You don’t have to know me long to know that I love Panera Bread.
I have to drive 25 to 30 minutes to reach a Panera, and yet I am there at least once a week, alternating between Lancaster and Reading, depending on my other appointments.
So I was happy to know my faith in Panera is well-founded when I got this e-mail from Panera:
“Did you know that 49 million people in America are food insecure, including 16 million children? To raise awareness during Hunger Action Month, Panera Bread’s founder and CEO, Ron Shaich, is partnering with Feeding America’s CEO, Bob Aiken, to take the SNAP Challenge.
From September 14th–20th, Ron has made the personal decision to live on a food and beverage budget of just $4.50 a day — the average daily benefit per person provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP; formerly known as Food Stamps). Click here to follow along as Ron takes on the Challenge and blogs about his experiences.”
Les and I talked casually about joining him in living on $4.50 a day, but . . . I doubt we will make the commitment. What about you? Could you do it? Would you?
I’m glad you wrote about this! I still have the e-mail sitting in my inbox, but I was glad to see it, too.
I’m looking forward to reading the blog posts.
I’m still on the fence a little about where this number comes from. I know it’s an average, but it seems low. Still, anything to raise awareness about hunger and food insecurity, I’m in favor of.
I think it’s interesting that a restaurant owner would take this challenge on because you definitely couldn’t eat at Panera if your food budget was $4.50 a day!