Hi Folks 🙂
We have all been Busy, Busy, Busy! Harvesting, Canning, Freezing, Dehydrating, Selling, Sharing, & Giving with our fresh garden produce. One of our rewarding things this year is that we have reached out to our local country stores and they are happy to take some of our fresh fruits and veggies and market them.
A couple of our local country stores have brought to our attention that they’ve had great success with the produce they get from us. Pam, one of the owners of a store says “We sell most of our produce through the WIC program.” How awesome is that?
WIC is a program offered to families with low income, to help feed there little ones. You apply for it at our local Health Department. Anyone who is pregnant or have children under the age 5 years old, and are considered to have low income can apply for these benefits. There is a list of items that you can get through this program, and one of them happens to be fresh fruits and veggies.
Anyone looking for a way to get rid of some of your extra produce, and make a little cash to put back into your program, this is a great idea. It also makes us feel good about what we do, knowing that more people in our community are eating healthy, especially the little ones who will one day carry on what we are doing now.
So with this info I hope that some of you will get out and talk to the local country stores in your communities and join in to make a difference on how people are feeding the children where you live.
Feel free to ask questions. Hope I can be of help to you.
GOD BLESS & HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!
🙂
HI Salena. Several of the Floyd County Farmers’ Market vendors are certified to accept WIC checks and our health department has issued $20 worth of checks to 180 families in Floyd County alone. We have also implemented the Double Dollars program at the Market where our partner organization, Appalachian Roots, matches the $20 check so the family receives $40 worth of fresh produce and the vendor gets full price for their labor.
Apparently the money for this program and for the Senior Voucher program comes from the Farm Bill and is allocated according to the amount of funds actually used in the prior year. In other words, the more opportunities to spend WIC money the more money will be allocated to that county the following year. It is a win/win/win opportunity for low-income families/farmers’ markets and locally owned food stores/producers. Thanks for bringing this topic to the blog. And everyone who reads this should contact their county Health department to find out how to plug in.