If you have never had the challenge of feeding yourself with only the amount of money alloted to you by a government food stamp program, a Montgomery County Councilwoman wants you to simulate the experience.

"SNAP the Silence" is an effort by Councilmember Valerie Ervin (D-Dist 5) to get elected officials as well as everyday folks to empathize with people who depend on federal food benefits, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for sustenance. 

The challenge is for a person to spend only $5 a day on food, which is a little bit more than the $4.28 average daily allowance per person for people participating in SNAP. 

"The current economic crisis has forced more people than ever to ask for public assistance," said Ervin in a statment. "This experience will give all of us a better understanding of what so many people in our nation—and many in our county—go through on a daily basis."

Ervin isn't the first elected official to take up the SNAP challenge. Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker received considerable national media attention when he spent only $30 to eat for one week in December. 

About 65,200 Montgomery County residents were receiving SNAP benefits as of last October, according to a statement from the County Council. For the latter part of 2012, an average of 2,400 households applied for benefits each month. 

Ervin's challenge is from Monday, Feb. 4 to Friday, Feb. 8. Sign up online: http://tinyurl.com/snapthesilence