Newark Mayor Cory Booker will make good on his promise to live off food stamps for a whole week starting Tuesday.
Being limited to just $4 a day, Booker and a Twitter follower by the name of (at) MWadeNC will depend on government assistance for the next seven days to fulfill all their nutritional needs. Their allowance breaks down to approximately $1.40 per meal, provided they eat three meals a day.
Related: Mayor Cory Booker: Save Newark, Save The World
The challenge, sponsored and promoted by the Food Research and Action Center, aims to highlight the reality of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports the average monthly food stamp benefit in New Jersey was $133.26 per person in fiscal year 2011.
That’s little more than $33 per week.
Booker took a trip to the grocery store on Saturday in preparation for the challenge and later posted his receipt to Twitter, spending only $29.78 for the entire week.
Booker has invited the public to join the challenge and will announce a celebrity participant on Thursday.
