An ISU staff member is putting herself in the shoes of those less fortunate to help fight against world hunger this week.

Kate Ralston, a program manager for admissions, will participate in the Live Below the Line campaign for her second consecutive year.

“Part of this campaign is to get individuals involved and to show people what challenges people in poverty face,” Ralston said.

Live Below the Line is a campaign that challenges the way people in the U.S. think about poverty and makes a huge difference, according to the official website.

The challenge is to eat for five days with only $1.50 per day, adding up to a total of $7.50 for one week.

“Participants pick a cause and donate to them on behalf of Living Below the Line,” Ralston said.

Ralston chose to give her donations to the World Food Program USA.

According to Ralston, she matched every donation she was given by 50 percent; she raised 500 dollars this year.

“Last year we raised over $3 million globally, this year has already raised over $200,000,” said Justine Lucas, the U.S. campaigns manager at Global Poverty Projects.

Global Poverty Project is the organizing company for the Live Below the Line campaign.

“They bring in similar organizations to help fight hunger and poverty,” Ralston said.

Ralston used her love and talent of cooking to successfully complete the campaign challenge last year and is currently in the process of the challenge this week.

“Surprisingly, there is a lot you can cook on $1.50 per day,” Ralston said.

Ralston found that one pound of white rice can make up to 10 cups of cooked rice.

For her first day participating in this week’s diet she ate rice with apples blended together, hot water with lemon, lentil soup with flat bread that she made from beans, lentils and potatoes. For a snack she ate rice and apple pudding.

“It’s a great way to see what people actually deal with on a day-to-day basis,” Ralston said.

The website states that there are more than 1.4 billion people worldwide living in extreme poverty.

“It shaped my whole focus last year because I’ve been interested in food and nutrition and ways to battle hunger,” Ralston said.

She found local charities to participate in; Food at First is a food kitchen in Ames that provides one hot meal a day for those in need.

“It’s definitely a learning experience, you take away more from the campaign than you ever would expect,” Lucas said.

People do not have to change their diet for a week to contribute to world hunger relief. Money can be donated to any of the organizations that are partners with Live Below the Line.

“I think this is a good way for people to start thinking about this really large issue. … We have more food that is being wasted and we export more of it when we still have hungry people here, and that should not be happening,” Ralston said.