New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker is getting ready for his food stamp challenge by buying less than $30 worth of groceries.
Booker tweeted a picture of his Pathmark receipt earlier Monday. His food stamp challenge starts Tuesday, Dec. 4. Some of the items purchased were apples, corn, broccoli, and lots of pink beans.
The Food Stamp challenge is sponsored and promoted by the Food Research and Action Center and aims to highlight what it is like to live on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to NJ.com.
Booker accepted the "snap" challenge from Twitter follower @MWadeNC, a.k.a Twitwit, that he will try to live on the monetary equivalent of food stamps for at least a week.
"December 4 to 11. Seven days," Booker said after the ribbon cutting for new loft apartments in Newark on Thursday. He told The Associated Press that he will be limited to $1.40 for each meal.
TwitWit spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because she said she has received threats. She said she is upset that Booker didn't consult with her before picking the dates and that his staff never got in touch with her, even though he told her through Twitter.
"I don't think it's fair to be challenged and just find out from the Internet when I'm supposed to take part," she said in a telephone interview. "I would have appreciated the consideration that I have a life as well."
However, she said she would participate in the challenge for a week or maybe two.
Booker told his 1.2 million Twitter followers that he would be declining breakfast, lunch, and dinner invitations for the next week. He also tweeted where to find out information on what foods to buy with SNAP benefits, especially for those who are participating in the challenge.
In 2011, SNAP on average provided $134 per person to 44.7 million people per month, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's just a little over $33 a week and $4 a day.
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