Food stamps at the Farmers' Market: new EBT program at Western Wake Farmers' Market

Learn how you can use your EBT card (food-stamp Electronic Benefits Card) or your credit card at the Western Wake Farmers' Market in Cary. Sonya Reid tells us how this program makes healthy food more available and about a market match from the John Rex Foundation, which lets EBT-card holders get $20 of food for $10 worth of benefits.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• farmers' market
• food stamps
• ebt cards
• western wake farmers market
• cary
• NC
• Sonya Reid
• Linda Watson
• Cook for Good
• Wake County Human Services
• John Rex Foundation
• Leaflight Foundation
• aha
• advocates for health in action
• credit card
• local economy
• triangle

[cookforgood]

@ 00Delaney00: This program does support the people who picked the vegetables. The matching money goes to the farmers, who can use it to pay workers. Many small farmers at markets like this are on the brink of going broke.

The Census Bureau reported Thursday that the percentage of Americans struggling below the poverty line in 2009 was at a 15-year high and is growing. In North Carolina, about 4,000 people stood in line for hours for 800 jobs at a new outlet mall, many who were overqualified.

[brwilson81]

But where do the "moneys" come from for these EBT cards? Subsidizing products that aren't desired in a free market is a recipe for disaster. Oh wait.

[00Delaney00]

I would rather see the ebt holder pick the vegetables and get their food that way than just give it to them for free. You then double the amount of free ride for them with the match, thanks for giving people an incentive to work?