission from launching over the weekend. As of Sunday night, the lastest update said that the launch is targeted for Tuesday night, March 20th. Updates available here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/missions/atrex.html