Could you eat on only $7 a day for five days? If you are up to the challenge, join me as I take on United Way’s Hunger Action Week from April 20 to April 24. Although living on only $7 a day for food sounds nearly impossible, it’s the same amount of the maximum food stamp benefit known as the Basic Food Program in Washington.

To raise awareness about hunger in our community, United Way has challenged anyone in King County who wants to participate in this exercise of empathy to join in.

The idea is simple. Walk in the shoes of someone else for a week to experience the challenges and tough choices many in our community face daily. To participate, you must eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner on only $7 a day without accepting food from anyone for free. The dollar amount increases for group or family participants.

Individual participants are expected to eat only what they purchase during the week, (no eating food you already had stashed away), and are challenged to include fresh produce and healthy protein each day. I’m leaning towards a lot of rice, black beans, canned soup and tuna. Follow along for updates or join in as I take on Hunger Action Week, http://www.uwkc.org/newsevents/events/haw/hungerchallenge.asp.

Follow my $7 a day journey at www.bellevuereporter.com and daily updates on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ReporterLarin.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at 425.453.4602.