2014 Food Bank SNAP Challenge

By Lesley Vernor, 2014-2015 Let's Go San Antonio Chair

Are you up for the San Antonio Food Bank SNAP Challenge?

There are 3,812,561 people qualified for SNAP in Texas and 262,887 SNAP recipients in Bexar County.

The challenge is trying to provide our families with healthy options for $4.50 a day per person in the household.  The Let’s Go San Antonio team is working with families/children who are receiving services from the Food Bank or SNAP or both (52% receive both).  

The real crux of the challenge is how to teach and implement healthy nutrition choices when a person has a limited income.  

By deciding to participate in the SNAP Challenge, Junior League of San Antonio members, friends and families will have a better understanding of the issue that Let's Go San Antonio is trying to tackle. How can a person, or a family, really eat healthier when on a budget. 

 
Knowing how to do this is vital information that is helpful for our Let’s Go Team to come up with ways to approach the issue and it will be helpful to understand the problems that Challenge participants face while on this limited food budget.

Experience firsthand what  many children in our community are facing on a daily basis. This is the population Let's Go San Antonio is working with in teaching different ways to budget to choose healthier options. 

While participating in the challenge take pictures of meals prepared, shopping items found at area grocer’s that are cheaper and healthier options and share! It will be great for participants to learn from one another where cheaper and healthier options exist in San Antonio!

Did you give it your best effort and it ended up being an epic fail? Share why it didn't work for you.  It validates how difficult it can be to realize what $1.50 per meal really means and why Let's Go San Antonio is so important.

Some have asked "Why $4.50 a day per person?"
The Food Bank told us that $1.50 is a national average for an individual benefit.  The local per meal average is actually lower but we are using our national network’s number at $1.50.  

Share with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and use #JLSAgoesorange, #sagoesorange, #jlsa #safoodbank #snapchallenge. 

Don't use social media? Email us your thoughts on the challenge and photos of any attempts to participate.

Make a pledge to commit the savings back to healthy activities for your family or give back to the Junior League of San Antonio Loyalty Fund or San Antonio Food Bank.

Are you up for the challenge? Awesome, we look forward to hearing from you! 

Still wondering how you could make this work? Check out some online resources and then get back to us:

• SNAP menu and grocery plan (scroll toward bottom of link)

• KENS 5 News Anchor Jeff Goldblatt’s blog about his SNAP Challenge experience 

2014 Women's Equality Day

By Kristen Henry, 2014-2014 JLSA President

Tomorrow marks Women’s Equality Day – a day set aside to celebrate the passage of the 19^th amendment to the constitution – the amendment that would immensely change women’s roles in the United States. But while gaining the vote, which took years of diligence and planning, was surely a gigantic step toward equality, there were still years of struggle. And years of work remain.

Even though women can vote (and have voted at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980!), we still only make up approximately twenty percent of both houses of the United States Congress.  More and more of us succeed academically, yet on average, we still make less than our male counterparts. We might be called bossy while he is called boss. 

Many of us still hesitate to park in a dark parking garage or run by ourselves near twilight while a male neighbor thinks nothing of it. Some women will face judgment of whether or not they are a legitimate victim of assault based on the clothes they were wearing when it happened or if they had been drinking. They call him a ladies' man and they call her…   

We are surrounded by double-standards, many of which are so entrenched in our culture that we do not even notice them.  Some may think this an oversimplification of a complex issue, but each of the above examples serves to illustrate that we have yet to achieve true equality – that despite an incredible amount of progress, women must continue to strive for equality in a country whose doctrine claims us all equal.

This work is why organizations such as the Junior League of San Antonio, Inc. are still so important and relevant. It is why I am so proud to serve JLSA. There are three parts to our mission, but the one that stands out as unique to us is “developing the potential of women.” We are uniquely positioned to assist women, both our members and those in the community we serve, to reach new levels of success and empowerment.

I owe my own development as a leader to JLSA, which is why my passion grows daily for the potential of what this organization can achieve. My participation in JLSA means I am surrounded by amazing women who not only learn to empower themselves, but empower those they serve as well as those they serve with.

But this work we do is not only beneficial for women. It is not only beneficial for children for that matter. It is beneficial to everyone in the community. This is because when everyone is empowered to be successful, takes care of their families, and reaches their potential, the entire community wins. Instead of being men and women, we become humanity – a group of people working together on equal footing to make our communities safe, productive, and enjoyable.

But until that day comes, Women’s Equality Day should not just be a day of celebration. This day is a reminder of how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. Our awareness of equality issues is heightened and we are inspired to face them head on. We are encouraged that anything is possible but we have to push to achieve it. So each year, on August 26^th, mark Women’s Equality Day, but work each and every day of the year to fulfill the ultimate goal of true equality.