By Katelyn Aluise, The Herald-Dispatch
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The SNAP Stretch Program, which can double or triple SNAP/EBT benefits when consumers use them at local farmers’ markets, has been temporarily paused due to growing popularity and lack of funding.
The program, created by the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, works by reimbursing local markets to provide script for SNAP/EBT users that matches or is twice the amount of the benefits they use in a shopping trip, depending on age and family size, to be used on local produce.
“(The program) helps farmers, it helps local businesses. It feeds people. It keeps more dollars in the state rather than it leaving. The food they’re getting is also more nutritious,” Communication and Legislative Policy Coordinator Cordel Bostic said.
But the program has been rapidly growing since it started in 2018, especially during the COVID-19
pandemic.
Executive Director Spencer Moss said the program started with a pilot grant from the USDA and was only able to give out about $60,000 in 2018 and 2019. When the pandemic hit, however, the cost of the program jumped to around $500,000 with more people using it for local produce.
Meanwhile, the coalition has been fundraising “like crazy” to cover the costs, Moss said.
“This program has been a lifeline for particularly a lot of seniors — as costs have almost doubled — and a lot of low income families, and so there’s a lot of folks who really rely on this program, and we are sick over the fact that it has to be paused,” Moss said. “We just don’t have the money coming in like we did during COVID.”
