Spending a week on a food stamp diet 'humbling, difficult'

In this season o’ plenty, with Thanksgiving behind us and Christmas feasting ahead, reporter George Raine’s story in a recent issue of Catholic San Francisco, the archdiocesan newspaper, gives a perspective on those trying to subsist on food stamps. He interviewed a U.S. representative from the Bay Area about the week she and other lawmakers spent living on the $4.50 daily allowance for food stamp recipients.

Rep. Jackie Speier, who represents California’s 12th District in Congress, told Raine the experience was “humbling and difficult.” She joined other House Democrats in a “Food Stamp Challenge” the first week of November to call attention to the program facing possible budget cuts in Congress.