A Brief Update on Reporting on Food Stamp Use:
As you may or may not remember, I’ve been keeping an eye on the introduction of SNAP benefits (food stamps, EBT, what-have-you) to the Athens Farmers Market this summer. Both market staff and customers are thrilled with the program’s success, and the market is moving right through the Wholesome Wave grant that doubles the food stamp buying power on the local produce. Wholesome Wave supplied AFM with a $10,000 grant to help promote SNAP benefit use at the market.
After twelve markets, including both downtown and Bishop Park markets, about $2500 of the grant has been used. That’s a quarter of the grant in under a quarter of the total markets (roughly 56 all year). As those number imply, the grant won’t survive the entire season. If that’s the case, market staff and local and state agencies will be quick to find support for continuing the doubling grant. I’ve heard from some recipients say that they’ve been trying to focus most of their weekly shopping toward the market. With that in mind, the food stamp use has directly benefited the meat and dairy vendors, as SNAP shoppers using larger portions (over $40 a visit, roughly) of their benefits have said most of their spending is on milk and meat.
When trying to describe the typical shopper using SNAP benefits at the market, it’s pretty much what you’d expect: young, white single moms and young families who are already tied into local food knowledge or the Farmers Market network. But in just a few weeks, the demographics diversified quickly, and based upon word-of-mouth reports on increased exposure to the program through promotion at social service offices, that trend will continue.
I heard one interesting quote from a young couple, late twenties, as they processed their benefits. When asked how news about the program is spreading through their community, the husband said their fellow church members “are afraid to let anyone know they’re on food stamps. But I don’t know anyone who’s not on food stamps.”
One idea I’ve had to increase SNAP use at the market would be to organize vans to transport benefit recipients from a point, perhaps the WIC office, to the market – maybe run routes on the half-hour.
