Not Your Mother’s WIC
A WIC Champion Story
For decades, federal supplemental nutrition programs were referred to as “food stamps,” as recipients visited stores and received stamps when purchasing subsidized foods. While “food stamps” have not been used for quite some time, the moniker has stuck, though times are finally changing thanks to dedicated community members, like Mariah Lash.
“It’s not the WIC of the past, they’re not coming with paper food stamps to the store,” Mariah says motioning to the produce next to her. When asked about the Women, Infants, and Children supplemental nutrition program, or WIC, she’ll happily tell you all you need to know in a relatable way. “WIC gives money for women, infants, and children to get food from the grocery store in order to eat healthily and grow.”
Mariah is a WIC Champion in the Grand Junction community, meaning she volunteers her time to educate her neighbors on the advantages of registering for the federally funded nutrition program.
“I've heard stories that it used to be very embarrassing to use and a very hard registration process, and I think a lot of people think it still is, but it really isn't. The application process is super simple. It's very easy to maintain your work status; you have a quick call every quarter, or you can go into the office and have an appointment. And everybody's so friendly and easy to talk to,” she explains. “My family utilizes WIC, and it's really nice to be able to, just add to our groceries each month, and maybe get more produce than we normally would, or get some extra milk that we maybe couldn’t afford otherwise.”
Plus, as Mariah points out, there’s a mobile application that clients can use to track their benefits, understand what their benefits include, and look up recipes. Clients can even scan barcodes on foods to know if they fall within their benefits for the month or not and understand the health level of the food. The app is one of Mariah’s favorite upgrades to the program.
WIC is available to pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women and children up to five years of age. The packages that families receive can be tailored to dietary and cultural needs.
“My family is vegan so we don't eat meat, we don't eat cheese, we don't have actual milk. The package that we have has soy milk, it has tofu, it has beans and peanut butter. And so there's other ways for us to get food that help our family, that isn't necessarily what other people would get. So, it's nice that the packages are adaptable to dietary restrictions,” Mariah says.
Mariah says growing up, her family didn’t utilize wic, but now as a parent herself, she understands how helpful the program is - and hopes to help others.
“There was a gentleman that came in a few weeks ago, and he hadn't signed up for WIC, but was thinking about it. So he took a brochure and he came back today. He still hasn't signed up, but I was like, go home now, sign up. And then the next time you come back and get food, you can say yes, I'm on WIC because it's so easy,” she happily states.
As a WIC Champion, Mariah is not only educating others about the benefits of utilizing WIC, but is also dashing any stigma around the program. “I know that it can be challenging to ask for help and having a friendly face, just explaining what it is and how easy it is to use can be helpful.”
