BURLINGTON, Vt. -
99,000 people in Vermont alone depend on 3squares Vermont benefits. Government assisted payments to help put food on the table 3 times a day. Hunger Free Vermont hopes to highlight what it's like to eat on the 3 squares benefit.
"It's really difficult for the average person to understand what its like to live on a limited food budget," said 3Squares Vermont Advocacy manager, Angela Smith- Dieng.
Through the program, one person is given a food budget of $38 dollars a week. For a family of two it's $57 dollars a week, for three $84 dollars and for a family of four you're looking at only $98 dollars a week.
"We're having a lot of toast, hummus avocado sandwiches, fair amount of rice and beans," said Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger.
Weinberger and his family are taking the squares challenge and he says the hardest part is planning, "Just how much time it takes to put together a healthy and nutritious meal for a week on that kind of a budget."
"People are finding they have to cook more and are making a lot of soups and stews," said Smith- Dieng.
But with one in seven Vermonters considered food insecure, Weinberger says the experience will hopefully raise awareness, "For so many of us food is so abundant and that many people have real limitations on what their budget is for eating."
To join the challenge sign up at www.surveymonkey.com/s/3SVTChallenge2012 all participants will be entered into a drawing to a King Arthur gift card.
