Foodbank of Santa Barbara County CEO lives off of month’s worth of foodstamps

The Foodbank of Santa Barbara County’s CEO is living on food stamps for a month to bring awareness to food insecurity.

Every other year, CEO Erik Talkin commits to the challenge of living off of a month’s worth of food stamps. This amount comes out to approximately $194 a month for a household of one, a mere $6.46 a day.

“It’s a way of reminding myself why I’m involved in this work. One in six Americans is going to be hungry at night,” said Talkin.

Talkin decided to do something new with his challenge this year. For the last week, he has only eaten foods provided by the Foodbank’s Disaster Food Box, which Talkin said is something that people from different social strata may need in the case of a disaster.

According to Talkin, more and more groups of people like working families, college students and veterans often don’t know where their next meal will come from.

Talkin says he wants to “encourage people to be mindful next time you sit down to a meal that there [are] a lot of people out there who don’t have that luxury.”

To learn more about the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County visit their website.