3 SquaresVT Challenge: Part 1

As the holiday season and winter come upon us- it is easy to forget that many of our friends and neighbors may be approaching a difficult time. 

“1 out of 8 Vermonters live in “food insecure” households- they are unable to fully meet basic needs at all times”

I grew up in a single parent household and we were below the poverty line. With the assistance of food stamps and WIC- my mom was able to feed me and my younger sister. There was a period in my life where I refused to eat spaghetti because we ate it so often at home- which I later realize that we ate it so often because it was cheap, fast and filling. Food insecurity is no stranger in my life. 

I am now lucky that I have food to eat and a warm roof over my head. I still see the effects of poverty and hunger as a nursing student. Fletcher Allen was one of the first hospitals to include food insecurity in the intake form- thanks to one of my awesome clinical instructors who wrote her dissertation on food insecurity! Many of my patients fit the description for food insecurity and more will qualify as the benefits for food stamps decrease this year. It is so important for patients to have proper nutrition to speed recovery and prevent illness in the future. 

I heard of the 3 SquaresVT Challenge in conjunction with Hunger Free Vermont and thought that it would be excellent to participate in- in appreciation of where I started and where I am now- but to also raise awareness about this issue that is in our community, especially during a season where food seems plentiful. 

“The purpose of the Challenge is not to emulate the reality of food insecurity for Vermonters - many of whom may rely on a variety of programs and resources to meet their families’ needs - but to instead draw attention to the experience of living on a strict food budget allotment and how that may or may not change your daily life both physically and psychologically as a participant.”

My parameters are these: (check out the full set here)

• I have $36 to spend for the week on food (about $1.72 per meal). 
• I have to start from scratch and eat only food that I purchase during the challenge. 
• Fast food and dining out must be included in the budget. 
• I may not eat food that I already own. 

Technically- the challenge is from November 17-November 23... but I am starting a day late. Late enough today, that I had already bought breakfast on the road so instead of $36 for the week I now have ($36-$4.79= $31.21). 

So for the next seven days- I will be participating in this challenge.

There are some challenges that present as think through the upcoming week: 

1. I am in college and my schedule is busy- It can be hard to have time to cook meals (which are cheaper than buying). 
2. I have food sensitivities- and that tends to make grocery shopping more expensive. 
3. I spend a lot of time on the road- which means I need to pack meals for trips.
4. Fruits, vegetables and meat are expensive! I want to try to be as nutritious as possible on a budget.

Ideally- I would be able to meet all of these food groups on a budget

The Challenge Begins: Grocery Shopping

I had written out a list of the groceries that I wanted to buy with the money that I had left. I bought about half of what I had written down- due to budget constraints. I spent much longer than usual debating the benefits of buying in bulk vs. individual items, fresh vs. frozen veggies, how to best get a span of nutrients while buying filling food, and consciously passing up buying unnecessary items I would normally throw in my cart, like a seltzer water (That’s $0.99 cents that I need! Especially with the breakfast deduction). 

This is what I bought at the grocery store: 

Red Potatoes

Carrots

Onion

Celery 

Peppermint Tea

Chicken 

Brown rice

Lactaid 

Oatmeal 

Eggs

My food for the whole week...

Total: $30.23

$36 - $30.23- $4.79 = $1.21left 

Right now I have the beginnings of a soup stock boiling on the stove and brown rice in the rice cooker. I have a feeling that I’ll be eating much of the same food for each meal- with some variety in spices. Already- I can tell this is much harder than I initially assumed. Almost half my food is going into the soup! 

Check back in a week and see how I fare! Am I going to fail and be forced to buy more food? Or will I succeed?

You can join the challenge or donate to help feed our community.

Thanks for reading! 

Goal: 251 Club

There is this cool club called the "251 Club"- because there are 251 towns/settlements/villages in the Green Mountain State. 

The last time that a Miss Vermont accomplished the 251 Club during her reign was Hannah Nelson in 2000. I think that it is time to try to accomplish this again! 

There are some really intense die hard people that take photos at every town and make sure that they explore- because I don't have a full year as Miss Vermont and I only have about 5 months left to accomplish this- I am going to count the towns that I have already visited and towns that I go to during in a non-official capacity (I can't be Miss Vermont all the time!). 

Here's my statistics so far: 

Considering that I decided to accomplish this in the last few weeks- I've gotten a relatively good start. 

It is also apparent that I tend to go to areas around my hometown in Central Vermont and then up near college. I'm not just Miss Vermont for part of the Vermont! I want to visit all of it! This is why I am posting this- This is a call to everyone to help me figure out ways to get to more areas (particularly the Southern and North Eastern part of state). 

Sometimes I forget that people don't realize they can invite me to attend events! I have this really awesome woman, MCJ, who takes care of my appearances for me so I can focus on juggling lots of other things in my life. 

Here are some events that I have been to since coming home from Miss America (well the ones that I have photos of... I'm working on remembering to take them- I just get so involved with talking with everyone I forget!): 

Komen Race for the Cure in Manchester

Walk for Alzheimer's at the Shelburne Museum 

Epilepsy Foundation Casino Night in South Burlington

Oktoberfest in Bennington

21st Annual Opera House Talent Search in Enosburg Falls

Women's "We Can" Expo in St.Albans

This weekend I am making my way down South for an appearance- one more town I can check off the list! I have 75% more to go on this list before April and it can happen with some teamwork. If there is an event that you would like to have me/Miss Vermont at- let me know (or let MCJ know, more accurately).

