Biden's Sons, Wife Eat on $1.50 A Day to Bring Attention to Poverty

[gateley]

Vice President Joe Biden's two sons and wife are getting by on $1.50 a day to bring attention to world hunger.

"I'm hungry. I'm very hungry," Hunter Biden told CNBC's Andrea Mitchell in an appearance with his brother Beau Biden to promote the Live Below the Line Campaign.

Nearly 1.5 billion people in the world live below the poverty line and are forced to subsist on the equivalent of $1.50 a day. Hunter Biden, chairman of the board of World Food Program USA, is living on $1.50 worth of food for five days. Beau and their mother, Jill, are participating for one day.

"I'm not as tough as my brother," joked Beau, who is Delaware attorney general.

Asked what he was eating to stay below the $1.50 limit, Hunter said, "My wife said I didn't do very good shopping, but I'm doing oatmeal, and I did – which was probably the only thing I could figure out on my own – was ramen noodles."

About 870 million people go to bed hungry every night, Hunter said. "One out of every eight people in the world. So to do it in solidarity with those people for five days isn't really that big a deal."

Many of those are pregnant women, who then give birth to children who already suffer the effects of malnutrition, he noted.

His group funds programs in countries such as Kenya, where many children walk long distances to school just because there is food there, he said. While there, they also get an education that will help them climb out of the cycle of poverty.

When asked what they want to be when they grow up, Hunter said he is encouraged to hear doctor, lawyer, airline pilot – just like he hears in American schools.

Girls often are not encouraged to attend school in the societies they serve, so they are given extra food to take home with them to ensure they continue to come, eat and get educated.


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*A note: Beau served in Iraq (didn't have to -- could have pulled some AG strings) and now Hunter is going to join the Navy. Joe and Jill raised some GOOD kids with values and a sense of public service.

[think]

1. Might be only 5 days but it's still a nice jesture to bring awareness.

And even five days will change a person who is willing to walk in another person's shoes.

I went to Nicaragua with an antiwar group in 83 and was only allowed to take $60 spending cash for 3 weeks. In that 3 week time we managed to cause hyper inflation with that money. But most days we ate only rice , beans, and tortillas. I will always remember how fortunate I am and do my best to show kindness and respect to others less fortunate. It could easily be me......

[gateley]

2. I was thinking that probably those who NEED to learn what it's like, won't.

It's the good guys who do this, and they already have the compassion and empathy that we need in order to fight this nightmare.

[Mass]

3. Good of them. This said, may be the DNC could add poverty on their survey as a topic of interest

and, while they are at it, may be global climate change and civil rights/women rights/GLBT rights as well, rather than having 3 separate entries for wars (Iran/Syria/North Korea).

[gateley]

4. Couldn't agree more.