NEW POLICY A sign posted at a checkout register in the Peck’s Market on Main Street in Livingston Manor announces that the store will no longer participate in the WIC federal food assistance program. Photo by Marge Feuerstein
Peck’s joins other markets in refusing WIC
Food assistance now out of reach for many?
By Audrey Garro | Manor Ink Mentor
Livingston Manor, NY – With a recent change in policy, employee-owned Peck’s Market has eliminated the option for customers to purchase items under the Women, Infants and Children program, or WIC, in its Livingston Manor and Jeffersonville locations.
This is in addition to the company’s other markets in Callicoon and Eldred, which have already enacted the policy.
WIC is a federal program that provides nutritious foods primarily through retail grocery stores, as well as nutrition counseling, and referrals to health care and social services to those in need. Nearly 9 million people nationwide get WIC benefits each month.
Even after recently navigating all the requirements associated with participating in the WIC program successfully, Peck’s was forced to change their policy. When asked for the number of WIC beneficiaries served and how the program impacts their business, management at the Manor store said the decision was not an easy one to make and apologized for any inconvenience to their customers.
The two other Peck’s stores have not accepted WIC for some time. Although the market’s employee owners care about the community and would have preferred to remain in the WIC program, Manor Ink was told that the federal program policy now requires participating businesses to release personal information about their employee owners.
EMPLOYEE=OWNED Peck’s Market, long a hub of the Manor community, decided that rather than divulge workers’ personal information, the company would opt out of WIC. Manor Ink photo
The federal program also places training, inventory, accounting and reporting requirements on participating retailers, including the release of owner information. Despite these stipulations, most retailers participate voluntarily in the program, and nearly 46,000 stores nationwide are currently authorized to accept WIC payments.
In Sullivan County, one of the poorest counties in the state, nearly 17 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and, according to the Feeding America 2018 Report, our local population’s food insecurity rate is at 19.1 percent. Livingston Manor Central School and Sullivan West Central School are Title One schools where more than half the students are dependent on free breakfast and lunch programs.
The Peck’s markets that have now eliminated WIC purchases are essentially the only food retailers in Livingston Manor and Jeffersonville that offer WIC-approved foods such as fruits, vegetables and meats; whole wheat bread, brown rice, soft corn and whole wheat tortillas; and eggs, milk and cheeses. Families lacking transportation would likely be unable to travel to the nearest WIC-accepting stores in Liberty, Monticello or Wurtsboro.
The Sullivan County WIC program is operated by the county’s Public Health Services. According to Lynn Guiser, the county’s program coordinator, “WIC works to improve the nutrition and health status of eligible women, infants and children by providing nutrition education, referrals to other health programs, and nutritious foods.”
With the decrease in markets willing to accept payments from the food assistance program, Guiser is concerned that families in the county may suffer.
“Without ability to access a market to obtain the nutritious foods,” she said, “receiving the full benefits of WIC is potentially compromised.”
Need food assistance?
The WIC program is a federally funded nutrition education and supplemental food program. To qualify, you must be a New York State resident, be at nutritional or health risk, and be income eligible. WIC participants purchase WIC foods using an Electronic Benefits Transfer card called eWIC. This makes shopping for WIC foods easier for WIC families.
An eWIC card is like a debit card. You can use your eWIC card to buy WIC-approved foods at WIC stores. Your local market will add your family’s benefits to your eWIC account once you qualify for the program.
To apply, or find out if you or someone you know may qualify, reach WIC at Sullivan County Public Health Services by calling 292-5910 and pressing #5 for the WIC program.
Stores currently participating in the WIC program in Sullivan County are ShopRite in Liberty and Monticello, Ideal Food Basket in Liberty, Walmart in Monticello, Star Food Supermarket in Bloomingburg and G-Mart in Wurtsboro.