Mayor Cory Booker from Newark, N.J. will just spend $29.78 on food this week, in a solidarity campaign with people living on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly and more popularly referred to as food stamps.
The social media savvy mayor is tweeting the experience with the hashtag #SNAPChallenge. Booker first tweeted that he'd be participating in the challenge on Nov. 21, when he invited his followers to join him in the initiative to raise awareness for food justice. The N.J. Mayor also announced he will be documenting his experience on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the video sharing platform he co-founded Waywire.
Moving into the Thanksgiving Holiday, let’s reflect on those in our community who are in need.#SNAPChallenge— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) November 21, 2012
I am confirming my participation in the #SNAPChallenge (spr.ly/6018pXky) - 12/4 – 12/11— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) November 21, 2012
The Newark Mayor is no newbie to Twitter. He's well known for replying to citizens on the micro-blog, often retweeting their questions and concerns in his responses. His social following reflects that commitment -- he has well over 1 million followers, despite being the mayor of a city with 277,000 residents.
Booker explained in a post on his public LinkedIn profile that the SNAP challenge was born from a Twitter conversation with another user.
Undertaking what is referred to as the #SNAPChallenge began with a social media-based conversation on Twitter. A Twitter user tweeted me her opinion that "nutrition is not the responsibility of the government". This comment caused me to reflect on the families and children in my community who benefit from SNAP assistance and deserve deeper consideration. In my own quest to better understand the outcomes of SNAP assistance, I suggested to this specific Twitter user that we both live on a SNAP equivalent food budget for a week and document our experience.
The morning before Booker began SNAP Challenge, he shared a picture of his grocery receipt from Pathmark, showing that he'd spent $29.78 on food. Among the products Booker purchased were black beans, corn and red delicious apples.
Pic of my #SNAPchallenge grocery receipt: twitter.com/CoryBooker/sta…— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) December 3, 2012
What do you think of Booker's campaign? Let us know in the comments if you think he will successfully raise awareness for food justice.