PORTLAND (AP) - Seven Portland-area city and county officials have found out first hand that living on food stamps is no picnic.

They tried it during November, and while some stuck with it, some gave up. All agreed it is nearly impossible without dramatic diet and life changes.

It was part of the Multnomah County Walk a Mile program, part of a national campaign to put policy-makers face-to-face with low-income people.

Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz didn't make it. Neither did state Rep. Steve March, D-Portland, nor Rep. Patti Smith, R-Corbett, nor Gresham Police Chief Carla Piluso.

"I did try," said Cruz. "You have to make all of your food. You have to bring your lunch. You can't get your latte."

The program matched each official with a low-income person. The pairs met for meals, attended events in each other's lives and talked weekly. Both halves said the project gave them insights about each other. Policy-makers said their matches were hardworking, bright, committed parents who defied stereotypes.

"The safety nets that are provided are minimal," said March, 57, matched with Crystal, a 27-year-old single Portland mother who asked to keep her last name private.

"The amount of money available for food, for housing, are probably barely adequate to get by, and maybe not even that ... Sometimes we are asking almost the impossible on the part of some folks."

Piluso, 48, was matched with Cristina Diaz, 22, a single Gresham mother of three who earns about $1,000 a month.

Piluso recalled meeting Diaz one evening after the young mother had spent the day taking her infant for ear treatment to OHSU Hospital.

She awoke at 5 a.m. to take the MAX train and buses to the university. She stayed all day at the hospital and then made the long trek back.

"She was exhausted," Piluso said. "She didn't even complain. We complain about somebody cutting us off in the traffic."

Piluso, also a single mom, and her 11-year-old daughter, Kate, ate dinners of grilled cheese sandwiches, baked potatoes, soup and chicken before they succumbed to eating some meals out, partly because the chief's busy schedule demanded it.

Piluso's sister hosted their Thanksgiving meal, more food than a month's worth of food stamps would buy.

After some dinners of grilled cheese sandwiches and of eggs and toast, March gave up.

That's all right, said Natasha Grossman, founder and director of the 10-year-old Walk a Mile project, based at the University of Washington's Northwest Institute for Children and Families.

"It is really for them to see how hard it is and in many cases impossible, which is why people on food stamps have to go to food banks at the end of the month," she said.

Agencies also sponsored Walk a Mile projects this year in Clackamas and Lane counties.

March said he wants to explore what the Legislature can do to prevent losses of food stamps after recipients find work. He said he saw Crystal lose her food stamps immediately after she landed a low-paying job.

"We wanted to put a human face on the issues," Grossman said, "and I think that is what this project does."