PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County Farmers Market Association is trying to raise $11,000 after federal funding was cut for the organization’s SNAP/EBT matching program.
The association is beginning a new dollar-to-dollar matching program that was created by the Washington State Department of Health and the Washington State Farmers Market Association for more than 100 farmers markets across the state, starting in 2020.
The Jefferson County Farmers Markets (JCFM) organization has been extending the nutritious food budgets of community members with low-incomes since 2013 by offering matching funds to shoppers when they use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP), as well as Women Infants and Children (WIC) or Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) vouchers at any of the three local farmers markets — two in Port Townsend and one in Chimacum.
Originally funded entirely by community and local business donations, JCFM’s matching program has grown over the last five years in part due to funds from a U. S. Department of Agriculture Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive (FINI) grant, JCFM said.
The grant allowed JCFM to fund a five-to-two match, where each person using SNAP at the Port Townsend and Chimacum farmers markets would receive an additional $2 for fresh fruit and vegetables for each $5 they spent on the SNAP/EBT card. The grant will run out at the end of the year, the release said.
“We know that our food access programs work because we see community members every week who put them to use so they can bring home healthy, locally grown food from the farmers market,” said Amanda Milholland, JCFM director.
“We see the excitement of children munching into crunchy carrots, the appreciation of parents when they walk away from the market booth with an extra $13 dollars to add to their $20 SNAP budget, and the relief on the faces of seniors with fixed-incomes when they learn that they get an extra $20 seasonally when they present their FMNP checks to us at the farmers market info booth.
“These weekly successes are only possible because we have community support.”
The state will now fund $6,000 of the program, which Milholland said is approximately half of what the FINI grant funded.
JCFM is trying to raise $11,000 for SNAP matching for the 2020 season.
“We are thankful for the state SNAP match funding and excited for the potential of the one-to-one SNAP match program,” Milholland said.
“We need community support to help cover this fund gap and continue empowering community members with low-incomes to choose nutritious, locally grown food.”
Donations can be made at either https://www.givejefferson.org or http://jcfmarkets.org, mailed to JCFM, PO Box 1384, Port Townsend, WA 98368 or in person at the Saturday Port Townsend Farmers Market.
The final farmers market of the season is on Dec. 21 in Port Townsend on Tyler and Lawrence streets.
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
