More Foods Available on WIC (Women, Infants, Children) Benefits

New regulations for WIC (women, infant, children) benefits have broadened the food allowable for benefits.  Reflecting changes in food preferences in the last 20 years as well as nutritional trends, the regulations allow more fresh vegetables, fish, meat and things like whole-grain products and yogurt (a food so exotic in my teen years that it was hard to find in the supermarket, and is now hard to dodge).   The program was created to provide healthy food for small children, infants and pregnant women.  Each state has an eligible food list--find the eligible WIC foods for your state here. 

For more information about the program--who's eligible and how to apply, see this page, and for toll-free numbers in your state, see this page.

Despite the fact that regulations are changing to encourage eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, one problem is that farmer's markets and some other fresh food sellers don't have the EBT point of sale equipment needed to sell items to WIC consumers.  If you are a merchant and wish to get point of sale equipment for EBT, there may be funds for that from state or federal government.  Check this page and  contact your state agency in charge of WIC to find out.  Free point of sale EBT-only devices may be available free for markets that conduct over $100 a month in SNAP business. 

Finding Financial Support for Selling Healthy Food in American Food Deserts

Financial support (that means for private, for-profit businesspeople) of healthy food in what are referred to as "food deserts" is getting easier.  Food deserts are places in inner city and rural America where it's hard to find fresh, healthy food.  The Healthy Food Access Portal doesn't have a complete list of sources, but rather has identified a number of strategies that private businesses can use to find tax breaks, loan sources and partnerships that can make it possible to expand healthy food markets into the inner city or remote rural areas.  It does have a heading called Find Money, but direct grants are largely for nonprofits rather than for-profits.

A good source of strategic information is under "retail strategy," in which several types of retail outlets are discussed, which ones work in different settings, and how to develop each one.  They have several examples of successful retail outlets, and how they created them.

The best bet for private, for-profit businesses is to form partnerships with nonprofits who have an interest in developing sustainable business in underserved areas.  The Find Money part of the website identifies a few of these but not all possible partners.  A more complete strategy is found in the website Green for Greens: Finding Public Financing for Healthy Food Retail.  It does have a good list of federal grant programs, but if you look at the eligibility, most are for nonprofits.  The useful part of the publication is the strategy: identify players in your community that can help you, and make your case to them to partner with you in creating more healthy food retail outlets.  These people include business development offices in your state and local government, but also community development finance agencies, public and private, in your area, for loan money. You need to make your case to them, and tell them how your business can fit in with their plans for the community.  Once you form useful partnerships, these eligible partners can apply for grants and help you get loan money and tax incentives to make retail food sales in food deserts possible. 

 

Free Thanksgiving Meals in Toledo and Northwest Ohio 2013, and How to Find Them in Other Places

The Roman Catholic Diocese in Toledo, Ohio has given up the goods yet again, putting in a directory of where people in Toledo and northwest Ohio may get free meals for Thanksgiving.  Note that some of these are the Sunday before, or a day or two ahead, or even a day or two after Thanksgiving.  Since the cut in food stamps will mean a lean month for many people, these meals take on a lot of importance.  Note that the Augsburg Lutheran Church on Sylvania will only serve delivery or pick-up meals; call by November 22nd.  This list appeared in the Toledo Blade and might have a few other sites.

What if you live elsewhere?   If you live in an area with a 211 information and referral service, you can call 211 and find out.  The 211 websites nationwide have a subject heading called "holiday meals." They often have the places of free meals, but often not the times and days.  For that, you might want to call 211 or  a local church in your area. 

Find Cheaper Gas, Cheaper Alternate Fuel, Cheaper Parking and Free Kid's Restaurant Meals This Vacation

Travel isn't cheap, but if you can shop and compare, it could be a bit cheaper.  Bob Evans is touting its free kid's meals in July of 2013 (if you are paying for an adult meal, from 2 till closing, on weekdays).  However, other restaurants regularly offer free children's meals under certain circumstances, often at lower-demand days, like weekdays.  If you want to find them, try the website Kids Eat Free, which has a state-by-state breakdown of places with such offers.

If you are on the move, and want to find cheap gas wherever you go, try Gas Buddy, which is a website and has a  mobile app, too.  If your car runs on something other than unleaded gas, AltFuels will help you find (and price) alternatives around the country as you travel.    And if you want to park somewhere where parking isn't free, try Parkopedia to compare the price of potential parking spaces.  And happy travels.

Awesome Teeny Tiny Grants for Growing and Preparing Food

We've written about the Awesome Foundation, which is really a string of giving circles that are springing up locally around the world.  A small group of people give $100 a month into a pool and decide which project they will donate $1000 to, based on an extremely simple application form.  That's it.  They leave the definition of "awesome" loose, so as to caste a wide net.  And since it's not a real foundation in a legal sense, they do not have the legal obligation to perform "due diligence"--for instance, making sure the recipient has 501(c)3 (not for profit) status with the IRS. They can give with a free hand to projects that seem awesome. Of course, they don't get the tax deductibility, but they get flexibility and freedom. 

For the first time, a chapter of the Awesome Foundation has been created not around a locality, but a subject.  The Awesome Food Foundation gives $1000 grants for food-related projects.  This has in the past resulted in a grant to convert a mobile kitchen to one that is powered by solar panels, a project to convert shipping containers into portable farms for refugee camps, and a compost mobile that collects household food scrap to create the material for compost for community gardens. The sky's the limit in imagination--as long as you can work with $1,000.  If you have a food-related awesome idea that $1,000 can significantly push towards reality, you may want to give them a try.

Double the Food You Can Buy With Food Stamps (SNAP Program)

Last September, I wrote about a program in Michigan and norwest Ohio that allowed you to double the spending power of your food stamps, if you took them to a farmer's market.  What I didn't know was that this program is going on in many other places around the country as well.

Wholesome Wave is a nonprofit dedicated to bring healthier eating opportunities to low and moderate income people, and support sustainable farming.  Towards that end, they are partnering with over 200 nonprofits and farmer's markets in 23 states and the District of Columbia to double the spending power of food stamps!  Where do you find out if this is available where you live?  Check out this list of Wholesome Wave's partners, see if there is one in your area, and contact them to see about how you can double the spending power of your food stamps at a farmer's market near you.  If you live in Connecticut, here's a link to more detailed information on their programs.  In a day when Walmart has to schedule its workforce around SNAP card reloading on the first of each month, you know there's a need to make food stamps stretch double.