October 15, 2019
For Immediate Release
Contact: Kathy Anderson
Jefferson County Public Health, (360) 385-9432
Port Townsend- - The Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program, commonly known as WIC, will be introducing some big changes in Washington State this year. WIC is joining the 21st century and WIC checks will be a thing of the past! Starting November 1, 2019, the familiar WIC paper checks will be replaced by a WIC card, known as an EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) card. This means Jefferson County WIC participants will be able to benefit from a new shopping card and a new clinic experience. All Jefferson County WIC offices will have limited services from October 21st-31st while staff receive training in our new technology and software. Full WIC services will resume on November 1st. At this time, we will assist WIC participants with setting up and learning to use their new WIC cards and other benefits our new technology and software will provide for an improved WIC experience.
Benefits of the new cards include:
Participants will receive the same foods as before, but have much more flexibility in how they shop.
One card will include foods for all WIC participants in the family – no more keeping track of separate checks.
Participants will be able to buy just the items they want at any given time in the month of benefits.
Families can also shop throughout the month, rather than having to purchase all of their WIC food in one trip.
Washington WIC has introduced the free WICShopper app. Downloaded onto a smartphone, the app can be used to scan bar codes at the grocery store to determine if a food is WIC-approved. The WICShopper app also includes a digital version of the WIC Shopping Guide, a produce calculator to determine price by weight, a WIC store locator, recipes, and much more.
So if you, or someone you know, may be eligible for WIC but didn’t want the hassle of using WIC checks, it may be time to give WIC another try! For more information, please call us at 360-385-9432. Or visit our website at https://jeffersoncountypublichealth.org/494/WIC-Nutrition-Program. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jeffersoncountypublichealth and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jeffcopublichealth_wa/ .
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