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The Student Nutrition Awareness and Action Council (SNAAC) will once again lead the annual BUSM SNAP Challenge from March 3-10.<\/p>\nThe Student Nutrition Awareness and Action Council (SNAAC) will once again lead the annual BUSM SNAP Challenge from March 3-10.<\/p>\n
The SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Challenge raises awareness of the food insecurity crisis around the United States and even right here on campus. Those who participate are asked to live on a food budget of $28.77 for the week, which was the average Massachusetts SNAP benefit in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cMillions of Americans rely on SNAP to help feed themselves and their families,\u201d said Noelle Crough, BUSM \u201922, one of the co-leaders of SNAAC. \u201cBy taking part in the SNAP Challenge, students attempt to gain further insight into what it takes to live on a SNAP food budget. It’s a way to stand in solidarity with those who face this challenge every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal of the SNAP Challenge is to start an open and honest dialogue about the reality of food insecurity and the difficulties people and families face when they are food insecure.<\/p>\n
The week will begin with a kickoff event where participants will learn about SNAP, which will include tips and recipes that will help them plan for their week ahead. Participants will use Facebook and Instagram to stay connected throughout the week to share recipes, experiences and reactions while living off of the SNAP budget. At the end of the week, participants will convene again and reflect on the lessons they have learned from the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile this week will never be able to fully emulate all of the difficulties associated with food insecurity, we hope the SNAP Challenge will help start a meaningful dialogue and expand the empathy students have toward those who rely on SNAP benefits regularly,\u201d Ms. Croelle said.<\/p>\n
SNAAC encourages all BUSM students to participate and is also reaching out to faculty\/staff to be a part of the experience. Angela Jackson, MD, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, has already committed to join the challenge.<\/p>\n
The SNAP Challenge is one of four main programs organized by SNAAC, along with the Medical Student Residence Garden, the Dietetic Intern-Medical Student (DI-MS) Match and Eat to Treat. For more information on SNAAC and these programs, visit their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Submitted by Matthew Lynch.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to participate and live on a weekly food budget of $28.77.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[91,123],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79277"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79290,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79277\/revisions\/79290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}