USDA grant bolsters Farm Fresh R.I.’s Bonus Bucks program

Blia Moua, a grower of Asian produce, and Rachel Newman Greene, director of partnerships and community projects for West Elmwood Housing Development Corp., are seen last summer at a farmers market. Farm Fresh Rhode Island received $330,000 over a three-year period from the u.S. Department of Agriculture to double the amount of nutrition incentives distributed at farmers markets across the state. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO
Blia Moua, a grower of Asian produce, and Rachel Newman Greene, director of partnerships and community projects for West Elmwood Housing Development Corp., are seen last summer at a farmers market. Farm Fresh Rhode Island received $330,000 over a three-year period from the u.S. Department of Agriculture to double the amount of nutrition incentives distributed at farmers markets across the state. / PBN FILE PHOTO/ MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – Farm Fresh Rhode Island is providing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) customers with an additional $2 for every $5 they spend for fresh produce at each of its seven summertime farmers markets through the Bonus Bucks program.
Farm Fresh received funding in April through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Insecurity Nutrition Inventive (FINI) program as a sub-grantee of Wholesome Wave, based in Bridgeport, Conn.
Wholesome Wave, which is partnering with various organizations, received $3.7 million in funding, granting $330,000 to Farm Fresh over three years.
Farm Fresh is one of 32 community-based organizations around the country that will join Wholesome Wave in this large-scale food access project.
As a result of the grant, the Bonus Bucks program in Rhode Island will dramatically expand to benefit SNAP shoppers at independently-managed markets throughout the state. Bonus Bucks will be offered at 25 markets in 2015, up from 13 markets last year.
Partner markets that now offer Bonus Bucks through FINI funding include: Hope Street Saturdays, Sankofa, Pawtuxet Village, Central Falls, Westerly Pawcatuck, Coastal Growers Casey Farm, South Kingstown – University of Rhode Island, Wakefield Marina Park, Aquidneck Growers, Goddard State Park, Haines State Park and Mount Hope Farm.
Visit www.farmfresh.org/markets/ for details or to find a nearby market.
Farm Fresh R.I. programs can be found at farmers markets in Providence at Neutaconkanut Park, Plainfield Street; downtown at Kennedy Plaza; Armory Park – Dexter Training Grounds, Parade Street; and Algonquin House, 807 Broad St.; as well as the Woonsocket Farmers Market at Thundermist Health Center, 450 Clinton St.; Slater Park Farmers Market in Pawtucket and West Warwick Farmers Market at Thundermist Health Center, 186 Providence St.

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