Face the State

Westminster Couple's Healthful Choices in Sharp Contrast to Denver Leaders
Face the State Staff Report

Westminster – Ari Armstrong is fed up with politicians and pundits pouting about how poor folks can't possibly survive on government handouts.

After a much publicized effort by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper earlier this summer designed to show the difficulties of living on food stamps, Armstrong is out to prove not only that families can survive on a tight food budget--but that they can also eat well.

In June, Hickenlooper and Roxane White, manager for Denver Human Services, spent a week living on a food stamp budget. The city officials, with the aid of frequent and prominent media reports, took up the quest to highlight the government's food stamp program that benefits 250,000 Coloradans. After his week-long challenge, Hickenlooper pledged his support for a Congressional effort to expand food stamp allocations.

"Two days into the challenge, I began to realize how difficult - almost impossible - such a budget is, even just for a week," Hickenlooper told a reporter in a June 11 Rocky Mountain News report.

Armstrong and his wife Jennifer say Hickenlooper's call for expanded food stamp funding is the wrong approach. To prove it, they are putting their stomachs where their mouths are, vowing to live on a food stamp-like diet for the entire month of August. They will each spend about $3 a day, a figure below current food stamp allocation of about $3.50 a day per person, to prove their point.

"Being poor in the United States today is not the same as being poor in Africa," Ari Armstrong said. "It is nice to live in a country where obesity, not starvation, is a problem among the poor."

The Armstrongs say they know a thing or two about living in poverty. Jennifer's family relied on food stamps when she was a child and according to Ari, his mother fed a family of six on $100 a month. Inflation, he concedes, has changed the equation, but the couple maintains that families can still get by on a few dollars a day per person.

"We thought it would be fun and interesting to prove that people can live on $3 per day for food," Jennifer Armstrong said. "After my parents were separated, my family had to go on food stamps; we needed some help for about six months. My mom was pretty embarrassed. She didn't shop at the same stores, but then she found a really nice job and got herself off the program. It was a limited thing."

In contrast to Hickenlooper's position, Ari Armstrong argues that increased funding for expanded food stamp programs won't lift anyone out of poverty or help families eat better. "My wife and I are solid middle class," he said. "High taxes are our main barrier. Higher taxes make people less independent and less able to give to charities."

Ari Armstrong says he looks to the private sector or charitable organizations, and not the government, to address the needs of the poor. A well-known libertarian activist and writer, he contends that non-governmental entities, such as food banks, do a better job delivery food to needy families.

Government handouts tend to make people dependent, Ari Armstrong contends.
"Many people use food stamps responsibly and as a step toward independence," he said. " But there is a greater tendency to foster dependency on the government rather than help people transition to independence."

While some might brand Ari Armstrong a poverty bully, he says he feels for the less fortunate. "I recognize that, at some point in their lives, some people fall on hard times because of a job loss, unexpected divorce, or other emergency," he said. "It's certainly appropriate in those circumstances to accept a little help while struggling to land back on two feet."

DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE SAME BUDGET

Hickenlooper, in a June 11th Rocky Mountain News report, offered the following response to his week on a food stamp budget:

"I was hungry when I woke up and when I went to bed. It affected my physical energy and my mental energy. Food and the cost of food took up much of my time. I took no morsel for granted. I learned quickly that it's very difficult to eat nutritiously on $3.57 a day. I'd never considered fresh fruit, vegetables and coffee luxuries, but they are. I realized, too, that with time to cook, I could eat more cheaply. For example, an egg on a tortilla costs far less but requires much more time to prepare than a quick bowl of whole- grain cereal with milk and fruit."

According to Ari Armstrong, Hickenlooper and White could have eaten better had they planned ahead. For example, White spent a lot of her money on instant soup. Armstrong, meanwhile, picked up bulk items and made a massive home-made of soup to carry him through the month. He also purchased a lot of eggs, rice, beans and bananas.

"Target brand of brown rice costs 89 cents per pound. A pound cooks with four cups of water, which weighs around two pounds, so cooked rice costs around 30 cents per pound -- a pretty good deal," Ari Armstrong pointed out, adding his own recipe suggestions. "Rice is great in soup, in burritos, and with cinnamon. Pinto beans cost 62 cents per pound. Black beans, lentils, and split peas cost 72 or 76 cents per pound. A pound of beans cooks with six cups (3 pounds) of water, so that's less than 20 cents per pound for cooked beans. And that's why beans are a poor family's friend. "

To prepare for their challenge this month, the Armstongs used much of their meager monthly food stamp stipend to stock up on bulk items. They have filled their refrigerator and freezer with eggs, milk, pasta, beans, oats and rice. They plan to splurge on chicken and some hamburger for meatloaf and still have money left over by month's end.

Ari Armstrong said White made poor use of her weekly food funds. "She spent $5.46 on instant soups and $7.45 on frozen meals," he said. "That is not the best nutritional value for the dollar when you are on a tight budget. My wife and I know that it is possible to eat on a tight budget."

ARMSTRONGS CHALLENGE OTHERS TO LIVE WELL ON LESS

Ari Armstrong challenged Denver Post columnist Diane Carmen, active in promoting Hickenlooper's June effort, and the newspaper's editorial board to contribute to a charity of his choosing should the Armstrongs end up with extra food money come Aug 31. Ari Armstrong says Carmen and the paper's editorial leaders rejected the challenge.

"This just goes to show that these writers for The Denver Post lack the courage of their convictions," Armstrong wrote on his Web site.

Carmen and Hickenlooper did not respond to a request for comment by Face the State.

To learn more about the Armstrongs' food stamp challenge, visit the Colorado Freedom Report, run by Ari Armstrong, here.