Comments on: A Food Program for Women and Children Is About to Get More Federal Support

By: Stacey

Stacey — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 13:35:18 +0000

Great report on nutrition insecurity, and plans to modernize the WIC program! Hunger is not controlled by zip-codes; knows no boundaries. Looking forward to new, exciting changes for the WIC program!

By: Mary Lou Moquete

Mary Lou Moquete — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 13:40:55 +0000

As a WIC Nutritionist for the last 30 years who is married to a Farmer who does the Farmer’s Market I have seen so many changes with WIC and have seen first hand the difference having food security, education, breastfeeding support and just another mom to talk to can make.. Now I’m doing this over the phone and virtual classes and i miss my moms and all the kids but I’m so glad this administration is making some well worth changes. Thanks for this article-well done.

By: Lora Burke-Mulkey

Lora Burke-Mulkey — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 21:34:05 +0000

Great article! In June I will celebrate 23 years working for WIC. I love the program already but these changes would send us over the moon! I keep saying we are feeding healthy foods and promoting healthy lifestyles to our future leaders! We need to start giving all those brains the best potentials there are, from conception to age 6 would be great, those are the most important years. I don’t know about you all but I want my future leaders to have big old giant brilliant brains!
As to why enrollment isn’t as big as it could be….there is still a stigma about being on WIC, people call it welfare and look down on our clients, I have seen it first hand in the stores. When I encounter a cashier with this attitude I start raving about how wonderful it is that this parent/guardian is participating in a nutrition education program so they can do all they can for their child, what a great gift of love this parent/guardian is giving to their child. I go on and on to the point I know some cashiers would like to take some of the food they are ringing up and shove it in my yammering on and on mouth! We need to work together to get rid of that stigma and show how WIC is so much different than any welfare program. WIC should have as much funding, if not more, than SNAP, SNAP has very few controls in place so the family can pretty much buy all junk with it, very little nutritional foods.
The other component in low enrollment is advertising for it. In all the years I have been here I have only ever seen one billboard and don’t think I ever saw a TV ad or heard a radio ad! Why aren’t we doing massive campaigns blasted over TV, over the radio, on social media, billboards, etc. etc. etc. We at the local level don’t have the points of contact to do such nor the funds as these items are very costly. There is data to show them all that money spent will come back in savings as we have better health outcomes.
And the last component in low enrollment, in my opinion, is the lack of referral from the medical community. (I am a nurse so I am part of that community). Our medical community doesn’t know exactly what WIC does or can do, they tend to operate in the genre of diagnosing and treating after the fact. WIC is the perfect preventative medicine! If we could get them to refer all their patients, and the patient participated, perhaps there would be lesser amounts of disease, conditions, etc.? I don’t think they understand how educated our team are and what all we have to offer.
I see first ladies develop and promote a campaign every time we get a new president, I wish one of the first ladies would make preventative medicine thru nutrition their platform! WIC could be a giant part of their campaign and certainly improve the outcome of the campaign!
Ok I need to stop rambling…..don’t get me started on talking about WIC, it happens to be one of my favorite subjects!

By: Nicholas Pyle

Nicholas Pyle — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 18:45:04 +0000

Great read, comprehensive overview of program and current challenges. WIC typically underspends annually a billion dollars in appropriated funds. This is because of declining caseloads and massive under redemption of participants not buying their full food prescription. It’s time to increase to make the temporary CVV increase to $35 permanent. Let’s go Congress. See WIC Wonders on Facebook for more great stuff about WIC.

By: Anne Stone

Anne Stone — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 14:14:38 +0000

WIC Is a very important program for families with young children and I hope we can overcome the enrollment issues. But I was very disappointed to see this whole article that one mention of the availability of work services for fathers with young children! This is a huge barrier that has to be removed. We are talking about families and fathers are in essential component in the early years.

By: Mark Lipson

Mark Lipson — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 17:03:19 +0000

Good read, important deal. “Nutrition Insecurity” is a crucial shift.

Please follow up with similar depth on organic foods access with WIC,and again, what scientific is telling us about infants’ from toxins in food.