The first of the month is when many low income families have access to monthly benefits for supplemental food programs. People grocery shopping with these monthly benefits are navigating more than empty shelves.
Lorianne Burhop, the Montana Food Bank Network’s chief policy officer says programs like Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, disburse funding in a lump sum at the start of the month.
"Families receive a prescribed food package based on the household members in that WIC family. And so they are only able to purchase certain items with their WIC benefits," Burhop says.
If those items are not there, WIC shoppers may have to postpone their shopping for another day or they could go without.
Most WIC brands are identified on the store shelves and that’s where other shoppers can help out, says Gayle Espeseth, the WIC program coordinator at RiverStone Health in Billings.
"If you see a WIC label like, look for another product that’s OK for you that might help out our families a lot. I know they would appreciate that greatly as well," Espeseth says.
And Espeseth wants those who are temporarily unemployed to know that they may qualify for food assistance.
"WIC is still open across the state. We’re providing services. We’re not doing it in person right now, we do everything by the phone and email and we’re figuring it out. So we want people to know we’re still here. WIC has benefits available," Espeseth says.
