By the second day of her new diet, Donna Thompson was already feeling the effects.

She had a headache from not drinking her usual coffee with cream and sugar that morning. And she missed fresh vegetables.

"I never thought about how much I take for granted when I walk into that grocery store," said Thompson, the employment counselor at Roanoke Area Ministries. "But you almost have to live on beans to get protein."

Thompson's diet lasted only three days. But that isn't the case for more than 195,000 Virginians who receive food stamps.

Thompson was participating in the Poverty Diet project, sponsored by the Richmond-based Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. The project asks participants to live for three days on the average food stamp benefit for Virginians - about $77.47 a month, or $2.55 a day.

"The idea is to make you very conscious of choices people have to make," said Susie Fetter, a Roanoke resident and board member of the Virginia Interfaith Center. She said she and her husband spent about half of their $15.30 at the Dollar Store.

Though food stamps are designed to supplement the food budgets of people in poverty, the organizers of the Poverty Diet contend that in many cases the government aid provides much of the budget that a family has for food after paying for housing, transportation, health and child care and other expenses. Only 18 percent of households receiving food stamps in Virginia are above the poverty line; one-quarter include people with disabilities, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics.

The project is one of several hunger awareness events occurring in Roanoke this month. Others include the Rescue Mission of Roanoke's Silent Witness campaign last week and the upcoming National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week from Sunday to Nov. 20.

The Rescue Mission's campaign involved about 1,000 volunteers spread out over the city on sidewalks and streets twirling red-and-white umbrellas. The effort kicked off the mission's annual campaign to raise its food budget for the coming year. According to Lee Clark, director of development for the mission, the agency serves nearly 900 meals a day. Clark said the mission has had to increase its services from two seatings at each meal - breakfast, lunch and dinner - to three seatings.

Carol Tuning, human services coordinator for the city, said it's not unusual for such campaigns to coincide with one another this time of year, when the city's family shelters are already full.

"It's more difficult on homeless persons in the winter than the summer," Tuning said. "And it's a season of giving. People tend to give more around the holidays."

Tuning also said the public shouldn't see these events as competing efforts.

"All programs are equally important," Tuning said.

During homeless awareness week, the city's Homeless Assistance Team (HAT) will collect donations for area shelters at its office at 310 Campbell Ave.

The Poverty Diet project will culminate in a free beans and rice dinner at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at St. Mark's Lutheran Church on Franklin Road.

Thompson said she shopped at a Kroger store and the most expensive item she bought was mayonnaise for $1.29. Most of the other items she bought were "off brands" or sale items. She ended up with 8 cents to spare.

"We're doing it for three days, but what about the family with children?" Thompson said of the project. "I don't think it'd be very healthy to live like this."