Politics & Government

Booker to Live on Food Stamps in December

Newark mayor accepts 'SNAP challenge,' tweets he will live on food stamps from Dec. 4-11

Newark Mayor Cory Booker's plan to live on food stamps for a week is still on, with the mayor confirming Wednesday the challenge will be documented on various social media platforms in the coming weeks.

The "SNAP challenge" arose from a back-and-forth early Monday morning between Booker and Twitter user MWadeNC, a self-described "army veteran, army daughter, army wife" fighting against socialism and communism. SNAP is the federal supplemental nutrition assistance program that serves 46 million people a month, according to its website.

MWadeNC, who goes by the name TwitWit, had tweeted, "nutrition is not responsibility of gov't," and questioned why children need food in school when food stamps are available, the Huffington Post reported.

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The tweets prompted Booker to respond, "We have a shared responsibility that kids go to school nutritionally ready 2 learn."

Twenty-five minutes later, he challenged himself and MWadeNC to "live on food stamps in New Jersey (high cost of living) and feed a family for a week or month. U game?"

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She responded, "sure, Mayor, I'm game," according to Huffington Post. MWadeNC's tweets are protected.

On Wednesday morning, Booker took to Twitter again to announce to his 1.2 million followers that the "SNAP challenge" will be chronicled from Dec. 4-11 through his LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as #waywire, a social network Booker co-founded.

Booker also tweeted about getting others to join in the challenge and said more details are forthcoming.

In Newark, as many as 29,000 breakfasts are served in the classroom every day to students across the city's 80 schools, officials said last month. The Newark Public Schools district is one of the few in New Jersey to feed its students breakfast in the classroom.


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