Thanks for reading! 

Post-Miss America: The Quick & Dirty Rundown

Almost three months of no activity on this blog... Well, that doesn’t look very good. 

I have been busy though! Some of you may have heard that I went to a little thing called: Miss America. 

After a fun dinner and games at Chickie's & Pete's 

The unveiling of the Miss America statue

Finals night

Turns out that prepping for Miss America in three months while working and being a student is not easy. Since I’ve been home, I’ve gotten right back into the thick of things. Unlike many of my (probably smarter) Miss America sisters- I did not take a year off from school. I drove back the day after finals and was on the Children’s Miracle Network floor in my scrubs at 6:45am on Tuesday. Rough. 

It has taken me weeks to finally feel like I have my feet under myself again and can once again juggle school, Miss Vermont, volunteering and a job. Now I can get to things that do not have influence on my ability to graduate- like thank you cards, replacing the windshield wipers on my car and blogging. I have big plans to procrastinate in the future by blogging- no more of this once every three months things! 

Let’s get a few well known facts out of the way: 

1. The women at who I spent two jam-packed weeks with are amazing.

Rocking out to Guitar Hero

With some of my sisters

Relaxing between shoots for the live show

A really tough job: riding the ferris wheel

2. I was sleep deprived for two weeks- but that just increased the bonding.  

3. Atlantic City TURNED IT OUT for us. I’m very sure that is the only time in my life when I will have a police escort that stops traffic (well- make that pretty sure, we can’t count anything out yet).  

At the Phillies vs. Braves game             

4. I am so thrilled for our new Miss America, Nina!

Miss America 2014

There isn’t much of an expectation for Vermont to make a huge splash at Miss America. I wanted to be the first person from Vermont to make finals at Miss America- but that wasn’t in the cards for me (Looks like it’s up to my successor!). After the initial feeling of disappointment- I looked around the stage and saw the other amazing women I had the privilege to share the stage with that didn’t make finals either- and I felt much better about the whole scenario. It’s cliche- but every one of those women who were going to change into their “non-finalist outfit” with me were qualified to be Miss America- and their states are lucky to be able to welcome them home. 

Opening Number

Prelim Night 1: On Stage Question

Prelim Night 2: SS & Evening Gown

Prelim Night 3: Talent

Show us your Shoes Parade

Then I remembered- I’ve been in more pageants than I’ve watched. So I settled in to watch the show. Let me tell you, live television is a whole different beast. During commercial breaks people were screaming and cheering for their contestant. I was lucky that I could see my “Vemront” (Yes, the letters were switched and that’s what it said on national TV... who cares! I had fans there!) crowd to the left of the stage. 

It was so cool to see the days of rehearsals come together to make the fastest pageant I’ve ever seen! I totally forgot that I was a contestant and was watching the show, completely enthralled. I guess I got a little too into it because after the show I looked at my phone and had some text messages from my adored friends that said things like “stop sitting like a bro”. My response? “I wore jeans specifically for that purpose!”. But I digress... 

It was a wonderful end to my pageant career to hold the hands of my Miss America sisters as we all held our breath to see who would be our next Miss America. I was thrilled when Nina became our first Indian-American Miss America- I watched her win at Miss New York earlier that year (and what an amazing welcome I was given there!) and I knew that she was ready and capable of being a spectacular Miss America. My mom knew she has something special from the beginning because after prelims in visitation she told me “Miss New York absolutely rocked it in swimsuit. She was just having the time of her life out there, waving to the crowd and smiling- tomorrow when you do swimsuit, try to do what she did because it was perfect”. She sure knows how to pick a winner. 

Miss America 2014

I need to do the obligatory shout-outs right now: 

I have to give special thanks to people who traveled to Atlantic City to cheer me on- My mom (who disliked pageants until the Miss America system changed her mind), my boyfriend, Sam (who drove to Atlantic City after class and had the student body of the school he teaches at vote for my People’s Choice Video), Rylee Field (who was in my top 5 at Miss Vermont), my roommate, Ashley (who has lived with three Miss Vermonts so she is all over this), Alice McDermott (a former Teen Contestant and future Miss Vermont Contestant) and Brenda (Sam’s mom- a surprise bonus to the crowd!). Miss Vermont 2010, Caroline Bright, was definitely bursting with excitement to finally be able to watch me at Miss America- and she was all over making sure I had everything I needed backstage (she knew the security guards- she had them when she was at Miss America!). Last, but not least, Middlebury Rugby showed up in full force with Dan Khan, Connor Burleigh and Hodge (Dillon, you were missed). 

Dan, Ashley and Sam

I was really hungry...

I have to give extra special appreciation to Emily Millman and Maia Menzel- two of my nursing classmates who took notes for me for two weeks to make sure that I wouldn’t fall on my face if I had to return to school. They also missed a day just to watch me! I’ve spent much of the past few weeks that I’ve been back catching up on work on Emily’s couch. She has a great couch. 

Maia and Emily

Anyway, I have five more great months ahead of me, to fill to the fullest before I crown Miss Vermont 2014 on April 26th at the Barre Opera House. I am so thankful for the experience, meeting new friends and sisters and especially glad to be able to come home and represent Vermont. There really is no place like home. 

Thanks for reading-

Jeanelle 

p.s. All photos courtesy of the Miss America Organization facebook page- check out more photos here