Last week I wrote about trying to get a better understanding about those that are suffering from extreme poverty.  These are the people that live on $1/day.  So, on Thursday, Thanksgiving, the day when my grand mother and mother cook the most amazing food of the year, I decided to start my One Dollar Day Challenge. It was one of the hardest decisions to follow through on I’ve ever made. There were casseroles, pumpkin cheese cakes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and fried turkey.  I think some of my family thought I was weird, but I was able to get through it.

Here were my thoughts on the experience:

1. I have so much to be thankful for.

2. There are hundreds of millions of people that go to bed hungry like I did that don’t have the privilege of waking up the next morning with food to eat.

3. How in the world did Jesus go 40 days without food????!!!!

4. I sincerely believe that the Church can put an end to extreme poverty, but it will take sacrifice.

I have seen extreme poverty first hand in Africa.  I have seen starving children, dying mothers and and freezing fathers.  As the saying goes, “I’ve been there, done that, and gotten the t-shirt.”  But if I’m honest with myself, I know that I don’t truly understand extreme poverty.  I don’t have a clue of what it would be like to live on $1 a day (the definition of extreme poverty is living on $1 a day).  I’ve seen it, but cannot comprehend it. I mean, my cell phone bill cost $3 a day.

You see, there are over 1 billion people today that live on less than $1 a day.  Let’s break that down a little further. That is $1 for food, shelter, clothing, education, and health care.  Notice that there are no budget lines for entertainment, vacations, savings, retirement, going out to eat, or Starbucks.  Its just crazy to me to think that people live on $1 a day.

So, I’m going to do an experiment starting this week.  I’m going to try and get a little closer to their reality.  I figured that it would be unrealistic to live on a dollar given things like my mortgage, cellphone bill and student loan payments.  I have to pay those. I don’t really have an option.  But I do have an option that will get me at least a little closer.  Food. Here’s the plan…

I’m going to take the One Dollar Challenge; I’m going to try to eat for $1 a few random days in the weeks to come. That’s one day, one dollar, all my food.  I’m going to do my regular routine of work, studying, hanging out with friends, calling on clients, working out, etc and document my experience.  To be sure I don’t pick a day when I’ve got nothing major going on, I’m going to draw the day out of a hat.

After I’ve finished my day, I’m going to calculate what I would have spent on food that day and give it to one of the 1 billion.  If I normally would have gone out for lunch, I’ll add that amount. If I am meeting a friend for coffee, I’ll add that $4 too.  My goal is to understand a little more what its like to be in their shoes. I hope it will make me more thankful for the many gifts that God has blessed me with.

Be on the look out for stories and updates. If you want to take the One Dollar Challenge with me, send me an email and  your story and I’ll post it here.