Food program to help low-income residents buy, prepare healthy food

The Corporation for Findlay Market has announced a new program that will allow individuals utilizing the food stamp program to shop for healthy, local produce at the farmer's market portion of Findlay Market. Called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Plus, this innovative program encourages urban agriculture and healthy eating for low-income residents often plagued with unhealthy food options.

The food stamp program with Hamilton County's Job & Family Services currently uses an electronic EBT card to make purchases. This is an upgrade from the old paper system, but farmer's markets only operate using cash, and as a result a portion of Findlay Market's consumers have not necessarily had the opportunity to purchase locally harvested produce, dairy, and other artisanal products offered by vendors. SNAP Plus solves this dilemma: those currently using the EBT food stamp card can now go to the Findlay Market office and purchase tokens in $5 increments for the program.  The tokens are only good at the various farmer's market stands, and the vendors later trade them for cash.

Fran Amatulli, Ohio State University Extension Program Assistant with the Family Nutrition Program, is one of the partners in the SNAP Plus program. Amatulli teaches nutrition classes around the city, and states that anyone interested in learning more about healthy eating can sign up for a free class. She has worked with various refugee programs in the city, teaching basic cooking skills and quality eating habits.

Amatulli also emphasized the importance of getting the word out to people who can benefit from this program. "It's so easy to sign up and do. The important thing is to let people know about this exciting new program."

Program participants have to opportunity to earn bonus tokens by attending cooking demonstrations conducted by chefs from the Midwest Culinary Institute, and classes on healthy eating supported offered through Hamilton County Job & Family Services, Cooperative Extension, the Nutrition Council, the Center for Closing the Health Gap, on-site agencies like senior centers or Head Start locations, and at Findlay Market as well. There is a series of eight classes offered and each class attended earns $10 in farmer's market coupons.  Attending four or eight classes earns additional bonus coupons, with a total possibility of $120 in matching EBT benefits available.

"This is a project I'm very much behind," stated Chef John Kinsella, President and CEO of Smart Chefs LLC, one of Findlay Market's partners. "They say that CHEF stands for Cooking Healthy, Edible Food, and the SNAP program is one step closer to that goal."

Writer: Jennifer Kessler
Photography by Jennifer Kessler
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