Food
Your House will receive a monthly stipend for groceries. Although the money you receive is based on the number of people in your House, we never envision a single Fellow living on a single stipend. Quite simply, it’s more cost effective for a group of people to prepare and enjoy a meal together than it is for eight individuals to create similar meals in isolation.
The grocery stipend is separate from your personal stipend. It takes a little extra effort to track your grocery expenses, but doing so keeps this money nontaxable. We hope that using the House Debit Card will help you track receipts and manage the logistics easily.
Grocery Stipend
QVS has provided your house with a Bento card, a shared debit card which can be used to purchase groceries. At the beginning of the year the card will be loaded with an amount of money based on the number of Fellows in your House, adjusted for the cost of living in your city. Use this card to shop for the groceries you’ll share as a House, cleaning products, and hygiene supplies.
Search your app store for “Bento for Business,” then add this app to your phone. Your House email address will serve as your login name. You’ll need to create a single password for everyone in the House to use. Using the app, you’ll be able to upload receipts after making a purchase and keep track of your available balance through the month.
At the beginning of each month, the Admin Coordinator will replenish your Bento card so you have a full month’s worth of grocery money. Any surplus does not carry over into subsequent months
You can use the card whenever you shop. You can also add the Bento card to Apple Pay or Google Pay, so you can purchase groceries without having the card in your possession.
“A party without cake is really just a meeting.”
House Debit Cards
Even when used as a shared resource, the food stipend is modest. It will take work for you to develop a grocery budget that works for everyone. This work is part of your QVS experience.
Remember that local Friends stocked the pantry before your arrival and are eager to be a resource throughout the year. Let Friends know if you’d like a ride to a grocery store that sells in bulk. Let Friends know if you’d like a monthly CSA box. Attend potlucks. Asking the community for support will feel different than meeting your own needs based on the resources you control. Reflecting on this difference is part of your QVS experience.
If you run short on grocery money for the month, please be in touch with your Coordinator ASAP!
A Shared Resource
Although many houses have successfully eaten abundantly with the food stipend alone, in some houses, one or more Fellows may choose to apply for SNAP benefits. This decision is entirely up to you. Having someone on SNAP will increase the overall amount of money you have available for food.
SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This federal program helps people pay for food. Anyone who meets the eligibility requirements can receive SNAP benefits; in other words, applying for SNAP does not diminish what’s available to others. In fact, the level of federal funding tends to correlate with participation, so utilizing this resource may support future funding.
Those who receive SNAP benefits are provided a plastic card, which functions like a debit card at the point of purchase. There are some restrictions on what you can buy.
SNAP Benefits
SNAP is a federal program, but each state administers its own application process. QVS alums and Coordinators can help you navigate the process in your state.
The application process is for households. SNAP recognizes that people may live under the same roof without being a household. Although you are living in community as part of the QVS Program, your finances aren’t merged into a single household. We believe QVS Fellows may apply separately.
Some QVS Fellows and alums work at site placements where they regularly assist clients who apply for SNAP benefits. We’ve relied on their input to understand the system. For example, we’ve learned that questions about sharing food aren’t meant to prevent SNAP recipients from being generous with others; rather, those who regularly share food with others might be eligible to claim a larger household and receive more benefits.
Applying for SNAP benefits is entirely your decision.
Applying for SNAP
As you think about applying for SNAP benefits, what feelings or assumptions come to the surface for you?
Whether or not you apply for SNAP, how might your increased familiarity with this vital program be of service to others? How might your experience help disrupt the dominant narrative that perennially threatens to cut government assistance?
SNAP Queries
Based on the feedback we’ve received from Fellows over the years, we know it’s possible to experience abundance when a House pools its reimbursable grocery money. With the extra abundance of SNAP benefits, it might be easy to slip back into old patterns of assuming that each person will manage a separate set of resources. Please commit yourself to holding resources collectively. How can you think creatively about meeting each person’s needs?