Media Alert: Commissioner Konop to Discuss Experience of Food Stamp Challenge
This in via email from the office of Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop:
Commissioner Konop to Discuss Experience of Food Stamp Challenge
Hosts Roundtable Discussion with area food pantry volunteers, food stamp recipients, and local clergy
Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop will discuss his experiences taking the food stamp challenge at a roundtable discussion at today, Sept. 25 at 1:30pm in the Commissioners’ Office. Commissioner Konop will be joined by volunteers he met while at a local food pantry, food stamp recipients from Lucas County, as well as local clergy involved in feeding the needy.
“As expected, living off of $21 per week for food was very difficult personally,” stated Konop. “But it provided a valuable insight into a segment of our community and a problem in Lucas County that is often overlooked,” added Konop.
In Lucas County alone, over 60,000 residents take part in the federal food stamp program. Lucas County is also facing a severe shortage of food at area food pantries.
“If nothing else comes of the food stamp challenge, I hoped it raised the awareness of the magnitude of hunger and poverty in our community and encouraged citizens to donate to food pantries and soup kitchens,” concluded Konop.
WHAT: Roundtable discussion about Food Stamp Challenge
WHEN: Today, Sept. 25 at 1:30 pm
WHERE: Commissioners Office 8th Floor of Government Center
Fred from WSPD has been obsessing over this story for the past couple of weeks. Even this morning he went off to the deep end in regards to this foodstamp challenge. Jeeze Freddie, calm down! There’s something about this issue that is making him a bit crazy.
September 25th, 2007 at 8:01 amI think what makes him crazy is that the challenge is based on a faulty premises. The $21 dollar figure is the average per person food stamp benefit. However, what is being missed is that the food stamp benefit is a SUPPLEMENT to what the recipient is expended to spend based on federal guidelines.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:21 pmNot wanting to attempt to speak for anyone else, I might suggest that the excitement might be over the disingenuous effort being made by Mr. Konop, who said that the goal was to fail. This is the type of political sideshow that inspires the liberal media and disgusts the rest of us.
September 25th, 2007 at 3:25 pm